Mr. Monk Goes to Germany

The sixth novel (after 2007's Mr. Monk in Outer Space) based on the popular Monk TV series created by Andy Breckman effectively meets the challenges of translating the screen concept to the page. Monk, an extreme sufferer of obsessive-compulsive disorder who left the San Francisco police department after his journalist wife, Trudy, was killed in a car bombing, decides to accompany his psychotherapist, Dr. Kroger, to a professional conference in Germany so that he won't miss his weekly therapy session. Once in Germany, Monk spots a six-fingered man he believes may have ordered the hit on Trudy. The discovery that the man is an old acquaintance of his psychotherapist leads Monk to investigate Kroger as well. Despite the lack of the TV series' visual humor and the performance of actor Tony Shalhoub, Goldberg does a decent job of conveying both the sleuth's quirks and his genius.