Heat Wave

Book review: 2010.06

Author: Richard Castle

This is a novel written as a tie-in to the ABC show Castle. Supposedly, the book is the product of fictional fiction author Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion), after spending the show's first season shadowing city homicide detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic).

If you've seen any episode of the show, then you've read the book. Heat Wave follows the same pattern as Castle and features the same characters, only with different names.

The story is okay. It would make a good episode of Castle, but as a novel, it falls short of thrilling or, well, interesting. I was bored as I walked through the adventure. I expect better from this particular fictional author. It's not that it's poorly written or plotted; the story pans out well and is a good mystery. But I kept thinking that I'd rather be watching the story unfold on TV the way they usually do. The most entertaining part of the book was the author's acknowledgements at the end; they were cute and a little tongue in cheek.

Instead of reading the book, I suggest catching up on the TV show, which is very entertaining. Fillion and Katic have a great rapport, although naturally Fillion steals the show, and they're surrounded by an excellent supporting cast. Richard Castle is easily the third "perfect role" for Nathan Fillion, with the first two obviously being Malcolm Reynolds and Captain Hammer.

Now listening to: The Secret World Chronicles via Podiobooks.com
(superhero fiction by Mercedes Lackey and Steve Libbey)