Book Review: Mr. Monk in Outer Space
When a fast food chain executive is shot three times in his office by a professional hit man, Captain Leland Stottlemeyer of the SFPD calls former partner turned private investigator Adrian Monk. Along with his lovely assistant, Natalie Teeger, Monk arrives on the scene (after outsmarting a revolving door) and reveals that the victim's death had been caused by a heart attack. In other words, the corpse had been desecreated.
This prompts Stottlemeyer's current partner, the quirky and sometimes ditzy Lt. Randy Disher, to form the Special Desecration Unit, placing himself in charge, of course.
The question is, who shot the dead man?
Meanwhile, when Adrian Monk's living room carpet is soiled by a coffee stain that can only be seen with a magnifying glass, the obsessive-compulsive detective orders a new carpet. Since he cannot live in his home until the new carpet is installed, he finds himself staying with his agoraphobic brother, Ambrose. As the two of them rarely speak, it makes for an awkward situation.
Monk is then called to the scene of another shooting murder, this time outside of a convention center. The creator of an long canceled sci-fi TV show called Beyond Earth had been shot in the head while exiting a cab. Security footage revealed the killer to be...Mr. Snork!
As Natalie explains, Snork is one of the lead characters in Beyond Earth. He is a crewmember of the USS Discovery, lost in space after Earth is destroyed. The ship's crew encounters other aliens and helps to form the Confederation of Planets. Snork has pointy ears, an elephant trunk for a nose, and speaks Dratch.
The costumed killer from the security footage is seen running into the nearby convention center. According to Monk, it should be easy to catch the "freak" until he learns that the convention center is hosting a Beyond Earth convention with scores of fans dressed like Mr. Snork and other aliens.
Monk is absolutely appalled at the idea of dressing up like a television character and upon visiting the Beyond Earth convention, is further shocked to learn that his tech writer brother, Ambrose, has penned three reference books about the show!
But how does the murder of a has-been TV executive connect with the desecration of a fast food franchise exec? Only Adrian Monk can answer that question, once he learns to get over his fear of odd numbers, quirky TV show fans, carpet stains, eye patches, revolving doors, and more. More importantly, will he listen to his brother, Ambrose, who might have vital information thanks to his knowledge about Beyond Earth?
Lee Goldberg delivers yet another amusing story of "defective detective" Adrian Monk paired with an hilarious spoof of hardcore pop sci-fi fandom.
Goldberg's brilliant approach of telling the Monk stories using the first person POV of Natalie serves to clarify the concept of Adrian Monk as a flawed, fearful, egotistical, hypocritical, and ultimately sympathetic character. In other words, a human being. More, readers become familiar with what drives Monk to be the "best detective on Earth"...and possibly Beyond!
