Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Frozen Heat by Richard Castle

FROZEN HEAT
By Richard Castle
Copyright ABC Studios
Published by Hyperion


Genre: Crime Drama


In book four of the series, we’re getting in deep. The body of an unidentified woman has been found stuffed inside a suitcase, and left in a freezer truck. An unusual case, but a clue ties the murder to the shocking, unsolved murder of Heat’s mother, ten years ago. The cold case is reopened, and Heat’s crew works the murders together. Solving one has a chance of solving them both.

Someone seems to think that Heat knows too much, and targets her for the kill. Nikki must delve into her painful past for answers, while fighting to stay alive. How many of her friends will die before she finds the killer? Or will he find her first?

This book reveals a lot of what makes Heat who she is. Her character is fully fleshed out, and we want to solve her mother’s murder as much as she does. We want to bring some closure to this strong, tortured woman. We care.

Nikki Heat leads a wild, exciting, passionate life. We are lucky that we get to come along for the ride.


Book received from the publisher for my unbiased review.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

HEAT RISES by Richard Castle

HEAT RISES
By Richard Castle
Copyright ABC Studios
Published by Hyperion

Genre: Crime Drama

The third book in the Nikki Heat series. A priest is found tortured and murdered…in a bondage club. What was he doing there, and who was he with? Most of all, why?

This is a puzzling case, but Nikki is distracted. Rook has been away on assignment, unable to contact her. Or is he unwilling? The tabloids show him at a hotel with a stunning woman. And still, Heat’s phone doesn’t ring.

Captain Montrose, Nikki’s boss and mentor, is behaving strangely. He appears to have secret knowledge about the priest’s case, but he isn’t sharing. Then he gives Nikki orders that steer her away from answers in the case. What is he hiding?

More bodies pile up, and someone is following Heat. Is it connected to the case, or is something else going on?

By this point in the series, the characters are well-developed enough that we can easily separate them from the TV series characters. There are still many parallels between the two. Heat and Beckett may be sisters in blue, but they are very different people. Since Heat’s cases don’t have to be solved in 45 minutes, they twist and turn and run off in false directions much more than Beckett’s do. Which makes them even more satisfying to solve.


Book borrowed from the Indiana Free Library, Indiana PA.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

NAKED HEAT by Richard Castle

NAKED HEAT
By Richard Castle
Copyright ABC Studios
Published by Hyperion

Genre: Crime Drama

Nikki Heat and Jameson Rook broke up. The murder of a muck-racking gossip columnist brings them back together…on the job.

The back-stabbing gossip columnist was stabbed in the back. Fitting, but Nikki has to find out who did it. Before she can, someone steals the body. Against her will, Nikki admits she needs Rook’s connections to figure this one out. And Rook has some interesting connections in the underworld.

Bodies pile up. A star athlete with a grudge and a stalker, an estranged daughter for the columnist, and a cowboy who likes to carve people up. When the cowboy traps Rook and Heat in Rook’s apartment and tries to practice his skills on them, it become very personal.

Then a young pop singer is pulled into the mix. What happens to her is hard for Nikki to handle, but the case moves on.

An old boyfriend of Nikki’s comes back into the picture. Does Petar have something to do with the murders? Or is he the solution to Nikki’s attraction to Rook?

Another twisting, turning murder investigation. Nothing is ever simple in Heat’s life. If it was, why would we keep reading? But you will keep reading, because you have to know how it turns out.


Book purchased from Book of the Month Club. Review by Audrey Shaffer.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

HEAT WAVE by Richard Castle

Nikki Heat series by Richard Castle

I had some trouble getting into this series. My mistake was starting with the second book instead of the first. Without knowing the characters, I kept confusing them, in my head, with the Castle characters. There are a LOT of similarities, but the differences were jarring. I decided this series wasn’t for me.

Then the publisher offered me the fourth book. I decided to go back to the beginning and read it right. So I picked up the first and third book from the library, and read through. Just like most series, they’re much better when you read them in order!

Audrey


HEAT WAVE
By Richard Castle
Copyright ABC Studios
Published by Hyperion

Genre: Crime Drama


If you’re a Castle (the TV series) fan, keep in the front of your mind that this is the book that Richard Castle wrote, based on Beckett and her coworkers. Until you get into it, keep reminding yourself that this is NOT Castle and Beckett. Also, the TV show is from Castle’s point of view, and the books are from Nikki’s.

Nikki Heat is a NYPD homicide detective. Against her will, she is assigned a ride-along; superstar magazine journalist Jameson Rook. Rook is doing an article on NYPD detectives, and the best way to find out what they do is to be there with them. No matter how much he annoys Heat…or attracts her. Because she’s struggling with both emotions.

A wealthy man falls from a 6th story balcony. His trophy wife insists that he didn’t jump. Looking at the scene in his apartment, Nikki and her crew agree. While they’re still investigating the scene, the wife is attacked. Nikki catches the attacker, and he admits he’s been having an affair with the trophy wife, who stood him up that very day…the same time her husband was killed.

Cut and dried, right? Murders are never that simple in Nikki Heat’s life. Add in a failing business, another lover for the wife, a bookie with a violent sidekick, art theft and forgery. The dead bodies, suspects, and additional crimes keep piling up.

Along with all of this, Nikki is struggling with the memory of her mother’s murder 10 years ago, and her growing attraction to the annoying Rook.

Yes, Nikki gives in to Rook in the first book, unlike Beckett. But then this was written by Castle, so it’s his fantasies that take precedence.

Once I got past the Heat/Beckett Rook/Castle comparison, I enjoyed the book. Not the best crime drama I’ve ever read, but still a good one.



Book borrowed from the Indiana Free Library, Indiana PA.

Reviews on the rest of the series coming soon.