Customer Reviews

Mr. Monk Goes to the Firehouse

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love the Adrian Monk TV show series with Tony Shaloub. I also love ready mystery stories. I was thrilled to see that a book series was beginning that involved this combination. I was very, very eager to enjoy it. I have to be honest and say that I was really disappointed when I was done. I handed the book to my boyfriend without giving him any indication of what I felt. When he was also very disappointed, I know it wasn't just a quirk. It just isn't a great translation of the stellar TV show.

The story is written from the point of view of Monk's assistant, Natalie. Monk's home is being fumigated, so Monk is living with Natalie for the time being. Natalie's daughter is sad because of the murder of a dalmatian at the nearby firehouse. Monk is enlisted to figure this out. Soon there are a few other murders, and Monk of course ties them all together and solves the case.

I normally am thrilled by a "female voice" in a book, and as I've said, I really enjoy the Monk character. On page 2 there was a typo, which of course Monk would have hated. I let it pass. After all, we're only 2 pages into the book. On page 3 is a HUGE issue - Stottlemeyer says his wife would leave him if Monk stayed with them. News flash - Stottlemeyer's wife HAS left him. This book was released in January 2006, and I read it in the first days of March 2006. It was a really "icky" feeling to have that sort of joke made. Surely the author was told what the upcoming series was going to hold.

On through the story we move. I've always admired Natalie in the TV show as being a reasonably honest, caring single mother with good morals. In this book she is completely inane. She is VERY obsessed with breast size and comments on them repeatedly. Either she is upset that another woman has big breasts or is criticizing herself for not having giant ones. By the second or third reference I was rolling my eyes. Enough already!! Next, pair this up with her shallow view of men. She says that the main reason she was with her husband was that he was good looking. She's obsessed with the "hunky" fireman and then is worried that he might have a high pitched voice or something else to "ruin" him. She's interviewing an overweight male person and when he talks about taking a bath she says that she felt like she would have to *vomit* because of the mental image. This goes way beyond "changing Natalie". Natalie has turned into the most shallow, body-obsessed brainless twit that I have encountered as a heroine in a story in many years. It really, really upset me.

It goes further. After having a self-righteous attitude against many people she runs into, they head out onto an island of the wealthy. Natalie is quick to mention that she does "not have anything against the rich." Oh, ok, it's fine to bash heavy people and people with not-great breasts, but we wouldn't want to upset any readers that have money. Of course, because those with money might buy the book. Heck, they might also buy the many products that are name-dropped here too.

There are other, smaller issues. Monk is drinking milk, when it's made clear in the series that he would never do that. Natalie makes some comments that Monk must solve EVERY single crime he's presented with or not be kept on by the police. That is a rather inane thought for anyone even slightly related to the police to have. Pretty much every clue is telegraphed, so that I always had a sense of what was a waste of time and what was going to happen before it did.

There's a gleam of hope here - she apparently owned an AMC Pacer as her first car. That was my first car too. I felt a momentary kinship with her because of that - but it didn't take long before her rambling self-absorbed commentary completely drove me away again.

I'm not saying I dislike Monk, the setting or the story at all. I really did enjoy the story and general plotting. However, the damage done to the main character (i.e. Natalie) was incredible. It was very disturbing to me. If there's any sort of lobbying I can do for the second book to get Natalie to be more true to the series, I will do it. I would love reading Monk series for years - but having a Natalie like this will be true torture. Having typos and egregious Monk-errors is just silly in a book about someone who is obsessive compulsive and who clearly would have picked these out in one reading.

If you like 'Monk' the TV series, you will love this book. Lee writes the books ('Diagnosis Murder' included)with all of the guidelines of the series in mind and I am sure he adds things and has a little more fun expanding on some situations. Although not written from Monk's point of view, Lee writes from his assistants point of view and you will enjoy how he pulls off the twist, and does so brilliantly. It gives a different and interesting insight into the Monk character.

This first of the Monk novels will make readers clamor for more MONK.

And if you have never seen the series, you will still love the book.

Richard Yokley

Read the book to get a lot of insight into Monk's new assistant Natalie, and come to know and like her daughter a lot better. Natalie extends her place as Adrian's Dr. Watson by acting as the chronicler. For this reason, we get a lot more of her thoughts than we do in the show. I like this Natalie better because I understand her better.

We also get to see Monk follow his trash to Zone 9, the zone for very clean trash.

But with this, the delicate timing and endearing edge that Tony adds to Adrian is missing, and the pacing of the book also feels a bit flat.

I'm a huge Monk fan. After getting through Seasons 1-4, which I got for Christmas, I was looking for more. I found the books, and thought why not give it a try. Mr. Monk and the Firehouse is an excellent read. Quick and easy, yet suspenseful, just like the show. The first few pages started out kind of "slow", and I was worried it wasn't going to be as good as the show, but once you get about 1/3rd into the book, it gets really good. The story is told by Natalie, which is hilarious. If you've seen the show, it's really easy to picture everything that is going on, it's almost like you're right there with them. Even if you haven't ever seen the show, the book is still worth a read. It's great!

I love the series Monk and have always been a fan of Tony Shaloub, he is the funniest guy ever. Loved him as Antonio in Wings and equally so in Monk. This book had me laughing out loud, I kept seeing Mr. Shaloub through the book as I read, His mannerisms etc. There is mystery and humor throughout. This was actually the first one I read and I went right out to buy Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu and Mr. Monk goes to Hawaii. Can't wait to get to them.
Very entertaining and a change of pace, truly enjoyable! Hope Mr. Goldberg as more on the way, fun read.

It has many of the quirks that make the show fun. Goldberg puts on paper the humorous side of Monk's character and how the world reacts to him. In addition, you get to see some of the humane characteristics of Monk as well. The mystery starts of with Julie asking Monk to solve the death of the firehouse dog, and then twists and turns to other murders. Like the show, Monk's uncanny skills at observation help save the day. However, some of the forensic evidence I question as being possible. Regardless, it makes for a fun read. The only complaint I have is that Goldberg put just one too many scenes of Monk's obsessive compulisive quirks into the plot. The series has a couple thrown in, and it really makes for a hilarious exposition. This feels like he was making filler for the book.

Good news. For once, a novel based on television actually is readable. Not only does Goldberg capture Mr. Monk perfectly, he manages to be funny at the same time.

Among the treats: Monk tries to find a hotel room that lives up to his standards of neatness, driving the hotel manager to guzzle little bottles of vodka from the minibar. Monk finds out there is no zone nine where the really clean trash, like his, is put. Worse, he has to dig through the garbage to find a clue to the murderer.

It's a fun, brisk read.

This book surprised me. Although I am a voracious reader I've seldom found books based upon movies and television series to be worth the time but this one definitely is. I'll let others tell you about the plot, it doesn't really matter anyway for this is part of the story of that uniquely beguiling, frustrating, indescribable man called Monk. The television show rides firmly and happily on he back of the marvelous Tony Shaloub's award winning portrayal of a man with a mission to sanitize and organize San Francisco, before reading this book I couldn't imagine anyone successfully translating Monk to the printed page but Mr. Goldberg certainly has. His choice of Natalie as the narrator makes all the difference, her energy, humor, humility and insight works much better then could any other character in the series at bringing Monk to life. Trust me, this book works, it's tons of fun and true to the character.

MR. MONK GOES TO THE FIREHOUSE by Lee Goldberg
October 19, 2006

Amazon Rating 4/5 stars


I don't know why I enjoy these books about that wonderful character Monk; but then again I think I do. I enjoy reading about this obsessive-compulsive detective and how he solves his cases each and every time. I don't watch the series, (I know I should) so I thought I'd read the books instead. This is the first in the series (there are two so far, with the third coming out in January, I think). I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed the second one, which I read earlier this summer.

In MR. MONK GOES TO THE FIREHOUSE, Monk's apartment building is being fumigated so he is now staying with his assistant Natalie. In the mean time, her daughter is upset because Sparky, the firehouse dog, was found murdered - yes, murdered. She asks Monk if he can solve the murder of Sparky and he agrees to do it. While that mystery is being solved, there is also a building fire that kills an old lady, who happened to live in a house that was part of a group of homes being bought out by a large corporation, but she refused to sell. There are a lot of suspects, most of whom who would benefit if she was out of the way, so the rest of the homeowners could move on with the money they received for their own houses. It looked awfully suspicious.

These books are guilty pleasures. Fun to read, and I wasn't caught up in the "accuracy" to the series as I think some readers may be, for those who watch the series on television faithfully. Taking this book series for what it is, I think they are fun and worth giving a 4-star rating.

I bought this and three others of the Monk mystery novels. Written in first person by "Natalie" -- they are a really good read. I like to just relax with a book and re-read. Love the show but the books are just as pleasant. The humor comes right through, and you can see Mr. Monk as he rolls his shoulders....Lee Goldberg is obviously part of the writing team for the show. Even references in the books to past shows! Super! A++++