****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
It's a rare book that I really don't want to put down. I may have used that old saw to describe other books in the past, but it was never so true of a book as it was in this case. I took this on vacation (to Northern Maine for Thanksgiving) and I kept ignoring family so I could bury my nose in this. This is not deathless prose, but the mystery was engaging and the writing solid. When you compare it to books by other fake people (Jessica Fletcher, Gary Troup, James Patterson--oops! He used to be real) this is a real stand out.Yes, I am a fan of the TV show which I only started watching because I think Nathan Fillion is dreamy. It's a funny, fast-moving, often surprisingly touching fantasy-cop mystery show--what genre doesn't it touch? You don't have to be a fan of the show to enjoy this. It is easy to see the characters of Castle and Beckett in Rook (ha ha castle/rook...get it?) and Heat especially since some of their banter seems lifted right from the show. And the mystery might as well be an extralong series entry...but you need no knowledge of the show to enjoy the book.It is also a rare book that makes me laugh out loud. In fact, I think fewer than ten have (and I read a LOT of books for fun and for the three journals I write reviews for). This one got me several times. I will certainly never look at Sponge Bob in the same way again.So it's fun and funny just enjoying the story (level one) and to enjoy it as a companion to the series (level two) and to snicker at people who find it "dishonest" in some bizzare way of ABC to put out a book "by" one of it's series characters* (level four) AND it is a knee-slappin' hoot to read stories (and get e-mails) about people going into bookstores and libraries looking for Castle's OTHER books (level five).One final level of fun is the speculation as to the real author. Since the back flap lists Richard Castle as the author...but also mentions his first novel "In a Hail of Bullets" as the winner of the Nom DePlume Society's prestigious Tom Straw award...I think it's safe to assume the author of this is Tom Straw & I am going to go snatch up a copy of his other mystery "The Trigger Episode" because this was so good--maybe you should to!*do these same people think it's dishonest of James Patterson to fob off the writing of all of his books on co-writers? Or of Nora Roberts {not her real name to begin with} to write as JD Robb among others? Grow up people!
