Took me a while to gather the courage to read this novel, since I didn’t want to tarnish one of my favorite movies. But then again, I could simply forget the novel existed if it was bad (like we’re getting this year the fourth Indiana Jones movie!).
Thankfully it is far from bad! A page-turner, “Heat 2” written by Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner, is a very accomplished follow-up to the iconic 1995 movie. Here we have both the sequel, showing us what was of Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer’s character) after the events of the movie, in which he lands on Paraguay’s tri-shared border (Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina), a South American hub of commerce and crime, working for one of the major crime families. At the same time, we are introduced to the entire Neil McCauley (De Niro) crew eight years before the movie, where they will intersect with a merciless criminal who is being sought by Pacino’s character, Vincent Hanna, working at the time at Chicago Police Department. Tragedy ensues for Neil, and he is forced to flee, eventually to Los Angeles.
In the conclusion of the novel, both plots intersect in a grand-action finale of which you can practically hear the gunshots and car crashes in your head.
This might not be a must-read for fans of the movie, but you will certainly enjoy every word of it!
Korpilandia 