penguin, London 2004

This first novel comes with all the goodies of a new approach at writing a thriller. And that´s not an easy undertaking. Almost all topics have been exploited in the genre.

So Tracy introduces the  most common archetype of the hermaphrodite as the bad guy/girl. She must have done a lot of research. Thanks. Her heroine Grace MacBride, a computer programmer, is also a bit  weird. She has a paranoid fear of everybody and locks herself up in her house just like Patricia Cornwell´s Dr Scarpetta. Her soft spot is a black neighbourhood boy, whom she rescues from his violent peers. And, of course, there is Inspector Magozzi, who not only rescues her in the end, but solves the case. Which case? MacBride and her friends design computer games and have invented an especially nasty murder game. And out there is a murderer who turns virtual reality into real life.
At the end of the book you are invited to read a sample of MacBride and Magozzi getting into their next adventure “Live Bait”. Good luck to them!