Publisher's Weekly Review
Based on the USA Network show Monk, Goldberg?s fourth Adrian Monk novel, the first in hardcover (after Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu), fails to master the many challenges that television adaptations face. The books share the show?s sparseness of plot, without the charm of Tony Shalhoub?s Emmy-winning portrayal of the obsessive-compulsive genius sleuth. Goldberg?s wrinkle this time is to partner Monk?s first assistant, Sharona Fleming, whose husband, Trevor, is in prison for murder, with her successor, Natalie Teeger, a widowed California soccer mom who narrates the tale. Natalie is anxious that Sharona might supplant her, a concern not allayed when Monk asks both women to work for him part-time. The puzzle centering on Trevor is fairly thin, and Goldberg throws in several shorter mysteries for Monk to solve almost instantly. While it might have been too much to expect a book from Monk?s perspective, even within the confines of Natalie-as-narrator, more could have been done. (July) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Review
Obsessive-compulsive TV detective Adrian Monk gets double-teamed by past and present assistants into investigating a murder the LAPD think they've solved. Before single mom Natalie Teeger took on the job of shielding Monk from the germ-laden, disorderly world around him, the neurotic crime-solver relied on his former nurse, Sharona Fleming, till she left him hoping to reunite with her ex-husband Trevor. Now Trevor's in jail in L.A., charged with bashing his employer Ellen Cole with a lamp and stealing her jewelry, and Sharona's back in San Francisco angling for her old position. Once Natalie decides that her only hope of job security is for Trevor to ride off into the sunset with Sharona, the two assistants bundle Monk off to meet with Lt. Sam Dozier, who investigated for the LAPD. Although hampered by the gas mask he wears to survive L.A.'s smog and the attitude he cops when Dozier introduces him to cocky mystery writer Ian Ludlow, Monk soon decides that the case of the lesbian Cole, her lover Sally Jenkins and her lover's lover, sperm donor Christian Bayliss, isn't as simple as Dozier assumes. Still, it takes a second murder, a break-in at a local firehouse and some fancy orthodontics before Monk triumphs. TV veteran Goldberg (Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu, 2007, etc.) enlightens viewers about the shift from sassy brunette assistant to perky blonde, but leaves plenty of other loose ends. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Monk must mediate between his former and current assistants as well as trail a killer in the fourth spin-off of the TV show and the first published in hardcover. Goldberg, the Edgar Award-nominated Monk screenwriter, lives in Los Angeles. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.