TWO EVILS – P.J.TRACY I’m no stranger to P.J.Tracy, Grace MacBride and the Monkeywrench crew so I kind of knew what to expect with this and I wasn’t disappointed. The book gets off to a rollicking start, two dead bodies already by page 6 and that’s just for starters. It’s an easy read in many respects, undemanding and a paradoxical predictability for you don’t know what’s going to happen as the plot unfolds but you know the direction its going to take. There will be a big part played by computers, Grace and the gang will be placed in situations of extreme danger and the cops and the FBI will try and sort things out. It’s a bit like the Famous Five for grown ups but the lashings aren’t ginger beer…….. I think that one of the dangers of two people writing the same book is you get double the plot complexity and characterisations so you have to stay on top of this to keep hold of the unravelling of exactly what’s going on. I don’t want this to be a spoiler so I’ll say no more. It’s an easy, absorbing read; it doesn’t matter if you’re unfamiliar with this series of books. Whilst the characters have quirks aplenty they lack the depth of say a Tony Hill or a Harry Hole but if you enjoy a good ole crime yarn then you’ll enjoy this. If you’re looking for more then go elsewhere, there’s the occasional attempt at social commentary but for me it never quite works. And there’s no need for it to this is a story that works and is simply a book to be enjoyed. End of.

Despite the subject matter this book is very funny in places, especially with regard to Magozzi and Rolseth and their take on the wilderness! I found myself giggling on several occasions. It is their rapport and their part in this book which earns it the fourth star, as, sadly, without them it would have been bit of a let down. As a fan of PJ Tracy's other books I felt short-changed by the lack of input from the Monkeewrench crew, they were only in it fleetingly it seemed, and as for Grace, well, she hardly featured at all, although when present she was awesome! In fact she was in the midst of a complete change in her character, and given her past this was something of a surprise and not one which I was ready to accept without some reservations (apologies for the pun, you'll know what I mean should you read this!). With regard to the story, there are terrorists-come-child abductors being killed across the US and in the course of identifying them and their killers a heinous plot is uncovered. One which in real life would surely be utterly terrifying, an as yet unidentified method of instigating violence upon the unsuspecting law enforcement agencies and the public alike. All was going well, the excitement was ramped up several notches, the good guys were doing their thing (helping the feds etc. to foil the aforementioned plot) and I thought 'Great, a showdown in the forests, a veritable 'Cowboys and Indians' shootout!!'' But, then it just sort of fizzled out after a whimper and a completely ridiculous exit from one of the main players in this storyline! Had it not been for the convincing actions of a couple of the other characters - Claude and Chief - I would have liked this book a great deal less. To be fair, the authors did a good job with these two guys, and with Magozzi and Rolseth. They let the side down with the lack of action at the end. I have to say that I guessed the 'who' and surmised a possible 'how' but this didn't spoil things. What did, though, was the misuse of the word 'jihad.' In the context of the terrorist plot it would be correct, however, in the context used in the book it is wholly incorrect, the correct term for this particular action is 'fatwa.' Generally speaking a good book with some minor irritations easily dismissed by the great characterisations of the Magozzi/Rolseth and Claude/Chief combos.

I have read all the monkey wrench series so am familiar with the ongoing threads and storyline of the characters. With this story after the initial scene on the boat I was drawn in rather more than immediately gripped to the storyline. This book certainly gave over more to the two police detectives (Magozzi and Rolseth) than the Monkeywrench crew themselves which I missed but nevertheless enjoyed the banter between the two. A well written book from that point of view and, indeed, with regard to the Chief and Claude. This felt a bit transitional with regard to Grace and friends which I do hope is redressed in the next book. The storyline itself as I said drew me in, albeit somewhat unbelievable, but I did find that the 'final shoot out' was a little disappointing. It was redeemed by the epilogue. Given the subject matter this book has it's moments of light relief and humour, the characters are good and you are kept hooked. It's enjoyable although not the best of the series. I look forward to the next book.

The discovery of the body of a girl in Minneapolis leads to further grim discoveries relating to those who probably killed her. However, before the police can get to grips with the case there are more killings and a sinister pattern starts to emerge. Detectives Magozzi and Rolseath are on the case and must seek the help of computer analysts Monkeewrench Software, the FBI and the Native American Tribal Police Force in order to try to solve the crimes. It’s difficult to write about this genre of book without giving anything away that would spoil things for future readers, so I intend to be very careful and say very little about the plot of Two Evils and how it fits together. This is the sixth book in the authors’ series about these characters and on consulting my list of books I’ve read (sad I know!) I see that I read the first in the series many moons ago. I have to say, however, that I remember nothing about it whatsoever, so was in reality coming to this new book fresh with no knowledge of the characters or their back story. There was a lot I enjoyed about Two Evils. The plot rips along at a snappy pace and makes you want to keep turning the pages – so much so that I read it in two sittings. Some of the places used as settings for particular sections of the book were new to me and were therefore of more than usual interest. There was also more of an aspect of spirituality in the book than is usual for this type of fiction. I liked and sympathised with most of the characters, though I found the men better drawn than the women (which seems strange in a novel written by a two-woman team). The two-man detective team is a cliché in crime writing and is difficult to do in a fresh way. In order for the characters to be distinguishable from each other there’s a temptation to make them quirky and have odd characteristics – this seems to happen here and in my opinion it would have been better to avoid some of it. However, though I liked most of the characters, I found them to be ciphers whose attitudes and motivations weren’t sufficiently explained within the novel, which meant that all I was really left with were some stick figures running around making the plot work. I realise that this is due to the characters having been through adventures in the five previous books, but there should be enough characterisation in each novel so that it can stand alone. I don’t feel that this was the case for Two Evils. Another issue I had with the book was a plot-related point which I predicted early on and which sure enough came to pass. I felt it was facile, predictable and the easy option for the authors so was a little disappointed to see it used. I read a lot of crime fiction, but prefer UK-based detectives to those from the other side of the Atlantic. And I think this book demonstrates why that is – although the plot runs at a mile a minute, is exciting and exotic, it ultimately feels hollow and superficial as if the novel exists for the plot alone and full characterisation is somehow unnecessary. There are some clever and well-written set pieces, but as we never really find out why people act as they do (due to the lack of depth in the characters) the book as a whole is somehow disappointing. It seems to me (watch out, enormous generalisation coming!) that British crime writers are more interested in their characters and what motivates them, which to me makes for a more enjoyable read. Of course you could argue that we Brits spend too much time on characterisation in crime novels, which leaves the plot weak. Everyone’s entitled to their opinion. There are things to like in Two Evils and if you’re in the mood for a thrilling crime romp then this may very well be the book for you. For me, however, it didn’t tell me enough about who the characters were and hence was only average when it could have been great.

Two Evils is part of a serious of books featuring Grace McBride and her “gang” of computer hackers at monkeewrench. Two men are found killed in their house, execution style, and the next morning another murder, this time of three men. However when the police start to investigate, it turns out that the men in question were hardly upstanding citizens. Local policemen Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth are drafted in to try and solve these murders, along with a murder of a 15 year old girl. Grace becomes involved after thwarting an assassination attempt on an FBI officer and the action culminates in a violent confrontation on an isolated Indian reservation. Starting off with a mixture of characters and murders, it takes a while for the different storylines to start blending together. Once I had got into the book and started to make sense of all the plots, it did begin to move along nicely, and I particularly enjoyed the moral dilemma aspects to the storyline. As the book’s title suggests, sometimes it’s a case of picking the lesser of two evils. On the whole it was an enjoyable crime novel, but I did find that I was missing something from not having read the previous books. Unlike other crime novels which feature the same characters, I found that not having read the previous books was a disadvantage. At the start of the book Grace is on a boat and is clearly upset about something, but this is never really discussed in depth, and the author assumes that the reader has read the previous novel and therefore knows what is going on. Obviously as a rule most people will have read the books in order and therefore this is not a massive criticism, but it does make the series stand out from others, which I have previously reviewed, where prior knowledge of the books and characters is not a requisite for reading the other books in a series. I would be interested in reading further books by PJ Tracy (the mother/daughter crime writing duo) but I think I will be starting at the beginning….