In a revival of one of the most action packed and hard-hitting scripts ever written, Michael Mann has teamed up with Meg Gardiner for an explosive immersion into the lives surrounding the famous Los Angeles heist of Heat. I recently caught up on the drama of Heat and was absolutely disappointed in myself for never having seen it after receiving the advance copy of Heat 2. Very thankful for this early look at such great hard work and collaboration, bringing some closure to the table for Vincent Hanna and Chris Shiherlis.
If you need a recap of Heat, the original Michael Mann thriller from 1995 starring Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, and Val Kilmer among others, the first few pages do an amazing job giving you the cliff notes review. Mann and Gardiner sum up the previous crimes in perfection to give an amazing jump off point. While Vincent Hanna has been on the hunt for criminals for years, his life outside of law enforcement has taken a back seat while he has been examining and understanding crime scenes. Hanna hails from Illinois and is no stranger to dangerous situations as he used to work in the Chicago arena with his own pain easing vices.
McCauley and crew are strictly businessmen looking for opportunities to score, and one major score leads to a border crossing trip that leaves one teammate dead and the money gone. Weeks of planning down the drain and lives uprooted forever over a failed attempt. Fast forward, Hanna, now a detective with the Los Angeles PD, is trying to find justice for a locally killed woman of the night when a chance meeting digs up his past failures. Not only does he have a score to settle, but he lays it all on the line for finality.
Chris Shiherlis is on the run from the L.A. heist that gets everyone in the crew killed but himself. Using Nate’s contacts and cutouts, Chris makes his way to Mexicali and into support of the Liu family organization. A crime family with global aspirations turns Chris into an asset and builds a home away from everything he knows and loves. While away from Charlene, or Cinnamon as she used to go by, you see growth in Shiherlis as he navigates the muddy waters of family, career, and life and death. Shiherlis must fight the internal battle knowing his wife and son are no longer beside him, while he fights to maintain organizational structure to a family that isn’t even his own. The battle for survival goes worldwide for Chris, and he must make a decision that no man should ever have to make.
Mann and Gardiner bring to life a story of love, lies, and loot. Critical junctures in every character’s life come and go with such palpable authenticity and energy. The stage that is built for Neil McCauley and his crew is one of ambition, loyalty, and danger, and while only one of those men survives, the lessons he learns follow him everywhere. Unending treachery and the pursuit of justice drives Vincent Hanna to the limits and succeeds at making him one of the most hardened and misunderstood characters I’ve enjoyed in quite some time. I wish I could pinpoint one character that makes this book tick, but every single character has traits of grace and reason, while the path of cold-hearted crime is one best showered in green.
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Purchase Heat 2
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