Mr. Monk Is a Mess is the next-to-last Monk novel that Lee Goldberg plans to write. I've mentioned time and again how much I've enjoyed these books, and this one's no exception. It's very funny, and it marks another step in the changes that have been occurring as the series progresses. At the end of the previous novel, Mr. Monk on Patrol, Monk and his assistant, Natalie Teeger, had become police officers in Summit, New Jersey. Now they've returned to San Francisco to get things in order there before returning to Summit. Or will they return? Can Natalie leave her San Francisco life behind? Could Monk ever be comfortable outside his own environment? Not easy decisions, and they're complicated by the fact that when Natalie arrives home, there's a dead body in her bathtub. Not to mention money stolen from the FBI's evidence room. Besides that, Yuki, the love of Monk's brother, Ambrose, has disappeared, and some very bad people are after her. So there's a lot to be wrapped up before any final decisions are made.
The ending is entirely satisfactory, as you'd expect from Goldberg, and it looks as if the next novel will be taking a somewhat new direction. Don't wait for that one, though. Get this one. You'll thank me later. It has laughs, heart, mysteries, and deft plotting, all the things that have made reading the series such a pleasure.
3 comments:
I may not have mentioned that you finally convinced me to try one and I've been working my way through the serie ever since. They are indeed very funny.
Jeff
Another soul made happy!
I loved the scene of Monk on the airplane flying to Hawaii in MR. MONK GOES TO HAWAII, for example.
I do tend to space out the books, however.
Jeff
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