Type of bind: Hardcover
Format: Bargain Price
Label: Putnam Adult
Manufacturer: Putnam Adult
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 320
Printing Date: April 01, 2003
Publishing house: Putnam Adult
Release Date: April 14, 2003
Sale Popularity Level: 941986
Studio: Putnam Adult
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Haunted by a series of horrifying and violent episodes in their past, Grace McBride and the oddball crew of her software company, Monkeewrench, create a computer game where the killer is always caught, where the good guys always win. But their game becomes a nightmare when someone starts duplicating the fictional murders in real life, down to the last detail.
By the time the police realize what's happening, three people are dead, and with seventeen more murder scenarios available online, there are seventeen more potential victims. While the authorities scramble to find the killer in a city paralyzed by fear, the Monkeewrench staff are playing their own game, analyzing victim profiles in a frantic endeavor to discover the murderer's subsequent target.
In a thriller populated by characters both hilarious and heartbreaking, a rural Wisconsin sheriff, two Minneapolis police detectives, and Grace's gang are caught in a web of decades-old secrets that could get them all killed.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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I'm giving this two stars because I'm trying to be nice. In fact there are some good aspects to this book. I thought the cops (in both locations in the book) were well thought out and sympathetically drawn. The writing was fine. I read the book rather quickly.
But Monkeewrench has some major problems.
The biggest problem is the resolution. It is simply ridiculous. In so many ways. I don't want to spoil anything, so I won't go into any details. Suffice it to say: it makes no sense. None whatsoever.
Other problems:
Self-deleting email messages! How can I do that?
The character of Grace. She is repeatedly obnoxious to other characters who we like. This attitude we are supposed to forgive when we learn more about her history, but it doesn't work, because a three-dimensional person would not behave that way. Also, her transformation from a fragile, scared, vulnerable victim (in her past) to a ball-busting, combative, aggressor (in the present) is never explained.
Annie, the plus-sized-but-sexy woman. Much is made of her in the very first half of the book, but she disappears for the second half.
Why would the (almost) victim of a serial killer create a computer game about a serial killer? Seems sick to me. At the very least, that should have been delved into a little, but the book seems to consider it a perfectly natural thing to do.
The subplot of the boy subsequent door goes nowhere.
There is practically no police work to speak of, just lots of speculation. We are supposed to support the police decision not to involve the FBI, but in fact they would have solved the case much faster if they had.
Clearly, the authors came up with one hook (murders based on computer game), and were sloppy for all the rest of it, basing their hopes on an easily amused public. They have probably already decided who should star in the movie.
Rated by buyers 
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I picked up this book while visited my sister in Ireland, summer of 2004, and I was very glad I decided to.
A group of computer game designers are severely disturbed when images from their online game are used in a series of murders and reluctantly team together with Minneapolis police to track this killer down. The characters in this book are widely varied, though perhaps a little one-dimensional sometimes. There is some great humour here, but also tragedy. The group of computer game designers have a past they're trying to hide, and protect, which pulls some empathy strings as well as making an interesting twist.
As the very first in a series, this is definitely a seller. Enrapturing plot, unpredictable ending, intriguing characters, definitely a wow book.
Rated by buyers 
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P. J. Tracy is not one single person but an unusual, to say the least, writing duo consisting of mother and daughter. What input either of them has and how it all works I am not too sure but what I do know is that it does work a treat and their books are extremely readable and well thought out.
I had already read two of their other offerings before getting to this one, so I had a pretty good idea what to expect and I certainly wasn't disappointed. If you did not know you would not think that this is their very first book. You would imagine that two people inputting to the same novel would make the storyline a little disjointed if nothing else but not a bit of it. The characters are uncomplicated and the storyline has been well thought through and builds up gradually, keeping the reader engrossed and entertained throughout.
Rated by buyers -
I bought my copy for a couple bucks at a bookstore "factory clearance warehouse". Cassette #1 was recorded or assembled BACKWARD. Did anyone else have this problem?
I fast-forwarded to the end, twisted the tape, and used a bent paperclip to rewind back to the beginning.
I was able to listen to the story OK after that.
Rated by buyers -
Loved it, very engaging, I didn't want to put it down! I since purchased the rest of the series - but watch out - "Want To Play" is the same book, but printed under a different title in England.
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