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.
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“Up till now, the lonely literary crossroads where monastic life intersected with criminality has been occupied mainly by Donald Westlake’s jolly novel Brothers Keepers. But William Kotzwinkle’s Felonious Monk—what a mad, pitch-perfect title!—blows away the Westlake novel in much the same manner that our hero, Tommy Martini, ruthlessly deals with a skeavy spectrum of would-be assassins out to revenge the various sins that Tommy inherits from his bent priest uncle. Bigger than life and twice as punishing, Tommy Martini, in search only of inner peace and the contemplative life, finds himself forced to wade through a deadly sea of hired killers, mad UFO priestesses, jealous cousins, and haughty crime lords just to keep his head above the dirt. Continually surprising, endlessly shocking and mesmerizing, Martini’s exploits across the brilliantly limned gaudy and grotesque landscape of the Southwest are replete with the trademark Kotzwinkle droll observations, effervescent dialogue, and off-kilter insights. Robert Parker and James Crumley come to mind—then quickly get left behind in the rearview mirror. You want Tommy Martini in your corner, not on the other side, and thanks to Kotzwinkle’s unique verve and talents, every reader can be the ex-monk’s best friend—if they dare!”
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Paul Di Filippo, author of The Big Get-Even and others