In the preface to MR. MONK ON THE ROAD, author Lee
Goldberg tells us not to read this book until WE have seen
the last episode of the television series Monk as the book
contains spoilers on who killed Monk's wife Trudy, which is
the whole point of the television show. The key word
there is "until." If you've already seen the show, and you
got a little misty eyed at the montage of highlights from
all the past episodes and wondered on what happened to all
these great characters after it was over, you need to pick
up this book. This is the eleventh companion book to the
series, and Goldberg also penned the scripts for several
episodes.
Goldberg's choice to have the book narrated by Natalie, Mr.
Monk's assistant and some-times nurse gives it a similar
feel to the way Sherlock Holmes novels were narrated by Dr.
Watson, to allow the reader a sense of discovery and
surprise as the detective in question uses seemingly minor
details to piece together the puzzle. The supportive
outside voice allows us to understand Monk's eccentricities
(he suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder) for what
they are. Only, this time, Natalie is suffering from a
phobia of her own, and one of the funniest scenes in the
book is when Monk is trying to convince her to be rational
about it.
This book, like the series, focuses on Monk's
growth as a person, especially in terms of his relationship
with his brother Ambrose. This time, he is determined to
get shut-in Ambrose to leave the house -- even if he has to
drug him and shove him into the back of a RV to do it. On
the ensuing road trip, Monk finds himself solving random
crimes that just keep popping up, and only Monk can see the
pattern behind it.
Monk's out on the open highway-but crime is a hitchhiker
that won't be ignored. With his job secure and his wife's
murder finally solved, Adrian Monk is feeling
strangely...satisfied. He'd like his agoraphobic brother
Ambrose to feel the same way, so Monk puts a secret
ingredient in Ambrose's birthday cake: sleeping pills.
When Ambrose wakes up, he's in a motorhome on the open
road with Monk determined to show him the outside world.
But Ambrose isn't the only one struggling to let go. As
little crimes pop up along the highway, Monk can't resist
getting involved. Now it's up to Monk to stop a murderer
from turning their road trip into a highway to hell.
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