Off the Grid

June 4, 2012
At the start of the exciting sixth Monkeewrench novel from the pseudonymous Tracy (a mother-daughter writing team), Minneapolis computer entrepreneur Grace MacBride and FBI cybercrime expert John Smith, with whom she worked on a case in 2010’s Shoot to Thrill, are sailing on his boat off the Florida Keys. When two men sneak aboard one night intent on killing John, Grace shoots them both dead and dumps their bodies over the side. Meanwhile, back in Minneapolis, a 15-year-old Native American girl, who’s been missing from her reservation in northern Minnesota, turns up with her throat cut in a vacant lot, the apparent victim of a kidnapping ring made up of Somali immigrants who exploit Native American girls for the sex trade. The execution-style murders of first two, then three Somali men that follow prove to be part of a larger national pattern. The two main story lines converge in a gripping finale in the Minnesota woods. Agent: Ellen Geiger, Frances Goldin Literary Agency.

August 1, 2012
Amazing but true: The Monkeewrench gang, that misfit quartet of lovable cybergeeks who moonlight as the nemesis of Twin Cities serial killers, actually gets upstaged by the Minneapolis Police Department. Battered, paranoid Monkeewrench founder Grace MacBride's recuperative sailing trip through the Florida Keys with retired FBI desk-jockey John Smith is rudely interrupted by a pair of killers who climb aboard Smith's boat and start to cut his throat. Grace handily dispatches them both and rolls the bodies overboard, but she's seriously rattled to find Smith's particulars on one of them. Clearly these men weren't pirates, but assassins who specifically targeted her host. Back in Minneapolis, Ojibwe teen Aimee Sergeant, abducted from Sand Lake Reservation for the sex trade, has her own throat slit when she tries to escape. Ojibwe Officer Bad Heart Bull just happens to be on hand to rescue the four even-younger girls who were snatched with her. In the meantime, even more surprisingly, Joe Hardy, a cancer-ridden Special Ops sharpshooter, executes Aimee's Somali kidnappers. A sizable stash of weaponry and a remarkably similar murder spree in faraway Culver City confirm Minneapolis PD Detective Leo Magozzi's hunch that the sale of the kidnapped girls was intended to provide financing for a gang of Somali terrorists who've gone after Smith for mysterious reasons that provide the slender mystery's most pleasing surprise. The rest of the Monkeewrench crew--Annie Belinsky, Harley Davidson and Roadrunner--don't have much more to do than the abducted Ojibwe girls; for better or worse, this show mostly belongs to Magozzi, his partner, Gino Rolseth, and the imperturbable Smith. Despite the high body count, Tracy (Shoot to Thrill, 2010, etc.) seems to have taken something off her customary manic formula: The murders are much less florid than usual, and the regulars seem almost subdued.

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July 1, 2012

If you haven't been introduced to the Monkeewrench gang of eccentric but brilliant software designers, you are missing out on complex characters, witty repartee, and exciting thrills. In the sixth installment (after Shoot to Thrill), trouble follows Monkeewrench partner Grace McBride on a sailing trip off the Florida Keys with ex-FBI agent John Smith when she thwarts an assassination attempt against him. Back in Minneapolis, homicide detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth investigate a series of murders that lead to a remote Indian reservation. VERDICT Tracy, a mother-daughter writing team, skillfully incorporates a diverse array of elements--Native Americans, war veterans, a terrorist plot, and kidnapped children--while keeping the thrill level high and the writing sharp and frequently funny. Readers can't help but root for love-struck Magozzi and Grace to finally work it out. The twist of an ending leaves fans waiting for the next installment. For newcomers, this could be read as a stand-alone, but the history behind all the main characters really makes it a top-notch title for series followers. Readers who enjoy Harlan Coben or T. Jefferson Parker might want to give this series a try.--Marianne Fitzgerald, Severna Park H.S., MD

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