The Great Geek Manual

Book: Heat Wave
ISBN-13: 978-1401323820

Author: “Richard Castle”
Series: Nikki Heat series
Publisher: Hyperion
Genre: Mystery
Release: September 2009
Length: 208 pages (Hardcover)

Rating: D+

Verdict

Sadly, what might have been a golden opportunity to add some depth to a funny but often overly simplistic mystery series (Castle) has turned out to be little more than a cheap marketing gimmick. Hardcore fans of the series will enjoy a few chuckles from this book, but anybody expecting any real mystery is going to be sorely disappointed.

Pros: It will evoke a few chuckles from fans of the TV series.

Cons: Short, shallow, and seriously simple plotline. Poor dialog. No real twists.

Synopsis

In Brief: The fictional title character of ABC’s hit television series Castle kicks off his new series of books featuring tough and sexy New York police detective Nikki Heat.

Official: A New York real estate tycoon plunges to his death on a Manhattan sidewalk. A trophy wife with a past survives a narrow escape from a brazen attack. Mobsters and moguls with no shortage of reasons to kill trot out their alibis. And then, in the suffocating grip of a record heat wave, comes another shocking murder and a sharp turn in a tense journey into the dirty little secrets of the wealthy. Secrets that prove to be fatal. Secrets that lay hidden in the dark until one NYPD detective shines a light.

Mystery sensation Richard Castle, blockbuster author of the wildly best-selling Derrick Storm novels, introduces his newest character, NYPD Homicide Detective Nikki Heat. Tough, sexy, professional, Nikki Heat carries a passion for justice as she leads one of New York City’s top homicide squads. She’s hit with an unexpected challenge when the commissioner assigns superstar magazine journalist Jameson Rook to ride along with her to research an article on New York’s Finest. PulitzerPrize-winning Rook is as much a handful as he is handsome. His wise-cracking and meddling aren’t her only problems. As she works to unravel the secrets of the murdered real estate tycoon, she must also confront the spark between them. The one called heat.

Review

Apart from the initial novelty of a book written as if it were the product of a fictional television character, there is very little to recommend this book. It’s written like an episode of Castle, despite police procedural dramas making for very dull reading as a genre. It’s humor assumes that a reader is familiar with the series, and it completely fails to deliver any sort of plot twist. However, for fans miffed over the brevity of the first season of Castle, Heat Wave is sure to come as a welcomed addition to the Castle continuum.

All of the humor of the novel is derived from the contrasts between it and the television series. In particular, the novel features a tongue-in-cheek mirror-universe version of the series’ two protagonists. The role of the roguishly playful Richard Castle is cast as a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist named Jameson Rook, while straight-laced Detective Kate Beckett’s counter-part is thrust into a lead role as the far more sultry, far more forceful as Nikki Heat. The two share a relationship ironically reversed from that of the television series. The dynamic detracts from the chemistry of the television series and significantly dries out the dialog of the characters, leaving Heat’s hardboiled interior monologue to carry the story – poorly.

In it’s defense, Heat Wave is good fun for fans of Castle. It’s layers of references make for great fishing. Everything mentioned on the television series by the characters regarding the book is accurate. The dedication is written as read in the series, and there is a sex scene on page 105. A photograph of Richard Castle even appears on the dust cover. What’s more, there are small snatches of dialog plucked from across season one, as if borrowed by Castle for the book. It’s these small touches that make the book worthwhile for fans.

It isn’t a literary work, but anyone picking up a book based on a television series should probably have guessed that in advance.

Further Information

• ABC’s Official Castle TV Series Website.
• Richard Castle’s HEAT WAVE Book Trailer
• Read a Preview of Heat Wave at ABC.com.