Heat Wave

By: Richard Castle

Narrated by: Johnny Heller

Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

The title character from ABC's hit television series Castle kicks off his new series of books featuring tough and sexy New York police detective Nikki Heat with a bang.

©2009 Richard Castle (P)2009 Tantor

Good book

I love the show Castle but was slow to coming around to reading the book. I finally bit the bullet and started it, and i am glad I did. The book is really good and you can just picture the shows characters as the the ones in the book. It is a good book to read even if you have never seen the show Castle.

Love the Campy-ness of the book

Where does Heat Wave rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It may not be the most well written book, but I love the show. These books are exactly the kind of book I would expect if Richard Castle was a real person: slick, campy and full of sex.

What did you like best about this story?

I like what the book evokes, seeing how the characters translate from 'real people' to characters in a book.

What about Johnny Heller’s performance did you like?

He sounded slick just like I pictured the 'author'

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No, no extreme reaction. Just entertainment.

Great Fun!

I bought the complete set of Castle, started watching it, found that there was a spin off in books, starring Nicky heat, so I got this book on a lark. Well, I was so surprised, it was great fun. I plan on listening to them all!

Heat Wave

I got the paperback version for my birthday but unfortunately it got ruined so I never got the chance to read it but I'm happy that I found it on audible to listen to. It's a fun listen and I love the characters. I can't wait to listen to more of the Nikki Heat books.

Worst Narrator EVER

Okay, maybe not the worst narrator ever, but pretty damn close. While I enjoyed the story, Heller's narration will prevent me from getting any audiobooks with his narration in the future. He provided almost zero differentiation in voice characterizations unless he's doing an accent (which I think he did well). But it made it difficult in some conversations between Rook & Heat (or between any two people without accents) because I couldn't tell who was talking.

And can I make a suggestion ... get a woman narrator! This is a story from Heat's perspective, the least you can do is give her a female voice.

Narration aside I enjoyed the story. It was a good thriller with some nice action. I very easily see it as an extension of the show Castle.

Ok Book. Boring Narrator.

The story itself was pretty much what I expected from a book "written" by a character from a TV show. Light entertainment. The narrator had a very small range of voices, so it was often difficult to tell which character was speaking - even if the character was male or female.

Great Story, Poor Narrator.

I love the story but the narrator was so hard to listen to. It was difficult for me to finish and actually found myself spacing out at moments and not having a clue about what was going on. Luckily for me I have a physical copy of each book in the series so I will be able to enjoy reading it.

Too fun!

(Darn review editor -- I can't get it to break this my remarks into paragraphs. Sorry.) + + + + +



CONTENT: I love Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Carver and the old gumshoe detective stories.

+ + + + +

While this one is set in modern times, it has that feel to it and is just plain fun to listen to. The humor is mostly good (with a few groaners) and the interplay between the characters is enjoyable.

+ + + + +

I am a fan of the TV show but found this to be better. It has the time to go into more detail and give more meat to the mystery. The characters are based on those in the show and it's easy to visualize the same actors in the roles, all of which lends a comfortable familiarity. Even so, they are different enough to make it fun getting to know the new players.

+ + + + +

I figured out the ending, mostly, but it was fun (there's that word again) to work it through and come up with the answer, just seeing that I was right.

+ + + + +

Is it a "Great Mystery Novel"? Nah. But it IS, as I said, FUN. =)

+ + + + +

PRODUCTION: Unlike some reviewers, I enjoyed this production. At first, I thought it a bit flat but, as I got into the story and put myself in the mindframe of the old film noir stories, the delivery seemed spot on. The voices were distinct enough so as not to confuse and the delivery had the right tone to it.

Thoroughly a great listen!

Performance powerfully brought this "pseudo-novel" to life- cadences matches known "Castle" characters, very much enhancing this listen ...

Great fun for any "Castle" fan - will listen to more in the series!

Not Very Meaty

Would you try another book from Richard Castle and/or Johnny Heller?

maybe

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The whole story just wasnt very interesting. It was like reading a long version of one of the hour long Castle episodes. One episode of Castle is much more entertaining than this whole book.

What three words best describe Johnny Heller’s voice?

Kind of boring

Could you see Heat Wave being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Maybe if they told the story without all the fluff in the book.
If you watch Castle, the characters are the same with different names.

Any additional comments?

I had to MAKE myself finish it