A Brewing Storm (and others) by Richard Castle

A Brewing Storm
by Richard Castle

Fans of the “Castle” TV series will remember that in the first episode author Richard Castle killed off his immensely popular book character, superspy Derrick Storm. Here are the three short stories that bring Storm out of hiding, allegedly written by Richard Castle. (Remember, Castle himself is a fictional character for the TV show, with Nathan Fillion the actor as the front man for this charade. We still don’t know who the actual author is of these stories.)
All three stories are available on Hoopla (streaming ebooks) or Overdrive (downloadable ebooks). Also available in book form in the omnibus “Ultimate Storm” through Inter-Library Loan.

In “A Brewing Storm” a Senator’s son is kidnapped. A well-written mystery with twists and turns, in addition to Storm’s signature witty asides. And this ends in a cliff-hanger.

The next book, “A Raging Storm” teams Storm with FBI agent April Showers as they hunt down an assassin and six billion dollars worth of gold bullion hidden by the KGB before the collapse of the USSR. Further layers are revealed in this mystery. Storm is witty, capable, and shows why he’s a superspy.

The third book in this trilogy, “A Bloody  Storm” has Storm and Showers teamed with Ghost CIA Operatives – those who’ve faked their own deaths and come out of hiding to participate in extremely dangerous and usually illegal CIA operations. They head into Asia where they encounter The Viper, the most dangerous of extremists, and they may possibly have a traitor in their midst.
All three short stories are well-written with interesting plots, good character development, and Storm’s wit makes you laugh out lou.

Recommended by Charlotte M.
Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Frozen Heat

Frozen Heat
by Richard Castle

After a vaguely disappointing third entry in this meta tv tie-in series of novels, this fourth volume was terrific. The Nikki Heat novels are supposedly written by Richard Castle, the famous writer character played by Nathan Fillion on the TV series Castle. The multiple layers of meaning to the characters' relationships -- Nikki and Jameson's relationship in most ways parallels the on-screen relationship between Castle and Kate Beckett -- means that fans of Castle will get more out of the Nikki Heat novels that the average reader. However, even standing on their own, the Nikki Heat novels are excellent mystery/thriller stories. In Frozen Heat, NYPD detective Nikki Heat is finally able to dig into the unsolved murder of her mother over 10 years earlier -- a new murder victim has distinct ties to Cynthia Heat. Ace reporter Jameson Rook assists Heat and her squad, as Nikki delves into elements of her own past that reveal previously unknown secrets. The dialog is snappy, the plot is fast-paced, and the characters are likeable, even if somewhat formulaic. This was a quick read, and I do recommend it very strongly. If I weren't a Castle fan, I'd probably rate it slightly lower, but since I love both the show and the books, it gets a 9 from me! I, like many other fans, am still intense curious as to the identity of the author who is actually writing these novels. The studio and publisher have still managed to successfully conceal who is ghost-writing these as "Richard Castle". [If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the rest of the Nikki Heat novels, as well as the Castle DVD sets.] -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library [Subscribe to Scott's monthly booklist newsletter It's All Geek to Me! - on the Books, Movies & More newsletter sign-up page]

[Also available in book-on-cd and downloadable E-book formats.]

[ Frozen Heat page on the "official" Richard Castle web site ]
 
Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Castle

Castle

This is the first season of the current ABC television series, Castle. This series easily straddles the line between romantic comedy and suspenseful crime drama. Nathan Fillion plays bestselling thriller author Richard Castle, who has recently killed off his long-running series character Derrick Storm, and is looking for inspiration for a new character. He finds it in NYC homicide detective Kate Beckett (played by Stana Katic). By the mayor's special request, Castle is allowed to shadow Beckett and her team of detectives, so that he can write a new series of thrillers featuring "Nikki Heat". The snappy dialog and awkward attraction between Castle and Beckett are enough to recommend the series all by themselves, but in addition, there are some truly challenging mystery cases. Castle's observations on the murder investigations always prove creative yet plausible -- coming from the overactive mind of a thriller writer, and even though the episodes become somewhat formulaic, the formula is an easy one to swallow. A great cast, great writing, great production values; I can't recommend this one highly enough. Castle is now in its successful second season, Mondays at 9:00 p.m. [If you enjoy this, you might also like the novel Heat Wave, attributed to Richard Castle.] -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[Also available -- Heat Wave the first "Nikkie Heat" novel.]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official Castle web site from ABC ]

Have you seen this series? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month.