William Kotzwinkle writes like no one else. This book carried his signature eye for the quirky, with enjoyable plotting and interesting characters. Recommended reading for followers of mysteries and literary fiction.

Tommy Martini was sent to a monastery in Mexico by his gangster grandfather after he accidentally killed someone in a bar fight. In Felonious Monk, the first entry in this series, Tommy had to leave the monastery to travel to a place a lot like Sedona AZ to deal with family issues. While there, other craziness arose that challenged his violent tendencies and Benedictine spirituality.

In this sequel to Felonious Monk, Tommy once again has to leave the monastery (after once again saving Mexican children from cartel bad guys) because his past has once again come calling -- this time, he goes back to his home town of Coalville PA to find out who killed his best friend and locate his friend's missing wife, who happens to have been his own first love. And once again, other craziness arises that challenges his violent tendencies and Benedictine spirituality.

Much of the narrative becomes a series of encounters with various figures from his past who are in dire need of redemption, as well as some new figures also in need of redemption -- in some cases that redemption being sending them off to find their well earned damnation in hell. And of course all of this revolves around Tommy's own conflicting view of his own potential for redemption or damnation.

In other hands, that might have been a weakness, but for William Kotzwinkle, redemption vs. damnation (or perhaps in Tommy's case being forever trapped in the purgatory between those two states) is exactly the point. The setting may be classic noir, mystery, mafia, or whatever, but the real landscape is spiritual, philosophical, a bit surreal, and of course humorous. But the story line is there if that's all you want.

Tommy's home town resembles Kotzwinkle's -- he grew up around Scranton PA and set Jack in the Box (aka The Book of Love) in the same area. Indeed, descriptions of Coalville conjure up images from Jack in the Box even though it's been close to half a century since I read it. Having a home in NE PA not far from Scranton, Coalville reminds me a lot of depressed and depressing cities and towns that I pass through that make me wonder who lives there, who would even want to live there.

I'm thrilled for a second time to be able to thank Goodreads for giving me an advance reading copy of Kotzwinkle, a favorite of mine in my youth after discovering The Fan Man way back when. I've wondered since reading Felonious Monk a couple of years ago what the author has been doing since his last adult novel fifteen years earlier -- in an interview just published yesterday, he says he has written three novels during that time, one ready for publication and two in need of more work.

Bring them on, Bill! We missed you and are happy to have you back.