Live Bait

After leaving Tracy's debut novel, Monkeewrench, sitting in my to-be-read pile for over a year (accumulating the next two books in the series in the meantime, before I've read any of them), I finally picked it up and read it last week. I loved it so much that I moved on to the next two books in the series as soon as I finished the first! Live Bait opens with a mystery as intriguing as the serial killer in Monkeewrench. This time the bodies belong to elderly people in Minneapolis, living quiet lives and as far as anyone can tell, well-loved by those around them. The one thing they have in common is that they are Jewish concentration camp survivors. All have been shot. There's also the odd murder in the mix--an equally elderly man who was not a camp survivor, killed not by gunfire but by being tied to a railroad track with wire and essentially frightened into a heart attack by the train bearing down on him. The detective team of Magozzi and Rolseth take the center stage in this book, and we also get to know the rest of their squad a little better as the story unfolds. The Monkeewrench gang of programmers reappears but aren't as prominent in this story as the first, but their appearances in the plot are always memorable. Magozzi and Rolseth are both achingly human as they struggle with their own changing emotions toward the victims and their suspects, including the victims' seemingly blameless family members. As the plot moves along rapidly more and more secrets are revealed. I again enjoyed the "double twist"--more of a triple twist--in the final revelations in the story--I could partially anticipate "who dunnit" but not completely. I like the way that Tracy takes a storyline that seems wildly outlandish (and it is) and grounds it in characters who are so well developed that it all becomes terribly believable. And once again, I finished the book and dove headlong into the next one in order to spend more time with characters I'm becoming very attached to! Highly recommended, and make sure you read this series in order--check out Monkeewrench before you read Live Bait!

I read the first PJTracy book, "Monkeewrench" & thought it was quite good, but IMHO, this book outranks it. I loved the premise, the snappy dialog, the developed relationships, the ongoing suspense & unpredictability; it was simply an extremely enjoyable read all the way around. I am anxiously awaiting the next installment from PJ Tracy! They are definitely on to something with this series!

Although this is a sequel to the two authors' novel Monkeewrench, Live Bait could easily be read as a stand alone novel. Monkeewrench is also a great book though, and the outcome and some key events of that novel are given away in Live Bait so I would highly recommend reading Monkeewrench first because once you've read this book you'll want to check out the authors' previous work and you'll enjoy Monkeewrench so much more without knowing the outcome. In Livebait, Minneaolis homicide detectives Magozzi and Rolseth have their boredom relived by a serial killer who is murdering the elderly night after night. These sweet old people seem to have no enemies and are loved by the community, either have a cat, love baking for the grandkids, gardening or other typical retired generation activities. Most of these victims also have survived concentration camps in World War II Germany meaning the killer seems to have no heart at all. Minneapolis police want this murderer bad and enlist the help of grace MacBride and her Monkeewrench computer invention to find a motive and help catch the killer. This novel is extremely well written and full of great plot developments. I liked Monkeewrench, but this novel is an even higher literacy league. I can easily seeing this becoming a box office smash movie down the track, of course a movie will never be as good as your imagination reading it in this book. This novel could have probably been written as a stand alone novel outright not including the Monkeewrench element and giving away the plot of that book for people who have not read would be my only criticism. But they'll probably sell more copies of this book being that it is a sequel which means more people will get to read this literacy masterpiece which is maybe for the greater good.

I began this book without having read the first one, "Monkeewrench." There were times when explanations hinted at previous events, but it didn't stop me from enjoying the action in this one. The dialogue between the cops was so entertaining! Was it real? I haven't a clue because I've never met a real homicide cop. Does it matter? Not a bit; this is fiction, after all! Having lived through WWII, I found the subject matter still pertinent, still interesting, still emotionally touching. The authors wrote of believable people to me, each a blend of some good, some bad -- sadly real. And as in life, you're torn between hating people's actions and weeping for the people themselves. Other reviewers have given specific criticisms, both thoughtful and valid; and I don't disagree. This is not a darkly deep book. But I recommend it to anyone who enjoys sharp, entertaining dialogue; clever plotting; smart, interesting police procedures; and flawed people who are still appealing (some of whom I've met as neighbors!) and human. Kudos to the authors.....