Heat Wave

Uh, no, not a real heat wave but the book Heat Wave by Richard Castle. In fact, that sense of impending doom you feel around here? That's a snow forecast. And as it currently as cold as we get around here, it's going to cause some issues. Oh, yeah, and there's more next week. Anybody else ready for spring??

You already know that that I read a lot, widely, and without much consideration of growing my intellectual powers. I read because I'm curious, because I want to know what other people are talking about, because I'm interested in the story...for a lot of reasons.

You also know I have a colorNook. You may not know that I got an awesome and fabulous gift card for my birthday to Barnes and Noble. I plan to burn through it at a high rate of speed.

But I bought the Nook version of Heat Wave before the gift card showed up. I bought it because I was curious about it while in hard back, remained curious when the second book came out in hard back and this one went to paper back, so I bought it.

Why curious? It's a New York Times bestseller written by a fictional television character.
And  a character that I really enjoy for many reasons. If you watch Castle, you already know what I'm talking about. If you don't, you should. If you want crime scene investigations or forensic realities, maybe not, but if you want clever dialogue and investigation to hold it all together, give it a try.

Also, it's Nathan Fillion as Castle. I believe I've mentioned him before.

Richard Castle on the show is a mystery writer who calls in a favor with New York's mayor to work with a police detective, Kate Beckett. He's looking for a new character for his novels and she's very, very good at what she does. She's the inspiration behind his fictional character Nikki Heat. You also have policemen Esposito and Ryan and medical examiner Lanie Parish. ALL ON THE SHOW.

This is where it gets tricky. Heat Wave is the book written on the show and ALSO able to be purchased and held in your own two hands. Authored by Richard Castle, the book features a newspaper writer Jameson Rook, police detectives Nikki Heat, Ochoa, Raley, and medical examiner Lauren. ALL IN THE BOOK.

They solve a case. And it's got clever dialogue and the strength is in the relationship between Heat and Rook just as it is between Castle and Beckett on the show. And it frequently feels a little over the top and a bit inauthentic in dialogue or Heat's reactions...but really, who cares? It's fun. And mind-bending at the same time as you sort out the similarities and differences between fictional character ON THE SHOW and the fictional character based on the fictional character IN THE BOOK. ABC holds the copyright and from the dedication to the acknowledgements, Richard Castle is the voice. There's not another writer peeking through. It messes with my head just a little.

I have no idea if I need to read the next book but I did enjoy this one. If you like some banter, you might too.