Dead Run by P. J. Tracy
Aug. 25th, 2006 04:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
It should have been a simple journey: three friends driving cross-country towards Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Then Grace, Annie and Sharon break down ... Deep in the northern woods, far from civilisation.
Just how far becomes clear when the women stumble into Four Corners: a dead town hiding a deadly secret. It's a secret people have already died for; and the terror is far from over. Because there are people who will stop at nothing to prevent the truth - and its witnesses - from ever leaving ...
I greatly enjoyed P. J. Tracy's (the pseudonym for a mother/daughter writing team) debut novel "Want To Play", although I've yet to read the follow-up "Live Bait". This is the third in the series featuring Grace MacBride and her Monkeewrench compadres and I was very disappointed.
For starters, the plot takes a while to get opening. Whilst you're introduced to the town of Four Corners via the eyes of some of its inhabitants and quickly thrown into the fact that Something Awful Has Happened, Tracy takes her time in getting you to the nuts and bolts of why it's happened. In the interim, you're left following Grace, Annie and Sharon as they stumble around the town trying to avoid the People Responsible and this is padded out with Grace's perhaps/perhaps not boyfriend, Detective Magozzi to chase after her with Harley and Roadrunner to try and work out what's going on.
Characterisation-wise, people familiar with the previous books will know that Grace MacBride is a tough character. It's therefore disappointing to see her reduced to such a cypher here. True, her instincts remain good but Tracy refuses to let her act on them except when convenient to the plot and this is frustrating for the reader. Whilst the Rubenesque Annie is normally a well-rounded character (no pun intended), here she's reduced to angsting about her nails and shoes and having to take exercise, again it's frustrating. But what annoyed me most were the 'girly conversations' where all three women complain about how crap men were, but keep reiterating how much they love them. It's unworthy and tedious.
The story itself (once you find out the why and how) has potential. The idea of US citizens using terror tactics as a way to turn public opinion against immigrants is not necessarily new, but does have the potential to chill. The execution here however is slow, the characters seldom rise above cariacture and you go through the plot never doubting that the good gals will win and the bad guys will die. What would have been truly gripping would have been for Tracy to actually kill one of the three women - or at least, put one in a situation where you genuinely believe their life to be at risk. The hide and seek we're given, is simply not up to the job.
The Verdict:
Not what I'd expect from such a talented pair of writers as P. J. Tracy. Very disappointing and easily skipped for fans of The Monkeewrench Crew.
It should have been a simple journey: three friends driving cross-country towards Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Then Grace, Annie and Sharon break down ... Deep in the northern woods, far from civilisation.
Just how far becomes clear when the women stumble into Four Corners: a dead town hiding a deadly secret. It's a secret people have already died for; and the terror is far from over. Because there are people who will stop at nothing to prevent the truth - and its witnesses - from ever leaving ...
I greatly enjoyed P. J. Tracy's (the pseudonym for a mother/daughter writing team) debut novel "Want To Play", although I've yet to read the follow-up "Live Bait". This is the third in the series featuring Grace MacBride and her Monkeewrench compadres and I was very disappointed.
For starters, the plot takes a while to get opening. Whilst you're introduced to the town of Four Corners via the eyes of some of its inhabitants and quickly thrown into the fact that Something Awful Has Happened, Tracy takes her time in getting you to the nuts and bolts of why it's happened. In the interim, you're left following Grace, Annie and Sharon as they stumble around the town trying to avoid the People Responsible and this is padded out with Grace's perhaps/perhaps not boyfriend, Detective Magozzi to chase after her with Harley and Roadrunner to try and work out what's going on.
Characterisation-wise, people familiar with the previous books will know that Grace MacBride is a tough character. It's therefore disappointing to see her reduced to such a cypher here. True, her instincts remain good but Tracy refuses to let her act on them except when convenient to the plot and this is frustrating for the reader. Whilst the Rubenesque Annie is normally a well-rounded character (no pun intended), here she's reduced to angsting about her nails and shoes and having to take exercise, again it's frustrating. But what annoyed me most were the 'girly conversations' where all three women complain about how crap men were, but keep reiterating how much they love them. It's unworthy and tedious.
The story itself (once you find out the why and how) has potential. The idea of US citizens using terror tactics as a way to turn public opinion against immigrants is not necessarily new, but does have the potential to chill. The execution here however is slow, the characters seldom rise above cariacture and you go through the plot never doubting that the good gals will win and the bad guys will die. What would have been truly gripping would have been for Tracy to actually kill one of the three women - or at least, put one in a situation where you genuinely believe their life to be at risk. The hide and seek we're given, is simply not up to the job.
The Verdict:
Not what I'd expect from such a talented pair of writers as P. J. Tracy. Very disappointing and easily skipped for fans of The Monkeewrench Crew.
