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An audiobook review
Two different Monks!
I’d never read that Adrian Monk turned into “The Monkster” when he took his phobia-calming drug before flying. It was hilarious. It was also interesting to see how he solved murders as Mr. Monk, a consultant to the San Francisco Police Department, and as the ditzy, fun-loving Monkster.
I loved the TV show and author Lee Goldberg writes true to the series in this book. It’s light, funny, and fascinating.
When Dr. Kroger, Monk’s psychiatrist, tells him he will be away for a week in Germany to attend a conference, Adrian Monk freaks out! Among other things, he loses track of counting his blinks, and believes his new handicapped neighbor is a cannibal out to eat him! (You have to read the story.)
In desperation, he decides to meet with the doctor in Germany at his regular appointment time. (Thus, the funny Monkster scenes on the airplane and elsewhere!)
Everything is wrong in the quaint German town where the conference is held, from the uneven cobblestones to “all that nature” in the forest surrounding them. Yes, he meets his psychiatrist, who is not happy to see him, but Monk also gets involved in a puzzling murder mystery.
(Super funny is the fact that the German Polizei Commandant and his detective have the same names and character traits as their SFPD counterparts, Chief Stottelmeyer, and Randy Disher, except with German pronunciation! Did anyone else notice? WAY COOL, Lee Goldberg!)
Mid-book, Monk sees a man in the town square with six fingers on his right hand. If you know the series, you know Monk has been searching for just such a man who was responsible for his wife’s death.
He goes crazy! Well, crazier than he normally is. The rest of the book is a wild chase through German forests, a resort for freaks, flights without meds, lots of mud, and a near escape in a fire. Oh, and Monk solving two murders.
If you loved the shows, you will love this book. And Angela Brazil does an excellent job narrating as Natalie.
FOUR STARS
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