Two For One

Everything comes to a head here with the mystery of how and why Nikki Heat’s mother was murdered.  And fans of the Castle show will notice the parallels between the story of Bekett’s mother as well as at least two cases they solved during the show.

So we catch up with Heat and Rook investigating a health inspector baked in a pizza oven, a TV reporter strangled with TV cable, and a bio terror plot to wipe out half of New York City while simultaneously filling the pockets of big pharmaceutical companies.

And thes best thing is, even if you’ve kept up on the show the book keeps you guessing the whole ‘who dunnit’ right up until the end.  I thought that was fantastic.  It’s really hard to keep interest when you do things like this, base a book series on a TV/movie/video game.  Fans feel like they already know everything or that the books will be worse than their chosen medium, but so far the ghost writer behind the Heat series are doing a fantastic job keeping the books interesting and new.  At least for me.

I am a little surprised however that the books don’t seem to be caught up with the series yet.  I feel like the show is two seasons or more ahead of the books.  But there is one more Heat book out there I haven’t read yet, so we’ll see.

Another ‘serious note’ book coming up, one I’ve had my eye on for a while.  The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.

The Lovely Bones is the story of a family devastated by a gruesome murder — a murder recounted by the teenage victim. Upsetting, you say? Remarkably, first-time novelist Alice Sebold takes this difficult material and delivers a compelling and accomplished exploration of a fractured family’s need for peace and closure.

The details of the crime are laid out in the first few pages: from her vantage point in heaven, Susie Salmon describes how she was confronted by the murderer one December afternoon on her way home from school. Lured into an underground hiding place, she was raped and killed. But what the reader knows, her family does not. Anxiously, we keep vigil with Susie, aching for her grieving family, desperate for the killer to be found and punished.

Sebold creates a heaven that’s calm and comforting, a place whose residents can have whatever they enjoyed when they were alive — and then some. But Susie isn’t ready to release her hold on life just yet, and she intensely watches her family and friends as they struggle to cope with a reality in which she is no longer a part. To her great credit, Sebold has shaped one of the most loving and sympathetic fathers in contemporary literature.

Nikki Heat Series List

So if you’re a fan of murder mystery shows, you need to check out Castle starring one of the geek gods Nathan Fillion.  It’s a really good show about this New York Times Bestselling author Richard Castle who kills of his best selling character and is in need of inspiration for his next one, so he tags along with an NYPD homicide detective Kate Beckett and bases his latest character Nikki Heat on her.  And as the series continues, you see him publishing all these books, and then you see these books being published and discussed in the show appear in the store of your local booksellers.

i’m not joking.  The author is credited to Richard Castle, Nathan Fillion’s picture is on the back cover as Richard Castle, and the stories in the books are ver batum, page for page what they discuss in the show.  It is really, really cool and I have no shame in admitting I squealed like the little fan girl I am when the first book Heat Wave came into my store.

1. Heat Wave
2. Naked Heat
3. Heat Rises
4. Frozen Heat
5. Deadly Heat
6. Raging Heat
7. Driving Heat

Also, they’ve taken to publishing the books based in Castle’s previous character Derrick Storm.  Haven’t read any of these yet, but knowing me it’s just a matter of time…

1. A Brewing Storm
2. A Raging Storm
3. A Bloody Storm

Castle’s Back! Kinda…

So for those of you in the geek world who don’t know the show Castle, you need to rectify that right now.  Castle is a murder mystery crime drama, heavy on the comedy, that follows a NYC best selling author Richard Castle as he shadows NYPD Detective Kate Beckett as his inspiration for his latest character Nikki Heat.

And cue all the sexual drama and tension such a partnership would create.

Apparently the show did so well, they actually had people ghost write the books under the Richard Castle name as the character was writing/publishing the same titled books in the show.  Kinda nifty huh?  You watch the show, hear them talking about the book, then you actually get to read it in real life.

Naked Heat is the second in the Nikki Heat series, and here we’re following Nikki and Jameson Rook (Castle’s pseudonym for himself in the book) as they attempt to find the killer of a trash gossip columnist who was writing a tell all book about…someone.

Enter a whole slew of suspects from a heartbroken semi washed up rock star, a pro ball player, a homicidal texan, a skeevy publicity lawyer, and the death of a talented young man due to sex, drugs, and rock and roll.

Now, I’m not often one for mystery books, but I love the Nikki Heat books.  Mostly because I love the show Castle, and when I read the books I can see how all the characters on paper tie into all the characters from the show.  It engages you on a whole new fascinating level and I love it.

I’m even thinking of picking up the series ‘Castle’ wrote before Nikki Heat, Derrik Storm.  But time will tell on that one.

Coming up, a book that I have been searching for a long, long time and was finally able to get my grubby little hands on.  No Control, book 1 of the Delta Force series by Shannon K. Butcher.

Renowned cryptologist Noelle Blanche refuses to have blood on her hands. So when the military asks for her help in a covert operation, she refuses–until masked gunmen raid her home and threaten her life. Suddenly it’s all too clear that any blood spilled may be her own. Noelle has no choice but to trust the dangerous stranger sent by the military to safeguard her. A stranger who is everything she detests, everything she fears…and everything she desires.
Former Delta Force operative David Wolfe thought he had left it all behind–the horror, the hurt, the guilt. ut now the men who savagely murdered his wife have set their sights on a brilliant cryptologist who can lead them to the cache of weapons they prize. As passion ignites between David and the woman he’s sworn to protect, what began as just a mission escalates into the fight of his life. But can he prevent history from repeating itself?

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Pass The Damned Tissues.

I bawled like a baby when I reached the end of this book.

Dragon Age Asunder is the third book in the Dragon Age series, based on the video rpg of the same name, all written by David Gader.  Asunder takes place on Orlais about a year after the events of Dragon Age 2.

Asunder is a fascinating story that continues with the events that Dragon Age 2 sparked, the relationship between the Chantry and the mages of the realm.  One side wants to be free to rule themselves, the other side is so fearful of the possible harm that could come of that freedom that they clamp down in an attempt to keep anything from happening ever.  And of course the harder the Chantry clamps down, the harder the mages fight for freedom, the harder the Chantry clamps down, etc etc.

Circles upon circles.  Neither side is right, and neither side is wrong.  Mages have the capacity to be dangerous as they are always open to possession by demons, but that doesn’t mean they have to be locked away from the rest of civilization for all their lives, nor that they should have their individuality stripped from them or be outright killed for what *could* happen.

These arguments and more are presented within Asunder, and we see some old friends from Dragon Age Origins return.  Wynne comes back to help her long lost son with Shale by her side.  Leliana returns as the right hand of a Divine who is more cunning than she looked.  Numerous references are made to the Hero of Fereldan, but at the end of it all we say a final farewell to one of our three boon companions, never to be heard from again.

Yupp.  Que the tears.

But aside from the incredibly sad ending, Dragon Age Asunder was really, really good.  And now with the trailor for Dragon Age Inqusition out, you can see how Dragon Age 2 and Asunder tie in to the next chapter of the rpg side of the franchise.

Next time, a little murder mystery to liven things up around here.  Naked Heat by Richard Castle, based on the awesome television show Castle starring Nathan Fillion.

When New York’s most vicious gossip columnist, Cassidy Towne, is found dead, Heat uncovers a gallery of high profile suspects, all with compelling motives for killing the most feared muckraker in Manhattan.

Heat’s murder investigation is complicated by her surprise reunion with superstar magazine journalist Jameson Rook. In the wake of their recent breakup, Nikki would rather not deal with their raw emotional baggage. But the handsome, wise-cracking Pulitzer Prize-winning writer’s personal involvement in the case forces her to team up with Rook anyway. The residue of their unresolved romantic conflict and crackling sexual tension fills the air as Heat and Rook embark on a search for a killer among celebrities and mobsters, singers and hookers, pro athletes and shamed politicians.

This new, explosive case brings on the heat in the glittery world of secrets, cover-ups, and scandals.

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