3.5 stars out of 5
It's a little hard to take the Nikki Heat series seriously - whether or not you loved the very popular Castle TV show that starred the New York police detective (played by Stana Katic) and her Pulitzer prize-winning squeeze, Richard Castle (played by the hunky Nathan Filion). I was a diehard fan until the last couple of seasons, when the shows somehow stopped being fun and I pretty much lost interest. Supposedly, the books are written by Castle; but of course, he's not a real person; the true author, in fact, has been speculated about but never revealed. And like the TV show, the books started out quite fun but may be slipping a bit (the last three, including this one, earned just 3-1/2 stars from me).
This one brings together Nikki and another "Richard Castle" series hero, Derrick Storm - a hulk of a man the CIA calls when something is amiss in the U.S. of A., where CIA investigations are off limits. The pairing, though, seems just plain off. There's plenty of action, particularly on Storm's side of the plot, but I never felt any kind of connection between the two, nor of Storm with Heat's husband Jameson Rook (the name her TV husband Castle assumes in the books) even though indications are that Heat has been friends with Storm for quite some time.
Essentially, what we have are two story lines that, as expected, eventually converge. Ever since Heat's recent sighting of a woman she's sure is her mother Cynthia - a secret U.S. spy Heat had believed was murdered 17 years ago - she's been frantically trying to track her down. In the midst of that, the female U.S. President-to-be has rather inexplicably asked Heat to be her chief of Homeland Security, so there's a big decision to be made. That's even harder since she's banished her hubby from her life, claiming her search for her mother is a dangerous journey and she doesn't want him to be involved (yeah, I never bought that in the TV series, either).
Meanwhile, Storm took part in the raid of a counterfeiting ring that appears to be connected to a nasty group known as the Shanghai Seven. In the process, he begins to suspect that his own government may be working against him, and he turns to his dad Carl for much-needed help. The two story lines begin to come together when Storm finds a tape with Heat's mother's voice on it that appears to connect her to the Shanghai Seven. At the same time, Heat is taking heat in the form of text messages from someone called "The Serpent" warning her to call off the search for her mother.
From then on, the action really picks up - some of it the stuff a Roger Moore James Bond movie is made of that crosses the line of credulity and leads to a rather sappy ending. Overall, it makes for an easy, breezy read that won't tax your brain cells - perfect for reading on a beach or waiting at a doctor's office.
Heat Storm by Richard Castle (Kingswell, May 2017); 320 pp.
4 stars out of 5
Honestly, my rating is closer to 3.5 stars (not possible on most book ratings websites) - but it's written well enough to round it up to 4. That said, those expecting much more than a book that reads like a TV show script most likely will be disappointed. It also helps, I think, to be familiar with the Castle TV show on which the book series is based; the supposed "author," Richard Castle, is the character, a mystery novelist, played on the show by Nathan Fillion. I was a big fan, although by the series' eighth and final season, the show had pretty much dissolved into just plain silliness and the main reason I watched was to see the hunky Fillion.
The same can be said about the books. This is No. 8 in the series; somehow, I missed out on No. 7, but I'm not really complaining. This one, like the No. 6 Raging Heat, which I did read, makes for a relatively fun and quick read (I polished it off in a single day). It's well written and the personalities of the characters from the TV show shine through, but as police procedurals go, it's not close to what I'd call outstanding.
Here, New York police captain Nikki Heat - who is based on TV show character Kate Beckett, played by Stana Katic - has married Jameson Rook, the book series' name for the well-known, uber-wealthy mystery writer and title character played by Fillion in the TV show who serves as a police consultant (are you still with me)? At the station, Heat and her crew watch a video in which a woman is brutally murdered in the name of ISIS; the first task is identifying her (and perhaps her killers) by way of a fuzzy video. But at the end comes an even more ominous situation: Rook, the killers announce, is the next-in-line victim.
To complicate matters even further than they already are, Rook is gone much of the time early on, tagging along with a "rogue" Presidential candidate somewhat in the blustery style of current President-elect Donald Trump (with a bit of the aw-shucks, down-home country barbecue flavor of former President George W. Bush thrown in). Rook is, it seems, writing a pre-Election Day article on what he's really like. Having him away, of course, puts Heat on a roller-coaster of worry that she can't protect him.
Meanwhile, her mind is totally blown when she sees a "homeless" woman she's sure is her mother. But that can't be right - her mother was murdered years earlier, dying in Heat's arms. Unbeknownst to Heat at the time, her mother was a spy - and eventually, the murderer was captured and the case was closed. Now, of course, Heat's world has been turned upside down; and as might be expected by TV show fans, she won't rest until she finds the truth about what happened to her mother.
The rest of the book centers around investigations of the videotaped murder, keeping Rook safe and, to a lesser extent, chasing down the story of Heat's mother. The ending, I must warn, is a cliffhanger; one part of the investigative efforts goes nowhere in this book. Judging by that, I'm thinking the next one in the series, assuming there is one, will delve into the silliness that made the last couple of years of the series so ho-hum.
Along the way here, though, I did get a special kick out of the part of the story that takes place in Lorain, Ohio - maybe an hour from our home and a city we visit at least once a summer to see and photograph the Lorain West Breakwater Lighthouse and the beautiful rose garden in Lakeview Park. In this story, it's described as a city full of bars that cater to steelworkers.
"They're the kind of places that pretty much serve both beers," a Lorain police official tells Heat at one point.
"What does that mean?" Heat asks.
"Bud and Bud Light," was the response.
Yeah. My kind of town.
High Heat by Richard Castle (Kingswell, October 216); 304 pp.
3-1/2 stars out of 5
The over-hyping of the wedding that never happened last season on the Castle TV show, I have to say, hit a sour note for me. And even though I'll tune in again this season, it won't be with anywhere near the same enthusiasm I've had in previous years. Unfortunately, I suspect that experience has carried over to the books as well. In large part, I'm sure that's because the books read like TV scripts and -- like the show -- are more fluff than substance.
So it is, then, that for the most part I ho-hummed my way through this, the sixth book in the series. About halfway through, I even considered not even bothering to finish it; but since I hate to do that with any book, I sneaked a peak at the reviews at Amazon.com -- and learned that 29 of the 35 reviewers gave it 5 stars. Say what? I asked myself, concluding that I'd better return to the book with a more positive attitude.
Did it work? Only a little. Sure, there were glimmers of the fun banter between Detective Heat and her writer/lover, Jameson Rook. One in particular made me chuckle out loud. After a rather nasty explosion, a message was found that simply read, "BYE HEAT." Rook's quip was immediate: "He left out the comma."
The story itself, though, never really jiggled any of my happy buttons. It begins when an illegal immigrant drops into the NYPD's lap -- almost literally -- seemingly from the sky. Heat and Rook are together again after a lengthy absence while he worked on a story -- which is good -- and she's looking at the possibility of being tapped for a task force that could jeopardize their future as a couple -- which isn't. To make matters worse, they can't agree on the prime suspect in the murder investigation; Heat is convinced a powerful city politician is behind it, but Rook (and some key members of Heat's investigative team) aren't so sure -- and her unrelenting passion to find proof that she's right threatens to destroy her relationships with Rook and her squad members.
In the end, it wasn't a truly bad reading experience, but neither can I work up much excitement about it. Just like the TV show, I fear that this series may be past its prime.
Raging Heat by Richard Castle (Kingswell (ABC) September 2014); 304 pp.
