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Whatever life holds in store for me, I will never forget these words: "With great power comes great responsibility."
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Detective Johnny Tam, briefly known as The Monkey King, is the latest recurring antagonist in the Rizzoli & Isles novels. Tam is a Chinese-American new hire for Boston PD Homicide, who ingratiates himself to the team with his hard work, motivation, candor, and focus on the job in all its importance. He's also briefly a hidden protagonist, as a vigilante posing as "The Monkey King", a Chinese fabled legend, when Tam is first introduced.
Biography[]
The Silent Girl[]
Detective Tam is introduced as the newest recruit into Boston's Homicide Squad, which is especially crucial due to his involvement in his first case, which is set in Chinatown. Little did the police realize Tam was responsible for what they'd find. He was an apprentice of Taiwanese wushu master Iris Fang, whose daughter and husband were killed by serial killers Patrick Dion and Mark Mallory. Iris' daughter Laura was kidnapped, raped, and murdered by Dion and Mallory, along with numerous other teenage girls. When her husband and Laura's father James was spoken with by Dina Mallory, Patrick's ex-wife, and her husband Arthur, as daughter Charlotte found Laura's gold dragon pendant in Dion's car, Dion and Mallory killed them all to ensure their testimonies were silenced. They also killed all witnesses they could find, Joey Gilmore, affiliate of Irish mobster Kevin Donohue, and Wu Weimin, the Chinese-born cook who was blamed for the whole massacre. They missed Mei Mei "Bella" Li, Wu's daughter, who he shouted in Mandarin to hide, narrowly saving her life. Charlotte herself was repeatedly raped by Dion before all the murders, so she disappeared herself and settled in Maine to save her life as well, changing her name to Susan and starting a family.
Iris sent obituaries to the families of the victims of the massacre, which happened in the restaurant in Chinatown where Wu worked and left traumatic scars and further othering of Boston's Asian communities as lingering consequences, Iris pushing for answers and hoping for the families to believe Wu was never guilty. Protecting Bella, she took her back to Boston from San Francisco and trained her as one of her star apprentices in wushu, preparing to get their vengeance once they drew the killers out. Tam was the other apprentice; he donned a mask fashioned from genuine monkey hairs to appear as a living, classically trained mock-up of the "Monkey King", a Chinese epic hero and skilled fighter with flaws who always delivers justice in the end. Tam would be prepared to patrol Chinatown so Iris and Bella would be safe, and so he'd watch the killer's movements. Susan by this point saw a personal ad Iris released demanding the truth behind the massacre, deciding to call Detective Lou Ingersoll and discreetly offer her testimony to reopen the investigations. Dion and Mallory discovered this, so while tracking the movements of Ingersoll and Iris, in part by bugging Ingersoll's house, they hired professional international assassins to kill them all and stop the investigation. Tam appeared finally, engaging in chase with one mercenary, a woman, and when she failed to shoot him, he used Zheng Fi, Iris' prized damascus steel family fighting sword, to cut off the hand of the assassin that was holding the gun, then cut her throat with the same blade. He appeared right at the crime scene after the woman's hand was found by a tour group in Chinatown, taking advantage of the police needing a liaison to the locals, in spite of Tam barely having much contact with the neighborhood.
Rizzoli especially sympathized with him, as he hated the discrimination in the force, which she told he would best work through instead of mull on. She was impressed by his effort and genuinely respectful of his dedication and deduction, from searching for answers to putting them together. He overstepped in questioning the families of the massacre victims, which led to them coming together in peaceful objection at Dion's manipulative direction, and this was carefully corrected. As much of a rift it briefly caused he also consulted Dr. Maura Isles for her professional opinion, he kept steady professional relationships with the other detectives and even improved their collaborative dynamics by engaging in more consultation and helping with liaising between departments and offices. This was also useful for Tam's intel he could take back to Iris and Bella, so they knew who to trust in there quest for retribution.
Tam made his presence known when he joined the team in a trip to the foreclosed restaurant. He leapt over rooftops, enough he jolted Detective Barry Frost nearly off an edge onto the street below. Rizzoli and Tam pulled him to safety, Tam not as baffled by Frost's account as Rizzoli. He would be especially crucial later once the team found out the remaining mercenary killed Detective Ingersoll. The hitman was also about to kill Rizzoli in a shooting, but Tam arrived to cut his head clean off with Zheng Fi, before fleeing, convenient for him since he wasn't asked to join. When hairs from his mask came back with the breed of monkey he harvested them from, the gray langur, from India and Southeast Asia and commonly associated with mythical figures, Tam piped in with his account of the Monkey King. He successfully left the detectives questioning whether he in his vigilante alter ego, which they didn't realize still, was the killer they were after or an ally. He made one final appearance, going to Donohue's warehouse to shake up him and his men, as well as gather intel, with the assistance of Bella. The muscles Donohue had on hand were prepared to shoot him, but remembering they saved her life, Rizzoli stopped them, and they escaped.
By this point, Dion and Mallory kidnapped Iris, interrogating her about Bella's presence at the massacre and terrorizing her about Laura's murder. Rizzoli realized the vigilante was affiliated with Iris and Bella when more monkey hairs were in their apartments. Bella was interrogated, but when she wouldn't budged, the police released her to see where she went. Iris had a tracking device, so tracing her wasn't difficult. but Rizzoli was held captive as well when she went to Dion's mansion to find more information on the girls' murders, and he roofied the coffee he gave her. Bella and Tam arrived to release Iris and Rizzoli, and in invocation of the massacre, they shot Dion dead just as he shot Wu. Mallory tried to shoot Rizzoli, but Tam, in costume, distracted him enough Rizzoli shot Mallory instead. Rizzoli was terrified to see Tam in the mask, and when she asked who and what he was, he just fled. Iris was shot in her leg, but she recovered in spite of her loss of blood. As the scene was being processed and the murdered girls were being unearthed from the estate, Rizzoli informed Tam he'd be keeping with the Homicide Squad, which she would tell his previous precinct personally. She realized who he was when he had a silver monkey hair clinging to his head. She wanted to confront him, but out of a sense of gratitude, she avoided the issue. Tam later met with Iris in China while she was burning the mask, informing her Rizzoli wrote a glowing recommendation later for his transfer to be permanent.
Die Again[]
Tam was partner by the time of the events in the novel with Detective Darren Crowe, an insufferable officer on the force who pushed Detective Thomas Moore, his and even Rizzoli's last partner, into early retirement. Tam handled him better, as he kept serious and always redirected to the work over opinions, even deescalating Crowe and putting his opinionated attention to how it would be beneficial to the cases. Once again, Tam worked with Dr. Isles and demonstrated his investigative prowess, assisting her in tracking the serial killer they were following. They found dozens of murders across the country, with distinct M.O.s including posing of victims, cord used to restrain them, and signature means of killing and mutilating them. They even match entire massacres of parties in isolated wilderness to the murderer, from the Rockies all the way to Botswana. Tam's and Dr. Isles' connections led to the realization the killer was after witnesses to the murders, loved ones of the victims, and even people who came across evidence of the crimes by chance, hoping to cover his tracks while still live as a habitual human predator. This successfully led to the police tracking the killer, especially before he could murder the only survivor of his spree.
I Know a Secret[]
Tam was involved in a team meeting on considering how to protect Holly Devine from a serial killer targeting classmates of hers who sent the Stanek family to prison with her from a Satanic panic Holly was instrumental in. They all believed the family's son, Martin Stanek, was guilty, and when he slipped police surveillance, they assembled once Bonnie Sandridge was to meet Holly to interrogate her, resulting in Bonnie's arrest as a suspect. When Bonnie gave up his location unintentionally, Tam was one of the responding officers when Holly's father Earle shot Martin dead. Martin then committed suicide by cop by provoking Crowe to shoot him.