Ice Cold Heart

A Monkeewrench Novel

By: P. J. Tracy

Narrated by: Sarah Borges

Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

Minneapolis detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth join Grace MacBride and Monkeewrench to uncover a dark and ugly conspiracy that reaches deep into the safety of homes in this latest electrifying thriller from New York Times best-selling author P. J. Tracy.

It's a bitter winter in Minnesota - too cold to kill. There hasn't been a murder for a month, but the lull quickly comes to an end for Detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth, when they're called to the gruesome homicide of Kelly Ramage. Found in a friend's vacant house, this was no random attack, and clues reveal that she was living a very dangerous secret life.

Magozzi and Gino trace her steps back to an art gallery where she was last seen alive. The gallery seems like a dead end, but the art is disturbing and exploitative. It may very well be inspiring a sadistic killer, because in this instance, art doesn't imitate life, it imitates death.

Tipped off about a year-old murder that is a mirror image of Kelly's crime scene, Gino and Magozzi enlist the aid of Grace MacBride and her eccentric, tech genius partners in Monkeewrench Software to help them decipher the digital trail that might connect the cases.

As coincidences emerge, Magozzi, Gino, and the team have to work around the clock at breakneck pace to unravel a series of clues that form the framework of a larger, more sweeping, and insidious conspiracy than any of them could have imagined. Is Kelly the last person to die, or just the most recent? And is there any way to stop it?

©2019 P. J. Tracy (P)2019 Blackstone Publishing

Excellent

What an extraordinary novel. I thought I was getting a run-of-the-mill, paperback mystery. Instead, I heard a novel haunted by memories of the fall of Yugoslavia, and richly peopled by characters impacted by that conflict.

This novel goes to some very dark places. For me, that darkness was balanced by so much love, courage, and healing, that it was bittersweet and nuanced rather than depressing.

It also reminded me that the US is filled with refugees from conflict zones, and we never know what our neighbors have had to endure to be here. A little kindness can have a large impact.

This novel was also beautifully narrated.

This one is staying on my “saved to read again” shelf. I got it free with my audible subscription, but it was absolutely worth a credit. Now I’ll have to go back and read the earlier parts of the series. The MonkeyWrench crew are supporting characters in this book.

Ugh. Narrator

Like other reviewers said, the inconsistent accents and seemed to be disconnected from the story. Also, weirdly mispronounced basic third grade level words, which was also distracting. Story was convoluted and not as easy to follow due to narration and most of the voices sounding the same.

Great story with many twists

But did not care for the funny voices the narrator used for Gino and Magozzi

Read in hardback. Just bought Audible version

I was disappointed by the voice actor’s performance of male voices, because I preferred the previous narrator.

Monkeewrench Returns to Form!

The first Monkeewrench book was a humdinger and Dead Run was another good one. Snow Blind started like a house afire but I didn't care for its finale. I read almost all if not all the others... Mostly my enthusiasm waned.

I thought this one was closer in pace to the earlier ones I liked. MANY plot strands: A woman with an older rich husband is cheating by dipping a toe into kink. Bad decision. Roadrunner saves Petra, a neighbor, from freezing to death -- she didn't try to kill herself but didn't try to avoid death either. She bonds with Roadrunner -- they have a history of abuse in common . Hers is from experiences in the old country: Bosnia (her job now is tracking down war criminals). His when a secret from his past is revealed. She decides to live after two detectives come to question her the next day -- one of her few friends, a woman from the old country, has been murdered. Petra thinks she knows who did it but hides what she knows and determines to get revenge. For somebody who tracks down criminals for a living, she is incredibly impulsive and lacks any planning skills whatsoever. Her actions are frankly stupid.... Glad Roadrunner found somebody but I'm not thrilled with her becoming a regular cast member. During their investigation, Magozzi and Gino visit a gallery whose current show is sculptures about torture of women. Protesters include a woman whose sister was murdered in another state -- with remarkable similarities to Magozzi's and Gino's current case. Finally, Monkeewrench is investigating a heist of cryptocurrency. And of course all these storylines are woven together.

Please go back to the old narrators!

I LOVE the Monkeewrench series, but I'm very glad this wasn't my first book to listen to. I enjoyed the story, but it was a struggle listening to this narrator. Please bring back Buck Schriner!!!! He IS the voice of these characters! Or at least please use a male narrator.

Oh My…

First I’d like to say that the book itself is really good, but this narrator is subpar. As a Minnesotan, the faked Minnesotan accent about killed me, but she also mispronounced basic words and the names of common Minnesota location that would have been easy to look up. I rated the performance a 1/5 for these reasons. It took me out of the story too frequently!

As usual, wonderful and winding mystery

I love the continuing development of these core characters! And I liked that the focus was on such tragedies as war crimes coupled with local Minnesota murder investigations!

Mispronounced words?!

It was really hard to focus on the story after hearing so many words mispronounced. She did a great job with the voices and characters but I hated the fact that she seemingly had never heard or read these words before.

Narration is not for everyone

The narrator’s voice isn’t unpleasant, but she overacts during the entire novel. It’s as if she is not taking in/understanding the story and only reading the words, all in a manner akin to an hours-long radio ad.