Heat Rises

Heat Rises
by Richard Castle

305 pages
Published September 20, 2011


Fast-paced and full of intrigue, Heat Rises pairs the tough and sexy NYPD Homicide Detective Nikki Heat with hotshot reporter Jameson Rook in New York Times bestselling author Richard Castle's most thrilling mystery yet.
The bizarre murder of a parish priest at a New York bondage club opens Nikki Heat's most thrilling and dangerous case so far, pitting her against New York's most vicious drug lord, an arrogant CIA contractor, and a shadowy death squad out to gun her down. And that is just the tip of an iceberg that leads to a dark conspiracy reaching all the way to the highest level of the NYPD.
But when she gets too close to the truth, Nikki finds herself disgraced, stripped of her badge, and out on her own as a target for killers, with nobody she can trust. Except maybe the one man in her life who's not a cop: reporter Jameson Rook.
In the midst of New York's coldest winter in a hundred years, there's one thing Nikki is determined to prove: Heat Rises.

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I admit it, I'm a huge fan of the TV show Castle (and Nathan Fillion in general). These books are a tie-in of that show, and are they fun. If you haven't seen the show, here's  little background: Richard Castle is an author who has connections. His friendship with New York City's mayor allows him to follow Detective Kate Beckett around, using her as his muse. His books about Detective Heat are seriously inspired by Beckett and the group she works with.

It's fun to see how the characters in these books are similar to, and how they differ from, their counterparts on TV.

This newest installment of the Nikki Heat stories has her vying for a promotion. Actually, she's the best candidate for the promotion. The storyline has Heat's captain acting strange, and (SPOILER****) dying, bringing back some of the emotional turmoil of last season's show (***END SPOILER).

4/5 stars