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.