Rate this book

Play To Kill (2010)

by P.J. Tracy(Favorite Author)

3.87 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0718152743 (ISBN13: 9780718152741)

languge

English

genre

Mystery & Thriller

publisher

Michael Joseph

series

Monkeewrench

review 1: With sophisticated special effects now so widely available, it can be hard to distinguish whether a death scene on film is staged or a real murder. Being aware of the real-life crime scenes, however, the cops have managed to determine that several videos posted online are of real crimes. It's not easy to make that distinction, though, so FBI Special Agent John Smith is sent to work with the Monkeewrench crew, to see if their clever software can find a way to identify the other real videos the FBI are afraid might be out there already, so far undetected. And when one of the videos proves to be from a crime in Magozzi and Rolseth's jurisdiction, they get involved as well.This was a good one. I keep wanting to see more detail of what the Monkeewrench software can do, and it c... moreertainly gets a workout here. The theme is an interesting one, too: is technology facilitating behaviour that just wouldn't have happened before? It used to be that people with particularly aberrant desires and fantasies had no means to connect to others like them, but now they can do it with impunity. Are the benefits of modern technology enough to compensate for this? It's a theme that could have been developed a bit more subtly, but I was interested in the questions the authors were asking.I liked the new character that was introduced here. John Smith is about to retire, and at first sight he's just as anonymous as his name would indicate. His job is his life. He has moved through life staying away from others, concentrating all his energy in work. Grace and him have a lot in common, and she notices that.I was very interested to see that the halting progress of Grace and Magozzi's relationship is beginning to have an impact in the others. Gino Roselth, who might be my favourite character in the series, is starting to resent Grace here. He's starting to think that Grace's difficulties establishing a normal relationship with his good friend Magozzi might just be tipping into screwing with him, and he doesn't like it. That added an exciting and, actually, welcome edge into the relationship between the police and the Monkeewrench crew, which has always been pretty smooth.I enjoyed the investigation very much, and then got to the ending. That was... wow. Surprising, to say the least, as well as very intriguing. It was so intriguing, in fact, that I can't wait to read the next book and see what it actually means.MY GRADE: A B.
review 2: Number 5 in the Monkeewrench series. This is a good addition to the series and has a strong presence by Geno Rolseth and Leo Magozzi (who loves Grace). There are two crimes here that are both linked to the world of the Internet and the first of these brings Monkeewrench into the picture. They, among other computer hackers are asked to help the FBI find out who's murdering people and posting the murder film on the web. Hacker's helping the FBI!! Not too likely but Monkeewrench ends up being center stage. The Monkeewrench gang are such unique people but they aren't the major part of the story as in the past - still there and still important but this is more Geno and Leo and it's great to see how they work with FBI agent John Smith (and yes, that is his real name).I enjoyed the story very much, it's written as though P J Tracy were one person. Very well done. However, the ending left me saying "Wait . . . . What?!!" I hope there's another addition to the series out there and that I can read it soon. less

Download links for: Play To Kill

Advertising