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planetsashka's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
3.75
jeydid's review against another edition
3.0
For a series of books that are spun-off a tv series, these haven't been half-bad.
smanke's review against another edition
5.0
Book 4 of the TV series spinoff that has taken on a life of its own. This series never disappoints. The new book brings about a new case with unexpected ties to deep family wounds and links involving international espionage. Another great mystery thriller for this series. But a word of warning to fans: don't expect to have everything wrapped up by the end of the book. This isn't a television show and this novel leaves us with questions that will likely be answered in the next book.
bloodiimary's review
3.0
Nog den bok jag gillat sämst i serien. Hur mycket kan hända en och samma människa? Lite för mycket av allt kändes det som. Slutade på en cliffhanger så det blir allt att läsa nästa.
erin_heit_451's review against another edition
4.0
I started out not liking it, but it just kept picking up...very creative! Like how he/she incorporated the show and all...can't wait to read the rest!
wasupe12's review against another edition
4.0
My first Nikki Heat and first Richard Castle novel, and now a new author to put on my list. I enjoyed Nikki's character, Rook's humor, and how they interact together.
uniquelyerica's review against another edition
4.0
If you like the series I think you'll like the books
the_book_badger's review against another edition
3.0
OK, Frozen Heat. Before I start with this I need to make it clear that despite this being the forth book in the series, it is the only one I have read so far. I have also never seen the show Castle, so I can't compare it to that either. Now on to the review.
TL:DR Version: 2.75 stars. It had its fun moments but if I wanted something that made me feel like I was watching TV (complete with unnecessary product placement) I would just watch the TV.
The first thing I'll say is that I'm giving this book 3 stars. Actually it is more like 2.75 stars but I cannot and will not give this book which I actually enjoyed to some extent, the same rating as other books I've barely been able to finish that just had some redeeming features. So now we know the rating I'll explain why.
The book reads like a write-up of an 'Series finale special 3-part episode' of Generic Crime Drama #4. In all seriousness I have never read a book that has made me think 'this would work better on TV' in my life. It's not necessarily a bad thing. It certainly makes the book more readable if you're like the idea of Crime Drama but aren't so big on reading. Plus, in a strange way, it made it quite easy to imagine the scenes in my head without getting bogged down in description.
The characters I have some issues with. All a fairly generic 'TV cops' which is fine, it works and I don't dislike any of them for it. Nikki Heat is a career driven female detective who won't let the case go cold. The rest of the team...actually are apparently so unmemorable that I can't remember any of their names, but they do their jobs so that's fine. For some reason there is an investigative journalist/Nikki-sex-partner working the case too who is quite interesting if only for that fact that he has a strange sense of humour. Two characters DO stick out, namely Wally Irons and his 'secret weapon'/lover Detective Hinesburg. Wally is the big boss man who apparently just does anything to make himself look good, which I guess is a recognized 'boss' trait. Hinesburg is known to all involved as the most useless officer (if not, human being) to ever walk the earth and you are left wondering how she got a job in the first place. These two stick out as memorable but mainly because everything they do (despite technically adding a plot point) makes no sense. (Incidentally, if anyone reading this CAN make sense of any of the things the pair did, PLEASE let me know).
Hinesburgs ability to land police-work actually leads me to the second issue in this book. Realism. Somewhere out there, there are people asking the question "How come in films people just ask for beer?" and genuinely want to know how the bartender manages to server them things. Fair enough, I've wondered that myself. There seem to be 2 accepted solutions:
1) Make up a name
2) Using an existing products (Payed product placement or otherwise)
Now. Product placement annoys me in movies. Honestly I don't need to know if Character A likes to drink Budweiser and smoke Marlboro's. It adds NOTHING I didn't get from 'beer and cigarettes'. This is one of many reasons books tend to be better than movies and TV.
Apparently nobody told Richard Castle. It adds to the realism when a book set in New York mentions popular landmarks like a statue of Roosevelt which I assume is real. However, and I cannot be alone in this, it does not add anything when I read "He's over there, by Pret-A-Manger" or "He handed her a Starbucks". If it was once on twice, fine, but the book is riddled with it. Numerous companies are name dropped, Hot Tub Time Machine and Storage Wars get a mention (although the Storage Wars line at least had a point to it). Not to mention the references to apple products. Rook doesn't use a laptop. No, he uses a MacBook. When Rook see's another character using an iPad, the guy announces "You should get yourself one, man, they're amazing".
Some of it had a point to it, the use of the phrase "There's an app for that" was at least used as part of a characters sense of humour. I've never heard a human being use the phrase for comedic effect before, but I guess someone must have, but the rest of it is just annoying. If it doesn't add anything to the writing, it doesn't need to be there, and most of the products named in this book REALLY didn't need to be there.
Moving on to plot. If you read this book, the chances are good you will remember the chunk of CSI: Miami where after a series of unlikely events involving things way above his station, Horation went nuts and ended up in Brazil. That is exactly what this book feels like. I'm not sure if its a good or bad thing. I wouldn't necessarily like it more if half of Heat's evidence was thrown out because she was technically to enforced leave or because she got it through improper channels...or that at one stage she stole some evidence just because it belonged to her. Either way it just feels too much like a TV special for me to properly enjoy it.
TL:DR Version: 2.75 stars. It had its fun moments but if I wanted something that made me feel like I was watching TV (complete with unnecessary product placement) I would just watch the TV.
The first thing I'll say is that I'm giving this book 3 stars. Actually it is more like 2.75 stars but I cannot and will not give this book which I actually enjoyed to some extent, the same rating as other books I've barely been able to finish that just had some redeeming features. So now we know the rating I'll explain why.
The book reads like a write-up of an 'Series finale special 3-part episode' of Generic Crime Drama #4. In all seriousness I have never read a book that has made me think 'this would work better on TV' in my life. It's not necessarily a bad thing. It certainly makes the book more readable if you're like the idea of Crime Drama but aren't so big on reading. Plus, in a strange way, it made it quite easy to imagine the scenes in my head without getting bogged down in description.
The characters I have some issues with. All a fairly generic 'TV cops' which is fine, it works and I don't dislike any of them for it. Nikki Heat is a career driven female detective who won't let the case go cold. The rest of the team...actually are apparently so unmemorable that I can't remember any of their names, but they do their jobs so that's fine. For some reason there is an investigative journalist/Nikki-sex-partner working the case too who is quite interesting if only for that fact that he has a strange sense of humour. Two characters DO stick out, namely Wally Irons and his 'secret weapon'/lover Detective Hinesburg. Wally is the big boss man who apparently just does anything to make himself look good, which I guess is a recognized 'boss' trait. Hinesburg is known to all involved as the most useless officer (if not, human being) to ever walk the earth and you are left wondering how she got a job in the first place. These two stick out as memorable but mainly because everything they do (despite technically adding a plot point) makes no sense. (Incidentally, if anyone reading this CAN make sense of any of the things the pair did, PLEASE let me know).
Hinesburgs ability to land police-work actually leads me to the second issue in this book. Realism. Somewhere out there, there are people asking the question "How come in films people just ask for beer?" and genuinely want to know how the bartender manages to server them things. Fair enough, I've wondered that myself. There seem to be 2 accepted solutions:
1) Make up a name
2) Using an existing products (Payed product placement or otherwise)
Now. Product placement annoys me in movies. Honestly I don't need to know if Character A likes to drink Budweiser and smoke Marlboro's. It adds NOTHING I didn't get from 'beer and cigarettes'. This is one of many reasons books tend to be better than movies and TV.
Apparently nobody told Richard Castle. It adds to the realism when a book set in New York mentions popular landmarks like a statue of Roosevelt which I assume is real. However, and I cannot be alone in this, it does not add anything when I read "He's over there, by Pret-A-Manger" or "He handed her a Starbucks". If it was once on twice, fine, but the book is riddled with it. Numerous companies are name dropped, Hot Tub Time Machine and Storage Wars get a mention (although the Storage Wars line at least had a point to it). Not to mention the references to apple products. Rook doesn't use a laptop. No, he uses a MacBook. When Rook see's another character using an iPad, the guy announces "You should get yourself one, man, they're amazing".
Some of it had a point to it, the use of the phrase "There's an app for that" was at least used as part of a characters sense of humour. I've never heard a human being use the phrase for comedic effect before, but I guess someone must have, but the rest of it is just annoying. If it doesn't add anything to the writing, it doesn't need to be there, and most of the products named in this book REALLY didn't need to be there.
Moving on to plot. If you read this book, the chances are good you will remember the chunk of CSI: Miami where after a series of unlikely events involving things way above his station, Horation went nuts and ended up in Brazil. That is exactly what this book feels like. I'm not sure if its a good or bad thing. I wouldn't necessarily like it more if half of Heat's evidence was thrown out because she was technically to enforced leave or because she got it through improper channels...or that at one stage she stole some evidence just because it belonged to her. Either way it just feels too much like a TV special for me to properly enjoy it.