In my opinion, this was the best of the Nikki Heat novels. I'm not sure if it had a different ghost writer, or if the approach just felt more appealing to me this time. I actually liked the fact that it focused on just Heat at the beginning and Rook didn't enter into the picture for a while. Although Castle is my favorite character on the show, Rook just can't compare to Nathan Fillion's charm, so the character pales in comparison. It is better when he doesn't parallel Castle's character too much and more stands on his own with his own unique qualities. I also liked how personal this investigation felt, and my interest held up pretty well throughout the novel. Only at the end did my mind glaze over once all of the big revelations started coming. I thought I might give this series a rest, but this book definitely refreshed my interest. If I'm in the right mood, I'll certainly consider reading the next book.

If you want to get extremely meta about this whole enterprise, “Richard Castle” has created Jameson Rook as his stand-in character, and Nikki becomes the main character because Castle’s not writing about himself, he’s writing about Beckett.

Alaina's been spending her lunch breaks writing her reviews longhand, and this is the first one to get typed up. She finished "Heat Rises," the third in the Nikki Heat-"Castle" tie-in series last week and rated it 3.5 stars. For the full review - which gets a bit meta in there, sorry 'bout that - follow the link to That's What She Read.

I think this was my favorite Castle book so far. Good fun just like the show!!

I think they got a new writer and/or editor with this book. There's not nearly as many typos, repetitions, and stupidity.

Oh, it's still a convoluted plot line.

But enjoyably so.

Also, love me some Firefly shout outs.

A good mystery, fairly well-written. Must read for the obligatory Firefly reference(s). !!

It's fun to think of what is in Castle's mind as he writes this and what is in Beckett's mind as she reads it, especially because the book relationship is somewhat different from their "real-life" relationship

That was probably my favorite book out of the series so far. I think it was very heartbreaking that 'Castle' wrote that Rook got shot because we all know that Castle wished he had taken that bullet for Beckett.

If you're a fan of the tv show "Castle," you'll enjoy this series. Whoever is writing it does a terrific job of keeping the feel of the show while still delivering a good whodunnit.

Picked up this audiobook cheap at the library sale & thought it'd be a fun listen, since we'd enjoyed the TV show way back when. I almost didn't make it past the first chapter... not only was it different than what I'd expected, but I had a very difficult time adjusting to the nasally voice of the New York police-sounding reader, fitting though it might be. Once I got a few chapters in, though, I started to enjoy it. Liked that the characters (and some of the plot points) were ones I remembered fondly from the show. I might even look up another in this series sometime.