Review & Giveaway: The Sixth Idea by P.J. Tracy

Series: Monkeewrench #7
Publisher: Putnam
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: August 2nd, 2016
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Blurb from goodreads:

The Monkeewrench crew returns in a twisty, heart-stopping new thriller.
 
The peaceful Christmas season in Minneapolis is shattered when two friends, Chuck Spencer and Wally Luntz, scheduled to meet in person for the first time, are murdered on the same night, two hours and several miles apart, dramatically concluding winter vacation for homicide detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth.
           
An hour north of Minneapolis, Lydia Ascher comes home to find two dead men in her basement. When Leo and Gino discover her connection to their current cases, they suspect that she is a target, too. The same day, an elderly, terminally ill man is kidnapped from his home, an Alzheimer’s patient goes missing from his care facility, and a baffling link among all the crimes emerges.
           
This series of inexplicable events sends the detectives sixty years into the past to search for answers—and straight to Grace MacBride’s Monkeewrench, a group of eccentric computer geniuses who devote their time and resources to helping the cops solve the unsolvable. What they find is an unimaginable horror—a dormant Armageddon that might be activated at any moment unless Grace and her partners Annie, Roadrunner, and Harley Davidson, along with Leo and Gino, can find a way to stop it.

Bea's Thoughts:

Oh man, I enjoyed this book so much. I read the first three or four books in this series and then it fell off my radar. I was delighted when the publisher offered me this book and snatched it up. I'm glad I did. The fact I missed several books made no difference, I was able to jump right in. In fact, if you're new to the series, you could easily start with this one. You might not appreciate some details as much but you won't be lost.

"The Sixth Idea" is indeed twisty, just as the blurb says. The concept of the sixth idea is fairly simple and frighteningly possible, my favorite kind of mystery and thriller. The conspiracy around it is both complex and simple, elegant and vicious. The authors kept me turning the pages, engrossed in the mystery, delighting in the wit and humor, and the interactions between the characters. I felt as if I were visiting friends that I hadn't seen in a long time and I had a blast. Magozzi and Rolseth are good people and good detectives. They aren't rogues or loners but mostly work within the system and play well with others. The Monkeewrench crew is as quirky as I remembered but they are good solid people who are willing to help and in fact, go above and beyond. And I have a crush on Harley, a new book boyfriend. And the way he decorates a Christmas tree, well, he's original and thoughtful. I'll leave it at that. :D

The ending was a little too sweet for me and I still have a few questions but Tracy wraps up the threads and answers most of the questions. I do think we haven't seen the end of this conspiracy or some of the characters. There's at least one I'd like to see again.

"The Sixth Idea" was clever, smart, fun, twisty, plausible, and a wonderful way to spend a weekend. Want a copy? Enter below to win a copy, or go buy one.

Thanks to Putnam Books I have 1 print copy to give away to a US resident. Please read my Giveaway Policy and Privacy Policy. No purchase necessary. VOID where prohibited. Must be 18 years old or older to enter. 

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