Heat Wave Paperback – September 11, 2012

Quick read, kept my attention, gives you what you would expect if you were a fan of the show Castle.

First the good... It was a great fast paced little book. The writing was tight, the dialog fast paced, and the characters really jumped off the pages. Very visual. Reading this, was like watching a great movie in my head. There are a ton of characters, and somehow none of them get lost in the shuffle. The writer really did a good job of keeping everything moving along.Now the bad... As soon as I heard that ABC was bringing out the Nikki Heat books that Richard Castle was writing, I thought it was Brilliant to piggy back the books on top of the show's success. I read the first 3 chapters on line, and I was out of my skin excited. I was picturing a novel about the size of the other Richard Castle books Detective Beckett handed out to her fellow detectives in the pilot episode, to help them track down the murderer who'd been copy-catting murders from the books. I really expected it to be the type of book worthy of Richard Castle's name, a celebrated author who'd had 26 best sellers. Instead, it ended up being almost a book form of an episode.If you really stop and think about what this book is supposed to represent, the beginning of a new character and series for Richard Castle based on a dynamic New York City Detective, you'll see what I'm trying to say. This book would have a hard time standing on it's own without the show, and that's where I think ABC dropped the ball. I think ABC could have given us a lot more credit for being able to read a full sized novel with strong characters based on Beckett and Castle and not confuse them with the characters on screen. They could have made the characters varied enough that we would have seen the parallels and still been able to differentiate between Castle and Beckett and Rook and Heat. And, given us the depth that can only be found in a novel.After falling in love with Richard Castle on screen, I really wanted to read one of his books. I wanted to see what kept him on the best selling list for 26 books. I wanted to see the writing that Detective Beckett fell in love with and helped her heal after her mother's death.Will I read the next one that comes out? Yep. I will. Mainly because I'm a weak weak woman who's fallen in love with this irrepressible novelist, and will take whatever scraps are pushed my way. I won't like myself because of it and will know that I'm settling, but alas, what's a girl to do?

I only recently got into watching Castle and completely love the show, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that ABC had extended the idea so far as to publish Richard Castle's "Nikki Heat" novels. Naturally, I simply had to have the books. As a Castle fan, I'm thrilled. As an avid and discerning mystery-novel reader? Not so much.Heat Wave is the first book in Richard Castle's new series, which he has based on his shadowing of NYPD detective Katherine Beckett, his new muse. The books follow the adventures of an NYPD detective - Nikki Heat. She's being shadowed by Pulitzer Prize-winning magazine journalist Jameson Rook who is doing an article based on her squad. The previous three sentences are a lot less confusing if you watch the show!This first book begins with the premise that Heat and Rook already know each other, so we don't get to see the true first meeting of the principal characters. From there, the story moves to the case, and the other main characters begin to make their appearance. As fascinated as I was with the very concept of the book, I in fact began to have minor issues with it from the very first page.By about twenty pages in, we've met all the main characters; Nikki Heat, Jameson Rook, medical examiner Lauren Parry, and Heat's team of supporting detectives, Raley and Ochoa - together affectionately termed `Roach'. However, I cannot "see" any of these characters in my mind at all. There are no real descriptions of them - nothing for me to form a mental picture of the people I'm reading about. I'm therefore left to conclude that I'm meant to see the actual characters from the show in their thinly veiled counterparts on paper.I do understand that Heat Wave was written to take advantage of the show's popularity and as an obvious tie-in as well. Granted, that's clearly what the book truly is, but the potential was there to make it something much more amazing. The entire premise could have been better treated. It could have been something fantastic on its own and still achieved the result of an exciting tie-in to Castle.Richard Castle is supposed to be a best-selling author with a string of extremely successful books under his belt already. Heat Wave should reflect that. Unfortunately, it comes off in some parts as though it might be his first book - great premise, interesting story, but somehow lacking in some parts and needing some polish. I can't help thinking that Rick Castle, who is good friends with the likes of such mystery greats as Cannell, Patterson and Connelly, wouldn't consider this a book worthy of that caliber. Additionally, I can't suspend belief enough to accept that Rick Castle would lay bare his `real' life on the page, especially after he maintains to Beckett that Nikki Heat is merely based on her.I may have bought the book because of Castle (and because Nathan Fillion is on the back cover!) but that does not preclude me wanting a well-written, captivating story - the same as I would require from any book I choose to buy.What's even worse, as far as I'm concerned, is that Heat Wave absolutely had the potential to become that amazing book. I kept catching glimpses of what it might have been. It essentially made the reading of it more frustrating, because it would have been easier to dismiss the book out of hand as a simple marketing ploy, if there was no merit to it at all. Instead, there was so much untapped possibility that I was doubly disappointed when none of it manifested.While all of the above may seem to indicate that I did not enjoy the book, it truly isn't the case at all. There was definitely much to love about Heat Wave. There is a solid mystery, with interesting suspects and a believable plot. The victims and suspects were better drawn than the main characters and comfortably stereotypical instead of mind-numbingly so. Also, although I figured out "whodunit" before the end of the book, there were sufficient red herrings as to not make it too simplistic.Naturally, the best parts of the book are the references to Castle, inclusive of actual lines from the show and the engaging banter between Heat and Rook. Additionally, the sexual tension between Heat and Rook was also well handled, despite feeling a little rushed, and it gave another view of the matching tension between Beckett and Castle on the show. I particularly loved Rick Castle's author's note at the end, which carried through the entire concept of the book having truly been written by the fictional character. The blurbs on the cover from James Patterson and Stephen J. Cannell were also a wonderful touch.Heat Wave is a wonderful concept that might have been better executed. I'll continue to buy the other books in the series, because on one level - that of the clever tie-in to a show I love - it works incredibly well. At the same time, I'm also looking forward to some improvement in the overall writing style and general caliber of the story.

I loved Castle from the very first episode but never expected to have the chance to read a book written by a fictional character. I suspect that my love of Castle is partly why I struggled initially to get into this book. I kept expecting Beckett, Ryan, Esposito et all to appear. As I read on I quickly realised that they're all there, just rebranded. The friction between Nikki Heat and Jameson Took grated a little at first but warmed up nicely as the story progressed. Now the story is excellent and truly worthy of Castle. The bad guys are bad, the good guys are goods and the main villain comes far enough from left field to be a surprise without being too far fetched. If you like the TV series , trust me, you'll like the books and if you're not sure give it a go anyway for a light hearted fast paced crime novel.

I went through a period of my life when I read a large number of film and TV tie-ins, but it tailed off when I wasted days of my life reading a Murder She Wrote tie-in which was dreadful. However, I've been persuaded to go back to the TV tie-in thanks to my love of the ABC show Castle, starring Nathan Fillion as bestselling author Richard Castle who is shadowing homicide detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) for his new series of books about Detective Nikki Heat. This book, Heat Wave is the first in that series, written by `Richard Castle'.Heat Wave in essence is the story of Beckett and Castle, but in this case they are Nikki Heat and Jameson Rook and as you read the book having watched the series you can hear Fillion and Katic as they spar over the body of a Real Estate tycoon. Matthew Starr has taken a header out of his apartment window, but was it suicide or murder? Nikki Heat tries to solve this complex case, involving art theft, loan sharks and trophy wives while New York is suffering through an unprecedented heatwave (ha ha!).Given that this book is purely a piece of TV merchandise, it's actually pretty good. I love reading crime fiction anyway and even without the Castle TV show tie-in, Heat Wave does stand alone as a novel. I wonder if perhaps with the subsequent novels they will be a bit freer as they don't have to recap all our favourite bits of the TV show, but I have bough the next on my Kindle to see and I will report back!!As a fan of the TV show I was already invested in this book, but was really pleased to find that it lived up to my expectations - and didn't stray into the territory of that dreadful Murder She Wrote book *shudder*.

Loved it! I was hooked and read it in 2 days. If you're a fan of the TV series 'Castle' then you're in for a treat! The book has been written as if Richard Castle is the author, with the same wit, bravado and tongue in cheek humour. It's basically an episode of Castle!Wikipedia nicely sums up the book's recurring characters:'-Detective Nikki Heat is the lead character in Richard Castle's Nikki Heat book series. Heat is "loosely" based on the fictional NYPD detective Kate Beckett, possessing a similar backstory, in that her decision to become a detective was motivated by the death of someone close to her - although Heat has a niece and siblings that Beckett lacks - and the first case she investigates is adapted from several real cases Castle helped Beckett solve.-Jameson Rook is a famous magazine journalist who shadows the main character, Detective Nikki Heat.-Captain Charles Montrose is the captain of Heat's precinct and is based on Captain Montgomery.-Detective Ochoa is based on Detective Esposito.-Detective Raley is based on Detective Ryan.-Lauren Parry is the medical examiner and is based on Dr. Lanie Parish.-Margaret Rook is Jameson Rook's mother and is based on Richard Castle's own mother Martha Rodgers.'I had to keep my copy carefully hidden as both my dad and sister both wanted to nick it off me! Guess what they'll be receiving for Christmas...

I bought the book used but in very good condition, I had watched the Tv series years ago and only realised the actual novels existed a month ago so naturally I had to buy them, it’s very easy to imagine the on screen characters with the ones in the book but they are supposed to be based off them so I don’t think it confuses the reader either way. I love that all the little hints from Castle about things in the book are there (sex scene that Beckett got told was on page 105 is actually on that page in this book)

As a fan of the series I was hoping to read something with an entertaining story, however this book feels like its been cobbled together as a bit of marketing exercise to cash in on the tv series by making a prop a quick reality.The story as a crime thriller lacks the substance to grip and incise you deeper into the story and in a way for any fan of the series seems to be made of a hash of memorable moments from the first series with a mix of a rejected script that couple have played on the show for real if it wasn't for needing to get past the sensors and 8 pm watershed.If you are one of these people who can see where a story is going or can guess the ending before it happens then this is not the book for you as for me I found it very predictable from about 100 pages in. All in all it's just run of the mill material, for die hard fans only.