7: Bad Monkeys

Like I said, clearly I'm successful with vacation promises when I read TWO @#$&*% books in a day.  Bad Monkeys came on the recommendation of my favorite bookseller, MK, and it does not disappoint.  

Matt Ruff is a local Seattle author and, if I use the book to judge his mental state, he is totally OFF HIS ROCKER...in a good way.  This work is inventive, creative, and altogether fresh.

We meet Jane Charlotte as she's been arrested for murder, a killing she admits to immediately.  She claims, though, to be a member of an organization devoted to ridding society of its "Bad Monkeys" -- those individuals who live on the fringes, committing heinous crimes. 

When she meets the psychiatrist in charge of the mental ward of the hospital, however, he challenges her ideas about what is real and what is imagined, and takes the reader down (more than) a number of (mildly confusing, but really intriguing) detours.

The end of the novel is a Chris McQuarrie delight: a twist, a double-back, another twist, and a final gunshot (or, in this case, a CI).  The last few pages need to be savored, as you just want a little more -- one final double-back.  

It's a quick, wonderful ride... and one that I recommend.  I'd love to see this made into a movie, although I can't even picture Jane in my mind quite yet.