Review of TAKE THE MONKEYS AND RUN by Karen Cantwell

4 out of 5 stars

I won a copy of this book in a contest.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  Ms. Cantwell has a distinctive voice that I absolutely loved.  Without giving away any spoilers, I found this story to be reminiscent of a humorous, action-adventure movie made back in the nineties especially the circumstances involving the husband and his job.

Take the Monkeys and Run follows the antics of 45 year-old suburban soccer Mom, Barbara Marr.  Her life is falling apart.  Her husband has decided that he needs some space and has moved out.  Barbara wavers between falling apart and dissolving into tears or being stoic like her idol, Lt. Ripley, from the Alien movies.  Her life becomes more complicated when she finds monkeys in the trees on her property.  Barbara decides that she needs some distraction from her marital woes and decides to do some detective work and find out where those monkeys came from.

She involves two of her girlfriends in the mystery and an old boyfriend from her past shows up to lend her a helping hand and that doesn’t sit too well with her husband, Howard.  Ms. Cantwell has a flair for dialogue and there were many laugh out loud moments with Barbara.  Of course, things go from bad to worse and Barbara finds herself thrown into unlikely situations with some unsavory characters.  This book is predictable, but that doesn’t take away any of the enjoyment of reading it.  Take the Monkeys and Run is an absolute delight and I hope that Ms. Cantwell plans on writing many more adventures for our heroine, Barbara Marr.  Highly recommended.