I try not to curse in public and certainly not in print. But Oh. My. God. I hated this book. In my post about the trouble with MONK, I was still reading the novel. This what I wrote mid-read…
“I have put off finishing the Mr. Monk and the Two Assistants novel because it is just terrible. To get the characters into the right dramatic position, the writer has to make the lead characters act out of character and do just downright stupid things to advance the plot. For example, Monk decides to buy a dental chart off the wall of a dentist’s office, thinking it is great art and demonstrating that he has most likely never been to a dentist at his age. Again. Hilarity. This occasional hackery is what makes Monk a decent series and keeps it from being a great series.”
Don’t get me wrong, the first two, two and a half seasons of the show are top notch stuff. Back then, he was not totally loaded down with phobias due to the freak out of the week he needed to have to keep driving the show. I loved that initial sketch of the character. And I understand why Natalie narrates the books. It helps keep you out of Monk’s head and makes you an observer of Monk, duplicating the viewing experience.
Let’s get past the gags about Monk thinking that a poster on the wall in the orthodontist’s office wall is art. And the one where Monk is unfamiliar with Catholic tradition. Those are mostly unfunny and cast doubt on whether Monk has ever interacted with the outside world which steps on the whole Greatest Detective thing.
Let’s look at story mechanics. The feisty sidekick Sharona Fleming worked with Monk while watching him solve at least forty impossible cases if you just take the volume of cases solved in the episodes with her as the loyal nurse. But when her husband is charged with murder, she naturally assumes he is guilty. He claims to be innocent, but she assumes the worst without even a call to Monk. Why, you ask? So that she can accidentally run into Monk and tell him the story.
While on the story mechanic thing, can I ask that we give the in-jokes a rest? In a famous comic book series, the fact that every major structure is named after a famous comic creator is distracting. Imagine watching a movie where someone is confirming directions with a line of dialogue like this… “So I follow the Hitchcock Highway to the Frankenheimer Turn Around past the Eastwood Monument until I pass to the Spielberg Sanctuary and I arrive at the Preminger Octagon. Gotcha.” I get the process of leaving Easter Eggs. Creators- leave that to the Easter Bunny!
Anyway, in the 27th Chapter of the book, the author reveals something that had been at the back of my mind for all of this time. In this scene, Sharona has had a revelation…
“I think I know why he hired you,” she said.
“You mean it wasn’t my vivacious personality and irrepressible charm?”
“You’re me,” Sharona said.
And with that I had to put the book down for a moment. When Sharona left the show, she was Monk’s Helper, a single mom with an absent ex-husband who was raising a teenage kid while living paycheck to paycheck. She was replaced by Natalie, a single mom with a deceased husband who was raising a teenage kid while living paycheck to paycheck. Big stretch. I know everybody has a type, but come on. Any way, Sharona concludes the scene by telling Natalie how she has grown into the role of Monk’s Helper. Its one thing to be a little lazy, but it is another to point it out to the audience.
The great philosopher and much better writer Matthew Sturges recently said that being in a writer’s group makes you a better writer. That happens because you have to defend your work to your peers and not to your fans. This Monk book needed something like peer review.
The producers of the TV series recently announced that the coming Eighth season of the show would be the last. I hope that Monk gets an adequate send off. God help us, these books might go on forever. This one sure felt like it did.
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