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MR MONK IN OUTER SPACE
by Lee Goldberg
NAL, October 2007
288 pages
$19.95
ISBN: 0451220986


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Adrian Monk used to be the best detective in San Francisco until his wife was murdered and he couldn't find the killer. That's when his obsessive-compulsive disorder went out of control and he was retired from the police force. Now he works as a consultant to the detectives on difficult murders.

When he spies a stain on the carpet in his home, he calls on his assistant Natalie Teeger to replace the whole rug, and until it is replaced he opts to stay with his brother Ambrose at the family home. Ambrose is agoraphobic and has not left the house for years. He writes well-regarded instruction pamphlets, has taught himself many languages and is as much of a genius and strange person as is Adrian.

Adrian is called in on the first murder of this book only to discover that the victim was dead before he was shot. Then he consults on the case of the murder of Conrad Stipe, the creator of an old and revered TV show called Beyond Earth, who was killed at a convention of the show. Luckily the murder was caught on security camera and the cops see that the killer was wearing the costume of one of the characters in his show, Mr Snork.

Beyond Earth was only on for two seasons years ago, but has gathered many followers who adore the show, the actors and everything about the program. Monk can't understand why so many people worship a TV show. The word around the convention is that Stipe had agreed to a network's putting out a new version of the program, and that has left many of the show's dedicated followers very angry. There are also rumors that the food company sponsor has some problems with their finances.

When more murders occur in the area, Monk manages to make a connection between them all, and that includes the first murder, the man who was already dead when he was shot. To make matters more complicated, Monk is disgusted to find that his brother Ambrose turns out to be a fan of Beyond Earth who has also written many books about the show and its original made-up language.

Like the others in the print series, Monk's assistant Natalie narrates MR MONK IN OUTER SPACE. We hear the entire story through her eyes and emotions. Natalie feels a bit unraveled this go around. Her daughter Julie is away and Natalie has taken to looking at her life and the lives of the people around her and is finding it lacking.

I have been a fan of the television program Monk since it first went on the air, so I have also read these episodes in print. Because the author Lee Goldberg has written many of the TV episodes he knows all about the characters and has done a fine job in writing these stories - for the most part. But for some reason, in this book, Mr Goldberg has mangled Adrian Monk's character.

Usually Mr Monk is riddled with OCD symptoms that are frustrating but also humorous. In this book Adrian has become nasty, bigoted and illogical within the confines of his madness. He might be nuts, but he's not stupid. Here he calls all the people at the convention freaks, is nasty to his brother and becomes so full of himself that Adrian Monk didn't seem at all like the character that I have become so fond of on the TV program.

Monk has always been riddled with neuroses but has always been a lovely and sad person the audience cared about. Here Mr Monk is just a nasty, sick man who pushes his ideas on others and thinks he is always right. He is no longer then sweet man who used to feel terribly sad and sorry for the rest of the world that just doesn't know better. Here he is arrogant and thinks the people in the rest of the world are stupid fools. Monk is no longer likable

Everything in the book was negative. Natalie's description of everyone was very off-putting. The other detectives weren't as funny or likable as they usually are and as for the way Mr Goldberg talked about the fans of Beyond Earth, it's too obvious that he dislikes energetic fans of any television program - including his own.

Unless the tone of the next Monk book makes the characters once again people the readers can admire and like, I don't know if I will care to visit Mr Monk again in print.

I just hope the television writers don't decide to let Mr Goldberg's Monk take over on air.

Reviewed by A.L. Katz, January 2008

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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