FORGOTTGEN BOOK: GOTHAM: CITY OF MONSTERS

 Gotham:  City of Monsters by Jason Starr  (2018)

A tie-in novel based on the 2014-2019 television series Gotham.  This original novel takes place between the television show's second and third season.

Long before he became the police chief in the Batman universe, Jim Gordon was a detective in the Gotham police department.  Until he was convicted of murdering the city's mayor and sent to prison for life.  Now Gordon is free (don't ask) but is unable to return to the police force; his life is pretty much of a shambles since he was rejected by the woman he loved, Lee Thompkins.

Fish Mooney was an underworld crime figure who had been killed when the Penguin threw her off a roof.  Her body was claimed by mad scientist Hugo Strange, who reanimated her and gave her the power of mind control. Strange had also been using prisoners at Arkham Asylum to create an army of monsters, each different, each powerful, most indestructible, many with a taste for violence and for human flesh.  fish escapes from Arkham, releasing many of Strange's monsters, but the escape automatically triggers a nuclear device set by Strange to destroy all evidence of what he had been doing.  Gordon, who returned to Gotham, he defused the nuclear bomb; although he saved Gotham, it was now overrun with Strange's monsters.  The city issued a bounty on the monsters -- dead or alive -- and Gordon became a bounty hunter.  Meanwhile, Fish Mooney is using her mind control powers to reestablish her hold on the underworld.

Five  months go by and Gotham remains in the grip of the monsters.  

Selina Kyle is a sixteen-year-old thief and one-time protegee of Fish Moony.  Always looking to make a score, she is hired to distract a guard at the Gotham Federal Bank. allowing a crew to come in and rob the bank.  What Selena did not realize was that the robbers included only two humans, plus two monsters, a giant, super-strong, greenish-colored man and a  vicious dog-human creature.  Things do not go well and the monsters start killing people.  By the time the police arrive, the robbers, and the monsters have fled with a large amount of cash and the bank is littered with mangled bodies.  Gordon adds these two monsters to his "wish list," along with two more of the city's most homicidal monsters, a pair called Nip and Tuck.

When the monsters first appeared, Alfred Pennyworth took his young charge, Bruce Wayne, to Switzerland, there to remain for six months.  But now, someone from Alfred's past is trying to kill him and Bruce has become the bait.  Switzerland, it seems, is as dangerous as Gotham.

Bodies begin to pile up.  Jim Gordon, Selina Kyle, and Bruce Wayne all face deadly dangers, and Gotham may never be the same...

A minor story, but well-told, the equivalent of a box of popcorn to keep one occupied at the theater.  As always, I find myself rooting for Selina Kyle, knowing that at heart she's just bad and not evil, and rooting for Jim Gordon, knowing that he will retain his high morality no matter what is thrown at him.

Jason Starr (b. 1966) is the author of numerous crime novels, including the award-winning books Tough Luck, Twisted City, and The Chill.  With Ken Bruen, he wrote the best-selling Max and Angela series for Hard Case Crime.  Starr is also the creator of a number of comics and graphic novels, including Wolverine Max, The Returning, Red Border, Casual Fling, and Silicon Bandits.  His tie-in work includes Ant-Man:  Natural Enemy and a previous Gotham novel, Dawn of Darkness.