Reviews


Reviews of Double Switch

"Monday’s Double Switch is a rocket ride of a sports mystery with a wicked curve ball on every smoothly written page. May Johnny Adcock’s careers as a relief pitcher and sleuth motor on for a very long time."

- David Baldacci, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author

"Rollicking good fun for anyone who loves baseball and mysteries,  T.T. Monday takes you inside a modern day baseball clubhouse and imagines a world in which a left-handed bullpen specialist moonlights as a real-world fixer. Given the amount of time these left-handed, one out guys have on their hands, the premise felt totally plausible. Even though it is fiction, the fact that one of the book's main characters is a Cuban defector being blackmailed, and another is a high-paid image consultant who makes her living micromanaging player facial hair nails the tenor of America's pastime today."

- Molly Knight, bestselling author of The Best Team Money Can Buy

"Monday handles the baseball action flawlessly with this timely look at the influx of Cuban ballplayers and those eager to take advantage of them."

- Publishers Weekly

"Monday's second effort, following The Setup Man (2014), is an enjoyable, easygoing sequel that shows off the author's skill at seamlessly mixing genres."

- Kirkus

"Often mysteries set in the world of professional sports seem contrived. Not this one."

- Booklist

Reviews of The Setup Man

"Monday nails it with "The Setup Man. His first thriller comes at you from both sides, with heat."

- The Post and Courier [Charleston, SC] (7/6/2014)

"If you’re looking for a clean-cut read, look elsewhere; The Setup Man is a raunchy book. The Setup Man is a speedy, enjoyable read, and baseball fans will be eagerly awaiting the next installment of Adcock’s adventures."

- Mystery Scene (7/3/2014)

"Adcock finds himself in a world of murder, porn, prostitution and Mexican cartels that makes one long for the simpler, good old days of baseball’s Steroid Era."

- The Free Lance-Star [Fredericksburg, VA] (5/4/2014)

"Monday delivers an all-star performance with this series debut. Here’s hoping that Adcock has a more than a few innings left in him."

- The Chronicle-Herald [Halifax, Nova Scotia] (5/2/2014)

"...smart and breezy thriller debut, fusing lots of irreverent baseball lore with pithy humour and a solid storyline. You don't have to be a fan of the bigs to get a big kick out of this one."

- Winnipeg Free Press (4/12/2014)

"The book is full of wit and humor, but it stands out and sparkles because Monday successfully marries the baseball novel with the private detective genre."

- Examiner.com (4/12/2014)

"A clever, articulate ball player, Adcock follows his dad’s advice to the 'easy money' and becomes a relief pitcher with a modestly successful career. His gumshoe activities begin when he confirms a teammate’s wife’s infidelity. Filled with baseball lore, Monday’s novel is an amusing and entertaining literary thriller.'

 - The Daily Beast (4/11/2014)

"With its clever intertwining of baseball and cases to solve, "The Setup Man" could make one heck of a good Netflix series. Regardless, out just in time for Opening Day, the novel should provide entertainment to readers all summer long, be they commuting on the Caltrain, lounging on the beach or waiting out the seventh-inning stretch."

- Palo Alto Weekly (4/11/2014)

"The plot is interesting and fast-paced. In baseball, starters and closers make the big bucks and get the glory, but readers may never look at “one-batter pitchers” the same way again after reading The Setup Man."

Tampa Tribune (3/30/2014)

"The book is terrific. Really good insights into the game of baseball. It has a West Coast flavor, which I like, and being a former criminal lawyer, I like that too. I recommend it."

Marty Lurie, KNBR-AM 680, San Francisco (3/29/2014)

"What separates Monday’s detective from other moonlighting investigators are the wonderfully written baseball scenes. The book provides readers with great insight into pitching and baseball strategy. You will find yourself in the bullpen, dugout and locker room along with Adcock and his teammates."

- Bookreporter.com (3/28/2014)

"Author Monday has pitched readers a dandy tale. He deserves promotion to the starting rotation of thriller writers."

--St. Louis Post-Dispatch (3/22/2014)

"Even if you can’t tell a hanging slider from an RBI, you’ll still likely appreciate the book’s sense of fun."

--Toronto Star (3/21/2014)

"The action is brisk and furious, the dialogue realistic, the humor light and wry..."

--Bookgasm (3/19/2014)

"My latest dugout discovery is T.T. Monday's The Setup Man, a sexy mystery with a rakish lead and a baseball plot that's ... pitch perfect."

--Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (3/14/2014)

"Monday has a “Dragnet”-like, just-the-facts style and offers lots for baseball fans to enjoy as well, with lines like: “I’ve always marveled at how much cops look like out-of-shape second basemen — or maybe how much second basemen (Jeff Kent, for example) look like in-shape cops.”

--New York Post (3/8/2014)

"Johnny Adcock knows he’s fortunate. He’s paid $1.5 million per year for about 10 minutes’ work, about 70 times a year. He’s the Setup Man, whose job is to pitch the eighth inning, or even to pitch to a single left-handed batter. But he’s also a realist. At 35, he’s a senior citizen, a torn ligament away from retirement. So he moonlights as a PI, solving the myriad problems that can befall suddenly rich, usually headstrong young men....Monday’s plot is inventive, but it’s the verisimilitude of Adcock’s baseball life that makes this one a delight. Adcock is a solid MLB citizen, but he’s aware of the many quirks endemic in baseball’s manners and mores, and he shares them freely with the reader. Here’s hoping he has many more seasons and many more cases."

--BooklistStarred review

"A throwback Southern California mystery in modern pinstripes....A treat for readers of mystery or baseball novels, this debut will be especially enjoyable for fans of both."

--Kirkus Reviews

"Monday’s clever debut introduces 35-year-old Johnny Adcock, a Major League Baseball player winding down a 13-year pro career and developing a sideline as an investigator whose clientele consists primarily of fellow ballplayers....Monday deftly describes the perks and pitfalls of life in pro ball—the highs, the lows, the boredom, the fragility—and the temptations. Monday...has delivered a rare double—a book that succeeds as both a mystery and a baseball novel."

--Publishers Weekly

"Don’t shy away from this mystery if you’re not a baseball fan. The industry is seamlessly interwoven into the story and you’ll pick up all you need to know without any effort. If you are a baseball fan, dive in headfirst...This is the author’s first thriller, but I hope it’s not his last."

--Suspense Magazine 

“I'm a sucker for baseball fiction. I'm a sucker for private detective fiction. That makes me a double sucker for The Setup Man by T.T. Monday. I was more than happy to ride shotgun with Johnny Adcock as he battled Mexican drug lords, surrendered dingers to steroid-muscled designated hitters and described everything with a sense of humor even in the midst of great physical or emotional pain. Much fun, much fun, much fun.”

--Leigh MontvilleThe Big Bam and Ted Williams

"A Home Run!  What else can you call the funny, riveting, absolutely first-rate debut by T.T. Monday about a professional baseball player who moonlights as a private investigator?  I loved this book and its hero, Johnny Adcock. (Note to reader:  I'm not even a baseball fan.)”

--Christopher Reich, New York Times bestselling author of Rules of Betrayal and The Prince of Risk

“In The Setup Man, T. T. Monday trots out thrills and humor the way the Yankees trotted out Ruth and Gehrig. He adds a Murderers' Row of compelling characters, captained by relief pitcher/detective Johnny Adcock, a left-handed Travis McGee. And then there's the baseball, as realistic as in any novel about the sport (I've read them all): You'll feel as though you're alongside the players in the bullpen, dugout and clubhouse. Like spring training, Adcock's next adventure can't come soon enough.”

--Keith Thomson, New York Times bestselling author of Once a Spy