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

How could a soulless rip-off be this well done?

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

It's not the best but it's certainly in the top ten

What did you like best about this story?

Since this is just a spin-off of the Castle TV show, I expected the worst: hack writing, rehashing of old plots, obvious signs of a 5 minute writing process. Instead, it was solidly written and, most interestingly, written from the viewpoint of Kate Beckett. Now you have the TV show - which is all about the male character - and the books, which are all about the woman. It's like a sexual Rashomon.

Different narrator would have been great!

I must start by saying I am a fan of the Castle television show but quickly adapted to Detective Heat's character being very different from the "inspiration". The story line was not earth shattering, but it was enjoyable. My main problem and distraction was Mr. Heller's narration. Despite his annoying voice I was determined to complete the story to see if I could figure out "who done it". However, I will not listen to anything else that he is associated with.

Fun story if you're a Castle fan

It's a good Castle story - you can picture Nicki Heat as being Kate Beckett if you're a tv Castle fan. The narrator ruins it though - very bland.

Audio

The audio quality of this book was very substandard. The reader sounded as though he had a bad cold. Poorly done.

Just like the show...with different names!

It was a great listen, I think, because I'm a huge fan of the TV series. I had faces to attach to characters already. The only difficulty was assigning the names, which are different than the show, to the faces that I already have in my mind's eye.

Delivers a solid and fast paced story.

Any additional comments?

Precisely as expected. Had a few good twists. Nice chemistry. Similar to the TV series but not totally the same. Interesting and fun. Excellent beach or weekend read.

As advertised-Great lite read.

The book was as expected, entertaining, lite, funny, relatively smart, it is basically a riff on the show.
Intriguing piece of meta-fiction, to think about that the book is based on the fictional characters of "Castle" the TV series, yet the characters are not the exact same as they re on TV, because these are the fictionalized version of them.
Very well read, in a kind of Maltese Falcon, film noir tone. All in all a great book.

Watch the TV series instead

The story was OK. The TV show is much better. The narrator was poor. Really dragged the book down.

If you love Castle, this will make you smile

Would you consider the audio edition of Heat Wave to be better than the print version?

I don't read books, so I'm not one to ask.

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

Thinking of it in terms of the relationship of Castle and Becket on the TV show. Then a lot of the bravado of the character seems more endearing.

Memories of Spillane

What did you love best about Heat Wave?

Kept interest right up until the end. Was pleased that the language was toned down to more "appropriate" situational vulgarity - what someone would generally say when shocked, scared or extremely mad. No gratuidous "f" bombs which I wish I could say for the other books in the series.

Who was your favorite character and why?

"Roach". They saved her (Nicki's and Rook's) butts more than once acting on instinct and their understanding of "what would Nicki do?"

What about Johnny Heller’s performance did you like?

His natural voice makes it difficult to formulate some accents but all players were different and brought variety. Makes a Swedish accent sound more like an Indian asking "how can I help you with your computer today.?

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

Kept me going from start to finish. Glad there wasn't much gratuidous vulgarity. Some of the other books have less cultured (I know it's not a "cultured" book or situation but they drop the "f" bomb much less in this book than the others) language which, I feel, drops them from a 4 or 5 star to a 2 or 3. Would like to be able to read this to a 12-15 year old, and feel I could, but the subsequent books . . . nah!

Any additional comments?

This book is great. Like I said - Micky Spilane only better.

On the other books I think it would be very easy to write, maintain and emote the feeling of the books without resorting to language which would (could) turn away a younger reading audience as well as us who want to read books to get away from reality.There's enough of this stuff going on "next door", I would like to get away from life. Yet it in my down time, reading your books, I feel the books are just like life as far as the language goes. They are wonderful with plot twists, emotional exploits and visual exploration.

One plot line would be good if Nicki were to be involved in a homocide associated with a drug cartel investigation which included a plane crash and survival on a small island where she finds clues leading to her mother's and Nicole's murders. She would carefully have to form alliances with her "trust no one" attitude. Jamison Rook, just so happens, has some history associated with this cartel and island and Nicki would have to bring into account her feelings for him which might contaminate her attitude somewhat.

Just a thought!

Keep up the good work.

Cam