Nikki Heat Book Four - Frozen Heat (Castle)

For the uninitiated, Richard Castle is a fictitious crime writer, portrayed on TV by Nathan Fillion in the show Castle. The Nikki Heat books are essentially glorified props from the show, or possibly more cynically well-thought out marketing endeavours to tie in with the show. Whichever way you look at them, they make for excellent reading, especially if like me you're a fan of the show itself.Reading these books is very much like reading an episode of the show. The characters from the show are easily identifiable with the characters from the books (Rook = Castle, Heat = Beckett, etc), and no matter how hard I try I simply can't read these things without imagining the book-based characters as their show-based counterparts. Even some of the situations the titular New York detective finds herself in are taken straight out of the show.Frozen Heat is the fourth book in the series, and by this point the characters and their quirks are well established. This one is a rollicking read, starting off as a straightforward murder mystery and quickly expanding into a good old spy thriller, with some scenes that hark back to the likes of John Le Carre and Graham Greene. The writing style has settled down into something that is highly readable, and contains just enough humour to stop it descending into dark and dreary. All in all I reaally enjoyed this one, perhaps more so than the previous three.If you're a fan of the TV show then I would definitely say give this one a try. Or better yet, start way back at the beginning with Heat Wave.

Having read the, so far, four books in this series, this is one of the better ones, as it flows well and keeps you turning the pages to find out who the guilty is. You get more of the relationship between Nikki and Jameson and these scenes sit well in the story and are not shoe horned in. Some characters that appeared in "Heat Rises" are back in this story and I wanted to slap a couple for their ineptness and egos, but i get the feeling that they will get what is coming in the next book that is due out later this year.This book ends with a situation that appears to set up for the next book, and is similar to what happened in series 4. While these books may follow similar events to those in the series, the details are very different, so you cant read the books and know what is coming in the show.Overall this is a great read, this from someone who normally reads romantica. so these thrillers are fresh ground for me, but very much draw you in and keep you there.ENJOY!!

Arrived in good condition for a book that was previously owned, I bought many Nikki Heat books before this one and like the others I’m still finding it hard to separate them from the Castle Tv series.

I admit I am a fan of Castle the Tv series and bought the first couple of Nikki Heat books more for a laugh than anything else. However I've really enjoyed the last two books in particular and perhaps because the series is off our screens at the moment I've stopped seeing Nathan Fillion et al in the roles too. I've started to read the characters distinct in their own right without seeing the fictional counterparts. In fact the thing that is most annoying is the shoehorning in of a couple of in jokes (e.g. two detectives in Heat's team being Malcolm and Reynolds). The book is good enough on its own merits to not need this. Accept wont be everyone's cup of tea but I have enjoyed the Heat series and hope we get another.

Frozen Heat is not as good as the three previous Nikki Heat novels and it left me wondering whether this is a sign that Ric Castle has plateaued? I am a great fan of the "Castle" TV show and only because of this did I read the book in its entirety. Had I read Frozen Heat without the "Castle" background, I'm not sure whether I would have finished it.The storyline was far too moody and although Nikki has some startling truths to come to terms with, Ric dwelt too long and frequently on how these impacted emotionally on Nikki and her closest allies to the detriment of the detective work and the book's plot in general which I found to be hap-hazard. Some of the characters were weak - Wally Irons, Sharon Hinesburg and Zach Hamner - Ric, they need to shape up or ship out.The book left me feeling unfulfilled and was definitely not one of Ric Castle's best efforts. I only hope that he turns it around in subsequent books and puts to bed my theory of having plateaued - perhaps Nikki needs a makeover, maybe she even needs to leave NYPD and become a PI??

I had high hopes for book 4 in the series, yet unfortunately it fails to ignight the passions and character depth that made the previous instalment such a good read. To me whilst the plot has a good idea to begin with its poorly executed and as feel of a series of events thrown together than a crafted script.For castle fans you can see some of the corilation between heat and Beckett and the drive that makes the character unstoppable but it's more of glimps into someone's diary or wording for a crime report than actual depth, to me the heat rook character development kind of needs the Beckett castle in between the lines and finishing sentences moments.Let's hope the closing arch of the story in book 5 fixes these problems.

I am obsessed with Castle so naturally i read the books ASAP and ccould not stop reading. When i read a book i usually have too keep coming back to it every couple of days .But the nikki heat series is so good i cant put it down. It may be because i love the TV rogramme SO MUCH and the characters are so good , or it may be becuase the books are so well written but this series is my favourate of all time. Including 50 shades of grey, which is tough for me to say because all the hype about those books was worth ig ( just saying) . But like i said ... Such good storylinesb, such amazing characters and i just love it all !!!!!