REVIEW: Monkeewrench

Monkeewrench
Author: P.J. Tracy

 I first read this book in October of 2018. Then I lost track of the series....coming back to start again, as I still remembered how much I liked this first book. 

Here is my initial  review from 2018:

A new computer game is out for beta testing. Serial Killer Detective is a new venture for Monkeewrench, a Minneapolis software company. The company has produced educational software for years and is attempting to expand into more adult video games. But a copy cat murderer starts killing people and posing the bodies just like the crime scenes depicted in the new game. The killer sends cryptic, threatening messages to the staff at Monkeewrench after each murder. Turns out the software nerds are hiding some pretty gruesome secrets from their past, but they join with police to investigate the case. It's no longer fun and games when someone loses their life for real..... Can they catch the killer before he re-enacts all 20 murders from the video game?

I love this book! The story grabbed my attention from the start, and I ended up binge reading it in one day. I couldn't stop reading! I like Grace McBride and her group of computer nerds. Their friendships are so strong that they are willing to risk their lives for each other. Families don't have to be biologically related! The Monkeewrench staff and police officers have to work together, despite each group distrusting the other. The plot was quite suspenseful, with plenty of interesting twistiness.

The Monkeewrench series has 9 books. The newest one just came out in September. I attempted to read and review it, as I didn't realize it was part of a series when I was offered a galley. This series really is one you have to read from the beginning for character development and past history. I was confused when trying to read The Guilty Dead without any prior knowledge. I am SO glad I backtracked to book 1 and gave this series a chance. I enjoyed this first book so much that I'm having a hard time waiting for book 2 to arrive at my local library....it has to transfer from another nearby library. So hard to wait 4 days to find out what happens to the staff at Monkeewrench next!

Flash forward to 2021 -- there are now 10 books in the series. This time around, I listened to the audio book. The audio is just over 11 hours and narrated by Buck Schirner. Schirner does a fabulous job of voice acting. Sometimes male narrators trying to voice women characters just fall short of the mark...but this narrator did a great job with all the characters, male and female. Nice voice. Good reading pace. Excellent voice acting. Loved it! He really brought the story to life! 

Fabulous story! I loved it just as much the second time! And this time I'm not losing track of this series amid other books on my TBR stack or review list! Gotta listen to them all! 1 down.....9 to go!