Art Imitates Art

I had some light reading with me for the plane flight to and from Las Vegas. Very light reading. Perhaps you watch the television series Castle, a sort of "Murder, He Wrote" about a cocky novelist who shadows a female New York detective to draw inspiration for his new novel. If you do, then you'll know that they make constant references on the show to that novel, Heat Wave.

Well, it turns out that Heat Wave is a real thing. It was ghost written (by whom, it has not been revealed) and published with the character, Richard Castle, as the author. The book cover even looks exactly as it does on the TV show, right down to actor Nathan Fillion's smiling face adorning the back. I don't know if I had enough curiosity to buy the book myself, but I did have just enough curiosity to read it when my book-store-employee friend offered to loan me the copy she'd picked up.

My reluctance starts with this: I don't actually like the TV show Castle very much. It's a really rote cop mystery show, when you get down to it. The cases are rarely exceptional. The procedures aren't very interesting. When I'm done watching at episode, I find my memory of the plot as ephemeral as my average experience watching Psych.

But like Psych, the show is watchable because of the actors, and the phenomenal chemistry between them. I've already mentioned that Nathan Fillion plays the title character, and it goes without saying that he's fantastic. Stana Katic plays the detective, and while she's not as widely she known, she's also wonderful in her character. And together, the two of them are perfect; the interplay between them makes the show. Even the side characters on the series, particularly Castle's mother and teenage daughter, provide good fuel.

You may think I've drifted a bit off the subject of the book, Heat Wave. But the thing is, reading it is a lot like watching an episode of Castle. The characters in it are all ringers for characters on the show -- "author" Castle even puts himself in there as a journalist named (haha!) Jameson Rook. The way they all act, the way their dialogue comes across -- it all feels not just like an episode of the TV show, but it often feels specifically like a version of an episode as it would be interpreted by the Castle character. I mean, you really could imagine this is the sort of book Castle would write, were he a real person.

But the similarity to the TV show is a bad thing too. As I said, the thing that really keeps the show from being easily dismissed is the interplay between the actors. In the books, you get a distilled version of that because of the authenticity of the characters, but you're not seeing what the very skilled actors would bring to it, were this an actual episode. In short, the best thing about Castle isn't really present in this book. On the flip side, the plot is a little more clever and intricate than the average episode of Castle. I guess call those trade-offs.

The book is an incredibly brisk read, under 200 pages. If it were any longer, it wouldn't be worth anyone's consideration. As is is, I'm not exactly recommending it -- it's really no better than a TV show I'm not entirely sure I like. But then again, if you like Castle (perhaps more than I), you might want to check out this fun little tie-in.