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A review by planetarypan
Storm Front by Richard Castle
2.0
I finished the book. My mother would not be proud. She told me to quit awhile ago. However, I stuck it out for no really good reason. But I finished it. That's about the only positive comment my review has.
SPOILER ALERT
1) Manufactured financial crisis story line. Ugh. Please stop writing these and pretending they are thrilling. They aren't. They're boring. So. So. Boring.
2) Unlikeable characters. They are all over the place! I am still finding it hard to believe the trope that claims that Storm is Castle's beloved character and people actually want him back from the dead. If he was supposed to be this type of person in previous works, I certainly would not have read more than the first one. I definitely wouldn't have wished him back. The only really likeable character was the Chinese agent.
3) Lame crossover chapter. So there is a Storm/Heat crossover moment. That might have been okay. What was really awful was having Storm and Rook play the "ruggedly handsome" game on and off for pages. I can see Castle the character making some crack about doing it in the show, but I don't see him doing that in the actual novel. His characters is portrayed as taking his craft mostly seriously when it comes down to it. The Heat novels have a ghost writer that does a better job of capturing what I think of as Castle's voice than this writer does. I accept that Jameson Rook is a Mary Sue for Castle. I don't accept that Derrick Storm is as well.
4) Tribute to Captain Montgomery. Okay. You, ghost writer/producers/whomever, get props for that touch. THAT was something I could see Castle doing. Well played. Doesn't make up for the half-baked novel, though.
SPOILER ALERT
1) Manufactured financial crisis story line. Ugh. Please stop writing these and pretending they are thrilling. They aren't. They're boring. So. So. Boring.
2) Unlikeable characters. They are all over the place! I am still finding it hard to believe the trope that claims that Storm is Castle's beloved character and people actually want him back from the dead. If he was supposed to be this type of person in previous works, I certainly would not have read more than the first one. I definitely wouldn't have wished him back. The only really likeable character was the Chinese agent.
3) Lame crossover chapter. So there is a Storm/Heat crossover moment. That might have been okay. What was really awful was having Storm and Rook play the "ruggedly handsome" game on and off for pages. I can see Castle the character making some crack about doing it in the show, but I don't see him doing that in the actual novel. His characters is portrayed as taking his craft mostly seriously when it comes down to it. The Heat novels have a ghost writer that does a better job of capturing what I think of as Castle's voice than this writer does. I accept that Jameson Rook is a Mary Sue for Castle. I don't accept that Derrick Storm is as well.
4) Tribute to Captain Montgomery. Okay. You, ghost writer/producers/whomever, get props for that touch. THAT was something I could see Castle doing. Well played. Doesn't make up for the half-baked novel, though.