Deadly Heat (Nikki Heat, 5) Mass Market Paperback – September 30, 2014

Nikki Heat is distracted as she walks up to the pizza restaurant. She is so distracted that she actually forgets her decade-long ritual of giving a minute of silence to the soul of the person whose body she is about to view for the first time.The cause of her distraction is two-fold, though both reasons are closely related. It has been three weeks since Nikki narrowly missed being assassinated by the rogue CIA agent who murdered her mother ten years prior. Although that murderer is now dead, poisoned in his jail cell, his handler faked his own death and escaped. So now, Nikki is still a potential target because the person who ordered both her mother’s death and her own is still out there.The second distraction is the highly publicized debut of a magazine website that is using an article by Jameson Rook, Nikki’s significant other, as its lead story. That article is the story of Nikki’s mother’s life as a spy, her death and the capture of her murderer. The intimacy of the story itself is bad enough, but the real worry for Nikki is that the publicity will be used to taint her cases and that jealous colleagues will stonewall her investigations.So, forgetting her ritual, Heat views the dead body, stuffed in a pizza oven and well baked. Also in the oven are the man’s unbaked ID as a Health Department restaurant inspector, an unbaked but dead rat, and an unbaked coil of red string. The man had been chloroformed and shot to death before being baked, but those are only more clues, not consolation.Before Heat and her team can get a good start on this murder, a second body turns up. The consumer advocate for one of the major NYC TV stations has been found chloroformed and then strangled with a TV coaxial cable. Close by is a yellow string – attached to a red string. Clearly, the murderer wants Heat to know that the murder victims are connected.Then the notoriety brought on by Rook’s web page article sets in motion a cause-and-effect scenario. The article causes the escaped CIA handler to order Nikki’s death – again. The effect occurs when a reader of the article recognizes Nikki in a coffee shop and asks her to autograph his cup. This simple but embarrassing request causes Nikki to delay picking up her own latte from the counter. But it doesn’t stop the gruesome and immediate death of a homeless man who schlepped her cup and found it laced with the same poison as in the jailhouse murder.Not only have these rogue espionage agents declared open season on Nikki Heat, so has the serial killer with the string signature. He calls Heat at the precinct and lays down the gauntlet. He declares her his best challenge to date but tells her that she will lose both the case and her life.With Rook at her side, as well as Roach, Feller and Rhymer from her team, Heat juggles both cases. More bodies surface, more connected strings for not only the serial killer case but for the rogue agent/terrorist case. And at every turn, she has to fight interference from the lead agents of the DHS and the CIA assigned to the rogue agent/terrorist situation. And she must constantly maneuver around her inept, clueless media hound of a precinct captain and the equally inept female detective, with whom he is having an affair, that he has assigned to Nikki’s team.Now, all this set-up takes place in the first few chapters. The remainder of the story becomes increasingly intense and convoluted as the two cases tumble over each other and actually merge into each other. But it is a story that is well told and is quite the page-turner.And this is definitely a novel where the reader has to keep close watch on the clues and an even closer watch on who says what to whom and when. Then, just when you think you’ve got it all figured out, the author twists the arc and you have to start over.In the end, the plot of this fifth entry in the series clearly hinges on the old adage that advises, “Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer.” And before it is over, both Nikki and the reader will be wondering just who is friend and who is enemy. And we will definitely worry about the author’s definition of “closer.”

It starts with a body in a pizza oven. The man was a health inspector, but he seems to have no enemies. Before Nikki Heat and her team of detectives can begin to make much headway, another dead body shows up with the most bizarre clue tying them together.Meanwhile, Nikki is still trying to tie up the loose ends in her mother's murder. But one of the people Nikki needs to arrest tries to kill her. As Nikki focuses on that case, she begins to realize there is a reason her mother's murder started heating up last month - whatever she found almost eleven years ago is about to happen. Can she figure it out? How will she juggle these two cases?Before we go further, I should point out that there is a great recap of the case of Nikki's mother's murder in the first few pages of the book. It was great for me since I was a little rusty. However, if you haven't read the series to date, it will completely spoil the previous book in the series. You have been warned.I picked up the first book because I'm a fan of Castle, but I kept reading them because I enjoyed them. This is no exception. Outside of Nikki and boyfriend/journalist Rook that characters aren't super developed, but they have enough personality to make things fun. The writing, as always, takes me a few pages to get into, but once I do I get lost in the story.And what a ride this book is. There are some book twists and always something to keep me turning pages. Honestly, James Patterson could learn a thing or two about plotting from this book.Obviously, fans of the series will enjoy this book the most. But anyone who enjoys a good mystery will be glad they gave these books a try.

The latest "Richard Castle" book Deadly Heat didn't disappoint. It's a strong 4.5 stars. When I sat down and started reading it, I didn't do anything else that wasn't necessary until I finished. I may be a little biased because the TV show Castle, starring Nathan Fillion which kind of follows the book is my favorite TV show. So I will state that up front. The character ensemble is very cohesive, like a family. I have read all 4 previous books so I know the main characters and I didn't need to be "introduced" to them. That is a strong point for me.Deadly Heat has 2 major crime investigations going on at one time, a serial killer and someone trying to kill Nikki. The procedural investigation is almost constant. Rook gave some comic lines that eased the tension. I actually like his humor. It isn't laugh out loud funny but it works. Every lead Nikki and her crew receive is meticulously investigated until finally it all comes together with all the ends tied. The ending is excellent with no cliffhangers involved. I do dislike cliffhangers!I really liked the reference to the short run "Firefly" TV show that Nathan Fillion starred in 2002; and again, Rook was on the phone with Nikki when he was at a meeting with Hollywood producers that were going to make a movie from his books and someone could be heard in the background saying he wanted Nathan to star in it. GREAT! My only complaint was that Rook and Nikki didn't spend a lot of time together in this book and that made me feel something was missing. Also, several times Nikki seemed to be unsure of Rook. I'll let you read the book to see why.If you like mysteries/thrillers with a little romance and great surrounding characters, you'll like this book.Good reading all.

Another cool Nikki Heat book by "Richard Castle" (btw, who actually writes these, as I'd love to read some of their own books!), this time with Nikki torn two ways - between hunting for a serial killer nicknamed the Rainbow Killer, and finding the remaining elements behind her mother's murder and stopping whatever plot they have planned. All whilst battling interference from her Precinct Commander, a mole in her team, problems caused by the ever-useless "Defective" Hinesburg, and DHS (especially Rook's ex, Agent Bell!). But when is Nikki's life ever easy?!I love these books, which are a spin-off from the Castle tv series, as they're well-written (unlike some tv spin-off books!) and really keep you hooked with all their twists and turns. And this book definitely doesn't disappoint on that front - it's more twisty than an English country lane! I have the audiobook of this book, and it's brilliantly narrated by Robert Petkoff, who's great at bringing out the drama and characters in the stories. I think I must have listened to this book at least 50 times! I cannot recommend these books (and audiobooks!) enough for all Castle lovers, or for people who just enjoy a murder-mystery.

Deadly Heat is the fifth book in the Nikki Heat series by the totally fictitious author Richard Castle (played by the ruggedly handsome Nathan Fillion on the TV show Castle), and as with the previous four it's a damn fine read.I've now read enough of these books that it's become second nature to imagine the characters as their counterparts from the TV show, and as a result getting into the story is becoming easier and easier. I also think that the author, whoever he or she truly is, has finally found their style and is consequently delivering a much more polished narrative than with the first book or two.This outing follows on almost immediately from the events of the fourth book Frozen Heat, so it's not as readable as a standalone as the others are. However, there's enough back story exposition given in the first half of the book that doing so wouldn't necessarily leave the reader too confused.The story itself deals with two cases this time; the first being Nikki Heat's continued search for the man responsible for her mother's murder and the second being the arrival of a serial killer in New York. Both plotlines are handled with plenty of skill, and are woven together in such a way that the reader has to pay attention in order to keep up with the clues as they're thrown out by the author. By the end of the book there have been enough twists and turns along the way to satisfy any reader of modern crime fiction.As with the rest of tis series I'd certainly recommend it to other fans of crime fiction, as well as to fans of the TV show that spawned these books, and I'm definitely looking forward to reading book six, Raging Heat, next month.

I could be extremely biased in giving this book 5*'s purely because I love Castle!!This is the fifth Nikki Heat novel which ties in to the TV show Castle and follows on from where Frozen Heat ended with Nikki still trying to find the people behind her mother's murder - something which ties in to Beckett's story on the show. Nikki ends up juggling 2 cases, still investigating her mother's case along with a new serial killer that ends up targeting her. This case also bears a resemblance to a case that Beckett and Castle investigated in Season 2 - the 2 part one which had Dana Delany as an FBI agent - where someone targeted Beckett referring her to as Nikki Heat and trying to outsmart her.There are so many nods to the TV show and to Nathan's time on Firefly. Even going so far as to say that that Nathan fellow would be great to play Jameson Rook in a Hollywood adaptation of his articles about Nikki Heat. Also having two detectives called Malcolm & Reynolds. Plus there are characters in the book using the same names as characters from the show.Although this series does stand alone as a good read with great storytelling I know that I enjoy them more simply because of my love for the show.I'd love to know who the actual author is - unless Nathan Fillion has been working hard behind the scenes and has gone method in writing these books!!Another great Nikki Heat book - they just keep getting better with each one.

For the uninitiated; the Nikki Heat series is a series of companion novels to the U.S TV series 'Castle' written by "Richard Castle" (the main character of the show, who is writing a series of books based on the exploits of Detective Kate Beckett). The books are, basically, like props from the show. Like the previous instalments in the Nikki Heat series, 'Deadly Heat' follows NYPD detective Nikki Heat and her partner/lover Jameson Rook. This time, we see them continuing the hunt for the man responsible for the murder of Heat's mother years before, while simultaneously pursuing a serial killer who marks out Heat as his next target. This book, like the previous four in the set, basically plays out like an episode of 'Castle' and reading the book you can see those characters in your mind(Heat=Beckett, Rook=Castle etc...) This book, like the others, does not take itself too seriously and that makes it an enjoyable read; the characters are engaging and fun, without being too cliché and the plot moves along at a steady rate and throws the occasional twist at you (some I saw coming, others I did not) I loved this book simply because it is fun and easy to read, you can just switch off and enjoy it without having to think too much and sometimes I want that. It isn't perfect though (yes, just because I loved it doesn't mean I am blind to its faults). In this case: where this book does suffer, in my opinion, is that it does rely on having read the previous book- 'Frozen Heat'. The first four novels, you could pretty much just pick up any of them and read them without having to have read any others, each one of them gave you enough back story that you could relate to the characters and understand what was happening. With this one, however, there is much more emphasis on events that occurred in the previous book and in a way it kind of becomes 'Frozen Heat-Part II). Having read that book it doesn't cause me a problem, but I'm not sure if it would be as enjoyable to someone who has not read the previous instalment. Despite that, I would rate this as one the best of the Nikki Heat books. I will accept that this style of book isn't going to be everyone's liking, but it does make perfect reading if you in the mood for some silly harmless fun that you can lose yourself in; it would make excellent holiday reading, for example. I thoroughly enjoyed 'Deadly Heat' and would recommend this to anyone (assuming they'd read the last one; if not I would say read it AFTER you read 'Frozen Heat')

A very enjoyable read. If you are a fan of the TV series, Castle, you will enjoy reading this.