Local ‘Monk’ novel

A writer with the hit show pens a page-turner mystery set at a resort on Kauai

The problem with television, at least the problem we're dealing with at this moment, is that it's all surface. Characters mostly act rather than react; the exposition is so simple-minded that a thinking person can suss it out in moments but rarely does, as television rarely asks that a viewer think. Television simply wants a viewer to absorb. Sit back, switch off, let it pour in. Very Zen. No wonder people "relax" by watching TV. Comas are also relaxing.

"Mr. Monk Goes to Hawaii" Publisher: Signet Released: July 5, 2006 Price: $6.99 ISBN: 0-451-21900-7

On the other hand, literature absolutely requires engagement on the part of the reader. The act of reading is a cognitive process and works on several levels at once. Every paragraph is a discovery.

Television works by massaging the familiar. That's why character-driven dramas and sitcoms work so well -- they're not about plot. Plot is something that happens to familiar characters that makes them more familiar. Eventually they become so familiar that they seem like extended family, more real to you than your cousins in Texas. In this case, familiarity breeds contentment.

Which brings us, naturally, to "Mr. Monk Goes to Hawaii," a novel by Lee Goldberg about a character that exists only on TV. This kind of pop-cultural cross-pollination exists quite comfortably in a market-driven economy in which media conglomerates own both the airwaves and the presses, and they have a product to sell.

In this case it's Adrian Monk, one-time San Francisco detective and full-time creature of obsessive-compulsive tics. As played by the quite wonderful Tony Shalhoub -- he has the Emmys on the mantle to prove it -- Monk is a rarity on television, a fully realized character that is both fragile, heroic, funny and -- amazingly -- ties up the loose ends of a plot simply by using his wits.

Goldberg has written many episodes of "Monk," which airs on USA network. He's also an accomplished mystery writer, a genuinely funny storyteller and a frequent visitor to the islands. A previous novelization by him featured the "Diagnosis: Murder" hero, also set in Hawaii.

Here's the deal with novelization of TV characters: On the page, do they remind you of the characters you see on screen?

That's certainly true of "Mr. Monk Goes to Hawaii." Everyone rings true, even the relatively bit parts played here by Capt. Stottlemeyer and Lt. Disher, left behind as Monk and personal assistant Natalie Teeger visit a Kauai resort where they, naturally, stumble across murders that need solving.

This is a real novel, not a fleshed-out screenplay, as it is told in the first person of Natalie, which is fascinating because she's still relatively undeveloped on the show. The story, as it is, unfolds from her point of view and gives the character an inner life and complexity. I came away from the book with a greater appreciation of the back-story of Natalie's character.

Basically, Natalie's best friend is getting married in the islands, and she's desperate to attend. Monk, equally desperate to not be left alone, tags along, surviving the flight by excessive self-medicating.

Once housed in the Kauai resort, a rich woman seemingly dies from being struck on the head by a falling coconut. Or WAS she? And what's the deal with the stained rental-car seats? What about that slick mentalist who claims the dead speak through him? And how can Monk possibly relax in a place where geckos crawl on the walls, people eat poi with their fingers and pigs are cooked in the ground?

Shalhoub's Monkish full-body frisson of horror is easily imagined because we see it week after week, but Natalie's inner devil-versus-angel arguments as she deals impatiently with Monk's compulsions are not, and provide an added layer of enjoyment. Natalie, it's clear, keeps her tongue under control when she would rather not.

Goldberg's rosy view of the islands is that of an enchanted tourist in a swank resort, which is all right because that's precisely where Natalie is. His sense of local detail is generally spot-on, and he manages to have characters speak pidgin in nonembarrassing ways and even is canny enough to point out that pidgin helps locals speak to each other, but it's also an easily erected wall against outsiders.

And his observations of monk seals are interesting. (In his acknowledgments, Goldberg thanks Kaneohe librarian and mystery buff Cynthia Chow for her help.)

Does Monk solve the mystery? More important, does he solve the mystery before the reader figures it out? Even more important, will Monk and Natalie share any moments of deep friendship?

"Mr. Monk Goes to Hawaii" is an entertaining and ruefully funny diversion that stars one of television's best-loved characters, and because it's a mystery novel, it will stick long after you've forgotten the plot of the latest "Monk" episode.