If you like the show, you'll LOVE the book!

I just finished Mr. Monk Goes To The Firehouse, the first in a series of Monk novels written by Lee Goldberg, who wrote several episodes of the show, and also many other TV shows.
How good is it?
I'll go with superb.
Having written for the show, Goldberg's familiarity with his characters shows. Most TV show novelizations range from pretty good, (SOME Trek stuff) to wretched (haven't seen a Buffy book yet that didn't suck), but this falls into the excellent category.
We get a series of apparently unrelated crimes, and Monk winds up having to deal with some truly horrid experiences to solve this one.
It's written from the viewpoint of Natalie, and now this character makes more sense than ever. We know she's a widow, and that she has to work pretty hard to keep things together for her and her daughter. What you don't know from the show, is how much of her own issues with losing her husband she sees reflected in Monk's own demons. It's quite touching to see how she reveals more and more of those troubles while relating to Monk's own issues in a way the Sharona Fleming character never could. (If the decision to change characters was based solely on money, bad move guys, if you had the Natalie character on the back burner and realized you could do a lot more with her, then kudos on a job well done.) I challenge anyone who flat out says that the Sharona character was better to read this book, and see if you still feel that way.
Now, all seriousness aside, it's a damned funny book.
To begin with, the thought of Adrian Monk having to move out of his house due to termites, is hilarious. Seeing his issues with hotels, is even funnier. "If the wallpaper under the sink doesn't match up, what kind of workmanship can you expect in the rest of the place?"
His solution to trying to survive in Natalie's house is a good chunk of the book, and it's outstanding.
The whole thing reads like a superb episode of the show, and in fact, you can picture every single bit of it in your mind.
Try it, you'll like it.

What else am I reading?
Strangers-Simon Clark: I discovered this guy by accident, but am most happy with it. This is good, apocolyptic horror, as a disease run rampant destroys civilization as we know it, and the survivors are trying to get through it as best as they can. Our hero is Greg Valdiva, and he alone can sense if anyone carries the disease, which takes months to show symptoms. H'es employed as the executioner by a small town that has used it's isolation to survive and lock the outside world out. If anyone new shows up, and Valdiva sense they're carriers, it's out with his trusty axe, and wham! No more new guy. How he deals with being such a man, and his attempts to find some sanity in a world gone mad make for an excellent read.
I rate horror novels on the Nights Sleeping with the Lights On scale (NSLO).
0 is not even remotely scary, and a 10 means waking up with the cold shivers at 4:41 in the morning.
This book's a solid 5 nighter.