Book Review: Richard Castle: Heat Wave (Niki Heat Book 1) * * *

Tuesday, 15 January 2013

Book Review: Richard Castle: Heat Wave (Niki Heat Book 1) * * *

Rating	3 out of 5 stars
Country	USA
Writers	Richard Castle
Publisher
Sub Genre	Police Procedural
Website	castletv.net

Heat Wave is the first in the series of Niki Heat books by fictional author Richard Castle. Richard Castle appears as the main character in ABC's crime comedy-drama Castle. During the course of the show Richard Castle writes a number of books based on Stana Katic's character Detective Kate Book. The books (there are four of them in the series) were created as promotion for the show (not that it needed it is excellent).

In the first book Detective Niki Heat is forced to work with journalist Jamerson Rook who is wealthy and has friends in all the right places. They must work together when a seemingly wealthy property tycoon is found murdered plunged to his death on a Manhatten sidewalk. Then his wife escapes an attack by Russian mobsters and then another murder which turns the investigation on its head. All this takes place against a heat wave which causes blackouts.

Don't expect a literary thriller this book is most definitely not that. The book is written with a lot of New York colloquial language and words are used in a way that is difficult to describe, you will have to find out when you read it.

The investigation style mirrors that of the show and there are other similar aspects as well. Unfortunately, the comedic aspect of the novel does not come off quite as well as with it does in the show- it is much harder to write than to act comedy. That said fans of the show will probably like it for it is a perfect mirror. The plot. however, is excellent (it should be with the practice the writers of the show get) and will leave you guessing the whole way through to the end.

In The Series

#1 Heat Wave