Felonious Monk

by William Kotzwinkle

Overview

Meet Tommy Martini, the monk with an anger management problem. Since killing somebody with a single punch is not a needed talent in a monastery, he spends his time praying, meditating, and taking his anger management medicine. But his meditations are interrupted by a legacy from his uncle, a crooked priest. Arriving in a New Age Arizona town to claim his inheritance, Brother Tommy meets a charismatic, smoking-hot cult leader who claims that women are being impregnated by alien beings while they sleep. Tommy’s own sleep is disturbed—by cartel hitmen, Mafia bill collectors, and women intrigued by his vow of chastity. He loses his anger management medicine in time to deal with the hitmen, but the women present an uphill battle.

William Kotzwinkle’s quicksilver touch has produced an effervescent piece of entertainment filled with suspense, turns you won’t see coming, and the humor for which he is famous.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798200834402
Publisher:	Blackstone Publishing
Publication date:	08/30/2022
Series:	A Tommy Martini Novel , #1
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

William Kotzwinkle has sold over ten million books. Two-time winner of the National Magazine Award for Fiction, he came to prominence with his cult classic The Fan Man. His novel Dr. Rat won the World Fantasy Award, and his children’s series Walter the Farting Dog sold two million copies. Movie credits include Book of Love and Nightmare on Elm Street 4. He also wrote the narration for Michael Jackson’s E.T. record, which won a special children’s Grammy. His books have been praised by such diverse luminaries as T. C. Boyle, Stephen King, Joanna Lumley, Ian McEwan, Terry Pratchett, Ram Dass, and Kurt Vonnegut. He divides his time between rural Arizona and the coast of Maine.

Editorial Reviews

06/28/2021

Tommy Martini, the quick-tempered 26-year-old narrator of this nimble comic thriller from Kotzwinkle (The Fan Man), has spent five years in a Mexican monastery repenting the death of a young man he killed in a barroom fight during college. When word comes that Martini’s retired parish priest uncle, Vittorio, is on his death bed, Martini pays the old man a final visit at his home outside Phoenix, Ariz. After Vittorio dies, his Mafia-connected relatives are surprised and dismayed to learn that he left his considerable assets to Martini. Unbeknownst to them, Vittorio recently facilitated the sale of a pair of churches to a business buying up church real estate and flipping it, while also running a money-laundering scheme for a Mexican cartel. According to the mob goons and cartel assassins who won’t leave Martini alone, Vittorio stole from them, and they aim to collect. Amusing complications arise after Martini, who has taken a chastity vow, meets an attractive female cult leader, who claims aliens are impregnating women while they sleep. Fans of Donald Westlake’s action-packed, screwball crime fiction will hope Martini will be back for an encore. Agent: Richard Curtis, Richard Curtis Assoc. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

Narrator Chris Henry Coffey rolls out his best gravelly timbre and tough-guy tone to portray Tommy Martini—a bar bouncer turned cage fighter turned monk. It all starts when Tommy returns home from self-exile in Mexico to attend his favorite uncle’s funeral, only to find that he’s inherited a pile of cash and a barrel of trouble. Coffey has fun channeling Kotzwinkle’s shady humor into the character voices of a couple of helpful bikers, a Mafia bill collector, a Mexican cartel assassin, a gorgeous redhead with a heart of gold, and an evilhearted gorgeous woman on the con. The listener will have to pay attention to keep track of where all the bodies are buried. B.P. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

DECEMBER 2021 - AudioFile