Yeah, THAT Penn Jillette. The loud-mouth, wise-cracking card sharp and juggler who works the Vegas scene with his mute partner Teller. I was actually looking for a book on card tricks that P&T had put out at the local library and this book was the only one to come up under the name. I was dubious. After all, Sock is a murder mystery told by an atheist, libertarian stuffed sock monkey. Yeah, that's right -- a sock monkey.
This book was highly enjoyable, and a very quick read -- it took me all of about 6 hours to finish it. The story isn't really the main course here, as Dickie, the eponymous monkey, has a little bit to say about everything from pop culture to civil liberties to religion to sex. Lots and lots of sex. Deviant sex and vanilla sex. It's a wonderfully crass and blasphemous book with what was (to me) a very chilling villian. The basic story is: a NYPD diver known only as "the Little Fool" (the monkey's name for him) finds the body of one of his ex-girlfriends floating in the Hudson and tries to hunt down her killer. But to put it that simply is like saying Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is about a kid who tours a sweets factory. Penn's style comes across as trying a bit too hard at times, but for the most part, it's a wonderful story.
Most bothersome to me was the constant use of song lyrics to set tone. Penn is good at finding the right phrase, and at first it's very entertaining, but after awhile it just seems superfluous and gimicky. I've read other reviews that simply loved this literary device, however -- even if it bothers you, it doesn't detract from what is overall an excellent novel full of rants, raves, and interesting personal relationships.
If, however, you don't like overt atheistic rantings and graphic descriptions of dead bodies, homosexuality, heterosexuality, and just plain old sexuality -- you might avoid this one. If, on the other hand, you're a fan of P&T's show "Bullshit," then you'll be right at home reading this novel.
Cheers!