Dead Run

The third book in the excellent Monkeewrench series by mother/daughter writing team, P. J. Tracy, is entitled Dead Run. Dealing with domestic terrorism and counting down to a horrendous outcome, the four misfit partners of the crime-gaming firm of Monkeewrench have stumbled into a very dangerous situation.

Grace and Annie, along with sheriff's deputy, Sharon Mueller embark on a road trip from Minneapolis to Green Bay, Wisconsin. They decide to take the scenic route and so are a long way from civilization when their car breaks down. They walk into a small hamlet entitled Four Corners, only to find the village entirely empty, they are soon trapped in the town and being hunted by an armed group clothed in camouflage and carrying automatic show more weapons. Meanwhile as their Monkeewrench counterparts are becoming more and more worried about where the women could be and why they haven’t arrived at their destination. When Detective Leo Magozzi and Sheriff Mike Halloran also become concerned, they all jump in the Monkeewrench bus and head out to Northern Wisconsin to locate the women.

This was a thriller that grabs you from the get-go and keeps you turning pages in order to discover what is going to happen next. The women have a certain attitude and some amazing survival skills that come into play, and their male counterparts have the computers and the programming knowledge to hopefully be able to shut down the terrorists if they can find them. Add a paranoid FBI and a ticking clock into the mix and you have a thriller that really delivers. With their strong story lines and well developed characters I can’t wait to see what this talented author gives us next. show less

A road trip goes horribly wrong when Grace, Annie and Deputy Sharon Mueller leave from the Cities for Green Bay to use Monkeewrench's new computer program to help solve a troubling crime. But when car trouble leaves them stranded, a walk to the nearest town leaves all sorts of questions.

Four Corners is suspiciously silent. There is no one there and the town looks scrubbed clean. With all the phone lines cut and in a dead spot in cellphone coverage in very rural Wisconsin, the women have no way to call for help. And they need help badly. They have run into some sort of military operation.

We know what happened in Four Corners. There was an accident with a milk truck the loosed nerve gas that killed all the people there. And a group came show more in to sanitize the scene before their dastardly plot could be discovered and stopped.

Meanwhile, Magozzi, Rolseth, and Harley and Roadrunner from the Monkeewrench crew are getting very concerned when they don't hear from the women. Sheriff Halloran is also concerned when he can't contact Sharon. He has a mystery of his own when three bodies are pulled from a local quarry which is a hang-out spot for teens. The three had been killed execution style. Before he can identify them, the FBI sweep in and claim the bodies.

The story is divided between the women who are trying to get out of Four Quarters and the men who are trying to find them. The suspense kept building to a very dramatic conclusion. I love the variety of mysteries in this series. This time the focus is on domestic terrorists which is a very timely topic in a book written in 2006. show less

Another solid entry in the Monkeewrench series. This one had a different feel than the first two, more of a survival/race against the clock kind of thing, but it was still twisty and good. I liked seeing Grace, Sharon, and Annie working as a team and dealing with what they were going through based on their own separate experiences. Seeing the boys racing to the rescue while the girls were busy saving themselves was great. My affection for all of these characters grows with every book. I hope we continue to see more of Mike, Bonar, and Sharon in future books. I loved Mike’s proposal and then his response when Sharon pointed out they hadn’t been on a date yet. “We can do that first, if you want.”
My only complaint this time around show more is the death of Deputy Lee. It just felt like revenge on the mansplainers of the world. I really wanted his poor wife not to lose her husband.
Looking forward to continuing with the series. show less

From Amazon:

Computer game company founders Grace MacBride and Annie Belinsky—along with Wisconsin deputy Sharon Mueller—are en route to Green Bay, following reports of a serial killer, when their car breaks down deep in the northern woods. A short walk through the forest leads them to the eerily quiet town of Four Corners, where they find severed phone lines and a complete absence of any life. But the quiet is deceptive. Before they know it, they witness a horrifying double murder—and discover that this is only the beginning of a race to save their own lives…and countless others.

My Thoughts:

The first two books about the Monkeewrench gang were action-packed thrillers but they also were essentially detective stories. This one is show more different. In fact, the first couple of chapters produced a promise that the remainder of the book just could keep.
All in all, this isn't a bad yarn. It's exciting and well-paced and the Bad Guys are really, really bad. At the same time, it's not quite believable that a militia group of the type depicted could be so organized, well-trained and well funded and still operate beneath the federal radar. Some of the characters depicted are borderline "cartoonish", but much of the dialog is refreshingly humorous in spite of the fact that there are 3 women fighting for their lives. Dead Run is an entertaining read. However, the majority of the book felt like the setup to something else that never quite takes place. 3.5 Stars. show less

A road trip goes horribly wrong when Grace, Annie and Deputy Sharon Mueller leave from the Cities for Green Bay to use Monkeewrench's new computer program to help solve a troubling crime. But when car trouble leaves them stranded, a walk to the nearest town leaves all sorts of questions.

Four Corners is suspiciously silent. There is no one there and the town looks scrubbed clean. With all the phone lines cut and in a dead spot in cellphone coverage in very rural Wisconsin, the women have no way to call for help. And they need help badly. They have run into some sort of military operation.

We know what happened in Four Corners. There was an accident with a milk truck the loosed nerve gas that killed all the people there. And a group came show more in to sanitize the scene before their dastardly plot could be discovered and stopped.

Meanwhile, Magozzi, Rolseth, and Harley and Roadrunner from the Monkeewrench crew are getting very concerned when they don't hear from the women. Sheriff Halloran is also concerned when he can't contact Sharon. He has a mystery of his own when three bodies are pulled from a local quarry which is a hang-out spot for teens. The three had been killed execution style. Before he can identify them, the FBI sweep in and claim the bodies.

The story is divided between the women who are trying to get out of Four Quarters and the men who are trying to find them. The suspense kept building to a very dramatic conclusion. I love the variety of mysteries in this series. This time the focus is on domestic terrorists which is a very timely topic in a book written in 2006. show less

This is my favorite of the four current Monkeewrench novels by P. J. Tracy. The first book introduced the series' classic character sets: urban cops, rural cops, and computer nerds. Adding the FBI, some home-grown terrorists, and sundry other state and federal agencies to the mix, "Dead Run" deploys them over the Minnesota countryside to great effect.

The story begins when an FBI agent and two computer nerds stumble upon an apparently deserted town after their car breaks down. The three ladies soon find themselves cut off, on the run, and committed to defusing a terror initiative. In the outside world, their friends are alarmed at their disappearance and set out to find them. Will the two groups get together in time? Will they foil the show more terrorists? No spoilers here; read the book.

One of the great delights of this book, as well as the others in the series, is the crisp and stylish writing. Thrillers with such exciting plots and engaging characters too often force their readers to endure spells of leaden dialog and tedious explanation of complicated plot twists. Not so with the Monkeewrench books. The story zooms along, nicely spiced with humor, and all loose ends are quickly and firmly tied. show less

Dead Run is full of odd-ball characters, it's bursting at the seams in an effort not to be stereotypical. The truth is, that this diversity of character is not Dead Run's strength, the entertaining and surprisingly fresh plot is. In one simple chapter, Dead Run takes your expectation and shreds it, fixing the reader with a fascinating story, aided by the interesting participants, yet not controlled by them. Plot driven novels rely on substance and surprise and Dead Run has enough of both. The ending is a little weak, although competently written, so it's not a complete cop-out. Dead Run is a surprising original book and is standalone, even though the characters make references to the previous Monkeewrench stories. A recommended read.