Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff

The story opens in the psychiatric ward of the Clark County Detention Center (Las Vegas, NV). Accused murderer, Jane Charlotte, explains to her psychiatrist that her alleged crime was authorized by a covert organization dedicated to crime prevention. Jane was an operative in the Department for the Final Disposition of Irredeemable Persons ("Bad Monkeys"), regularly dispatched to eliminated evildoers who eluded the justice system. Her life story revolves around this organization and its departments of Ubiquitous Intermittent Surveillance (Panopticon), Optimal Utilization of Resources and Personnel (Cost-Benefits), internal affairs (Malfeasance), and The Scary Clowns. She tells her story from childhood to date as her psychiatrist gently points out inconsistencies between her version and the official record.

The reader is left to question, "who is Jane Charlotte?" Ruff layers the story with basic questions of good vs. evil (characters named Wise, True, and Love all make appearances) as he leaves the reader with riddles upon riddles about the sarcastically funny Jane Charlotte.

This was a fun read. I was intrigued by the premis of the story of an underground group of assassins. But as the story progressed I started to question what was really going on. I was hoping it wasn't going to be one of those "it's all the dream". I almost didn't see the ending coming as this was a whirlwind tale with a high level of manic energy.