Storm Front by Richard Castle

Storm Front

Let me start this review, since it is the first Castle book I've reviewed for my blog, by saying that Richard Castle is not real. Gasp!!! I know. He is a fictional character on the television show Castle on ABC. He is played by Nathan Fillion.

Richard Castle is portrayed as a real flesh and blood writer. There is even a website dedicated to him like any other author and a bio of him on the dust jacket. A very clever and well done marketing scheme, because I enjoy the ruse. In the beginning of his fictional career Richard Castle wrote a series of books that revolved around the character Derrick Storm. Getting bored with the character, he kills him off and is looking for a new muse. This is where the show begins. Castle begins to shadow an NYPD Detective named Kate Beckett, and she becomes the character Nikki Heat. Sounds like real life doesn't it. Since the show has begun there is a series of Nikki Heat books that he writes during the course of a season and then it is released around the time the next season starts. This is a lot of fun for fans of the show to read the book he talks about all season long.

A little over a year ago, Castle (or whom ever writes these) brought Derrick Storm back from the dead in a series of ebook novellas. Thismis the first full length book in the return of Derrick Storm. I could easily see this series continuing and kind of hope it gets better. I was really excited to read this since I really enjoyed all three novellas.

This book is all about the return of Derrick Storm's old enemy, Gregor Volkov. Volkov is out to crush the economy and become a powerful force. Storm is sent all over the world trying to thwart his evil plans, and as interesting as this sounds I was bored.

Derrick Storm is an agent of the CIA, so there is a lot of potential for spy games, espionage, and  other James Bond like pursuits.There is some of that but not nearly as much as I expected. A lot of this book was nothing but down time and I really felt my attention waver. I think if I wasn't listening to this in audio I wouldn't have finished it. The beginning really didn't grab me right away, and then the middle of the book just dragged. I realize the writer has to establish a character that has fictionally existed for years, but really this is the first time we the readers have ever been exposed to him.

That is really the only reason I think I kept going. It is a difficult task to describe and establish a character as the story progresses. I was interested to learn more about Derrick Storm and really wanted to give this book a chance. My hope is that since there is a full length novel out, the next book in the series (if there is a next book) focuses more on the plot and we can get some more action. The only other complaint I have with this book is the name of the female lead character. This book tried so hard to feel like a James Bond novel that they had a female agent with a ridiculous name. The constant repetition of this was tedious and really annoying.

Before I ramble on anymore, let me just sum this up by saying I wasn't impressed. With how much I liked the Storm novellas I expected a lot more from this book. I like the Nikki Heat series better than this one unless there is a future Derrick Storm book that blows me away. Worth the read if you are a die hard Castle fan, but I was mostly bored.

Since I am new to blogging I haven't added video to my blog before and I want to try it. This one is to good not to include. Here is a promo video for the show. It is funny and I laugh every time I see it. I think this is a great way to end this post, and I get to broaden my blog skills.