Heat Wave

I love the ABC show "Castle". When I saw that ABC had commissioned a real book to match the one written in the season one story arc of the show, I felt compelled to read it. Fortunately, it was available from the Boston Public Library as an e-book, so it didn't cost me more than a little computer time. I'm not sure I would have felt good about spending money for "Heat Wave", but I probably would have done it anyway.
I don't have a lot (or any) experience with the modern detective genre, so I was not sure what to expect. I hoped that the sexual tension and goofy humor from the TV show would carry through to the book. What I found was that it was a tightly written mystery that made for a quick, enjoyable read.
The sexual tension was there, but almost laid on too thick. The humor was there as well, but it wasn't quite as goofy. One thing that I like about books is that it lets you go deeper into the character's heads, but in this case I found it distracting. The slight differences between the books protagonists, Nikki Heat and Jameason Rook, and the TV show protagonists, Castle and Beckett, was unsettling. Castle is more goofy than Rook and Beckett is less serious than Heat.
Aside from the tension between the characters I know and the ones on the page, the book was good. The plot moved pretty quickly. The mystery was complex without being crazy. The dialog was a little stinted, but I imagine that is par for the genre.
Overall, it was a fun read. Since I got it for free, I have no guilt. Since it was e-book, the only evidence that I read it is this blog entry. My bookshelf at home stays pretentiously highbrow and sci-fi heavy.