Find out what folks had to say about the first LP Book Club selection Raging Heat by Richard Castle. Stay tuned to LaughingPlace.com for our next selection which will be announced soon.
Erin:
I love a good mystery! In fact, the majority of my leisure reading material is mysteries. I tend to gravitate more towards female authors and the cozy mystery genre. (Cozies are a mystery that normally has a female protagonist who is not a medical examiner, detective, or police officer. Cozies tend to be set in small towns and are considered a “fun read”. ) So, needs to say, Richard Castle’s newest book Raging Heat was a true divergent from my normal reading habits.
Raging Heat is the 8th book in the Nikki Heat, homicide detective, series. You do not have to read the previous books in the series to understand what is going on in Raging Heat. Castle does a good job establishing characters, relationships, and history. This is a very fast paced mystery in every aspect; dialogue, plot development, twists, and character development. Despite the quick pace, Castle is a descriptive writer and it is easy to become engrossed in this novel. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this mystery and have found that I actually want to catch the next episode of Castle on ABC.
Brian:
“Raging Heat” follows Detective Nikki Heat and novelist Jameson Rook as they investigate the case of a Haitian man who fell through the roof of a planetarium. The case gets more intriguing, and fraught with political landmines, when the investigation leads them to the Port Authority commissioner, a man who is also in the running for a Senate seat. Meanwhile, Nikki is dealing with conflicting pressure from a possible promotion that would severely limit the time she could spend with Rook, and an inkling that he is about to propose to her. And then there’s the small matter of Hurricane Sandy bearing down on the East Coast.
I would recommend this book for anyone who’s a fan of the show “Castle,” upon which these characters are based. Rook, in typical Castle fashion, has no shortage of wild and lurid theories to explain all the strange twists to the case, and he and Nikki have several rounds of verbal judo between them. And of course, there are two or three moments of near death for them both. I just have one caveat for parents: The book has language that the show does not, and as such, I wouldn’t recommend it for children under fifteen.
Marshal:
Raging Heat was an interesting read, as it made me realize some things about my own likes and dislikes. I’ve caught episodes of Castle here and there before and I’ve enjoyed them. The chemistry between the two is pretty great and the humor is always there, even in the scariest of situations. However, I learned that while I like cop/detective dramas on TV and in film…I don’t care for them in written form. To tell you the truth, I’m not entirely sure why. The gore described never bothered me, the detail was a little crazy, but I understand its necessity, and the jokes were funny enough. I guess I didn’t think the usual rapport seen on TV translates well to book FOR ME. That’s not to say the book was bad, just it wasn’t for me. If you like Castle, Forever, CSI, or any other procedural on television now or ever (RIP Cop Rock), you should love this book. While you do that, I’ll be reading Fairest of All for the umpteenth time.
Trisha:
I was pleasantly surprised to find that the book held its own as a mystery novel even though I wasn’t too familiar with the ongoing storyline of the TV series.
In this 6th book of the Nikki Heat saga based in New York, a Haitian refugee named Fabian Beauvais mysteriously repels from the sky and lands smack-dab through a roof of a planetarium.
Nikki Heat is asked to lead the counter terrorist unit to find out what happened. Her boyfriend, Pulitzer Prize winning Jameson Rook joins her to try to solve the mystery of what exactly happened. Time is of the essence as Hurricane Sandy is very close to invading their area. They discover that the fallen gentleman has strong ties to a powerful politician and many other seedy characters. The politician has powerful allies which tempt to make life miserable for Heat as she suspects the politician is guilty. Rook and members of Heat’s task force, however, suspect the politician’s thieving associates are to blame.
Romance is definitely the back story here. Nikki thinks she finds an engagement ring in Rook’s belongings. Tension and school girl nervousness resound in Nikki, and mounds of tension filled head butting between her and Rook abounds throughout the story line.
All in all, even though this is a lighter read than I usually conquer, the storyline kept me attentive and interested. Ghost writer Tom Straw does a great job describing the areas of New York as if you were walking down the streets yourself. The sixth in the Nikki Heat series.
In this one, the first murder victim falls out of the sky and through the roof of the planetarium. The victim, a Haitian refugee, turns out to have connections to both a rich and well connected politician who is planning to run for a senate seat (and who had powerful friends who can make life miserable for Heat) and a gang of thieves who rob ATM’s.
I personally could have done with less romance and more mystery, but the balance between the two genres was pretty close to perfect.
Natalie:
Given that Raging Heat was supposed to be written by Richard Castle from ABC’s TV show, Castle, I anticipated a story in the vein of the show, with witty lines, humor, and good dose of heart. This was not what I found. Yes, there were a one or two good one-liners (I give special recognition to the Firefly reference in Chapter One) and the characters were fleshed-out well enough. But there were certain parts of the writing that kept me from enjoying it. The biggest problem was what I imagined as the author’s attempt at “hard-boiled cop” speak. Words like “Commish” rather than “commissioner” and “eyewits” for “eyewitnesses” made it hard for me to take the story seriously. This lingo was used so frequently that it eventually had the effect of nails on a chalk board, irritating me and taking me away from the plot’s current situation.
I love a good mystery. Inspector Lewis, Foyle’s War, Sherlock, and Psych have always been my cup of tea. I wanted to like this book. I really really did. And the story itself was fine, good even. The central crime was grisly and clues piled up as did bodies. But writing can make or break a book, regardless how well thought out the plot is. And I consider this one broken.
Rebekah:
Raging Heat by Richard Castle is an entertaining mystery with the same high paced chases, intriguing twists, romance and humor found in the ABC series Castle in which we follow journalist Richard Castle (portrayed by Nathan Fillion) as he shadows NYPD Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Kajic) for his “Nikki Heat” titles.
In the latest title “Raging Heat” detective Nikki Heat and her boyfriend, the Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist, Jameson Rook begin their adventure when an illegal immigrant falls from the sky. As usual Rook has wild conspiracies that Heat politely endures as his speculations and wisecracks help her filter through the evidence and keep her focus. But various events put a strain on their relationship and their pursuit of the murderer is further complicated by the arrival of Hurricane Sandy.
The book felt true to the series characters although it featured more swearing than the ABC show. In fact I found the amount of f-bombs dropped in the book’s closing chapters to be distracting and out of character because of my experience watching on TV.
Unlike other authors, since its based in TV, we can witness Richard Castle’s “real life”. We experience what inspires his novels. We’ve watched the sexually charged tension build and be realized with Detective Beckett. We have witnessed the camaraderie between that duo, the Detectives Esposito and Ryan and Medical Examiner Lanie Parish. We’ve seen that team butt heads with their Captain, Victoria Gates. So its fun to read how author Castle transforms those experiences into his novel. I had to chuckle at his choice of Beckett’s Neck as a key locale for Raging Heat, envisioning the discussion that would spark when the Detective read the book. I also laughed at the way Castle fictionalized himself in Jameson Rook making sure he has a rugged physique and “nice ass”. And I learned more about how the relationship of Castle and Beckett developed so deeply in reading his description of the fight between Rook and Heat and its resolution.
I was a latecomer to the Castle party. By the time I started watching previous season reruns were airing in multiple hour blocks on TNT. In fact it was the continued reminders and prods by a business associate that finally led me to check out the popular show. I was hooked immediately. It became the show I looked forward to each week and often find myself enjoying the TNT reruns as well. And finding Nathan Fillion’s off-screen persona endearing I’ve even watched his short-lived, yet passionately loved “Firefly.”
Flash forward a few seasons, the most recent season’s cliffhanger episode didn’t sit well with me and the first couple of episodes weren’t connecting with me in the same way the show had before. However Raging Heat has rekindled my spark for Castle even with its groan inducing Firefly nods. It featured more of what I love in the ABC series — the camaraderie, the parallel investigations that intertwine, the wacky theories of Castle that seem less wacky when we discover the truth, the Caskett passion, and the humor. Guess I need to binge read the previous Heat titles.
For more fun, check out this interview with Raging Heat author Richard Castle: http://crimespreemag.