Heat 2

A Novel

By: Michael Mann, Meg Gardiner

Narrated by: Peter Giles

Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller!

Michael Mann, four-time-Oscar-nominated writer-director of The Last of the Mohicans, The Insider, Ali, Miami Vice, Collateral, and Heat teams up with Edgar Award–winning author Meg Gardiner to deliver Mann’s first novel, an explosive return to the universe and characters of his classic crime film—with an all-new story unfolding in the years before and after the iconic movie

One day after the end ofHeat, Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer) is holed up in Koreatown, wounded, half delirious, and desperately trying to escape LA. Hunting him is LAPD detective Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino). Hours earlier, Hanna killed Shiherlis’s brother in arms Neil McCauley (De Niro) in a gunfight under the strobe lights at the foot of an LAX runway. Now Hanna’s determined to capture or kill Shiherlis, the last survivor of McCauley’s crew, before he ghosts out of the city.

In 1988, seven years earlier, McCauley, Shiherlis, and their highline crew are taking scores on the West Coast, the US-Mexican border, and now in Chicago. Driven, daring, they’re pulling in money and living vivid lives. And Chicago homicide detective Vincent Hanna—a man unreconciled with his history—is following his calling, the pursuit of armed and dangerous men into the dark and wild places, hunting an ultraviolent gang of home invaders.

Meanwhile, the fallout from McCauley’s scores and Hanna’s pursuit cause unexpected repercussions in a parallel narrative, driving through the years following Heat.

Heat 2 projects its dimensional and richly drawn men and women into whole new worlds—from the inner sanctums of rival crime syndicates in a South American free-trade zone to transnational criminal enterprises in Southeast Asia. The novel brings you intimately into these lives. In Michael Mann’s Heat universe, they will confront new adversaries in lethal circumstances beyond all boundaries.

Heat 2 is engrossing, moving, and tragic—a masterpiece of crime fiction with the same extraordinary ambitions, scope, and rich characterizations as the epic film.

The entire book is read in the "trailer voice"

I was looking forward to this book. But the narrator is reading the full thing in a trailer voice ("one man... one mission") and pausing every 4-5 words.

Damn Good Neo-Noir

Michael Mann is one of the most singular, consistent, and visually distinct directors working today. He’s a master at giving his works a cinematically unique style as well as a palpable tension and energy. He excels at balancing that style with well directed, understated, yet somehow poignant and effective character moments. And while some may find his prose sterile or glacial, I think he and co-author Meg Gardiner deliver a worthy “sequel” here with Heat 2.
I say “sequel” because Heat 2 features multiple timelines, so if you’re expecting a new story about Neil somehow surviving the end of the first film and getting the band back together to take another crack at Downtown L.A., prepare to be disappointed. That said, I really enjoyed what Mann & Gardiner did here. The writing is brisk and efficient while still being compelling. Mann’s writing style reminded me of a mix of Ed Falco and James Ellroy, while the tone is a mix of his earlier works Heat and Collateral. There’s a really thrilling neo-noir energy and vibe to this book, especially where the heists are concerned.
The thing I enjoyed most however was the expansion of the characters from the first film. Seeing what Neil and his crew were like in their “glory days” as they built a reliable team and took down dangerous banks was much more interesting to me than the sequel parts of the book. Neil, Chris, and Nate are still fascinating to watch and their interpersonal relationships and dynamics are developed in a really genuine and natural way despite the danger around them. My only real complaint is the narrator. The new Ellroy books have a similar problem in that noir/neo-noir stories have and require a certain style and edge to them. If they’re read by the wrong person moments that should be tense or frightening can be comical or silly, moments that should be poignant and impactful become lifeless and stilted, and there is a little of that here unfortunately. While I respect the narrator for trying to give the story the taut, staccato, and pulpy edge it requires, it very quickly becomes what can only be described as “trailer voice”. I will say this for him though, he does a damn good impression of Al Pacino circa 1995. I think we can all agree that that’s a hard voice to nail down without sounding outright cartoonish but he genuinely pulls it off. Quibbles aside, this was a great listen with a really satisfying and entertaining story. If you like the first film or just enjoy a really tight crime drama you’ll definitely find something to appreciate in Heat 2. Give it a try.

If you enjoyed Heat 2 as much as I did and are looking for something similar check out The Family Corleone or Toughs by Ed Falco, The Godfather of Kathmandu by John Burnett, No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy, or American Tabloid by James Ellroy.

Amazing book - narrator rocks

I loved the movie and the book held up perfectly. I can't wait to see the film

Heat 2 is

While some portions of it are an absolutely wonderful continuation of the original story, i am not a fan of the new characters, specifically Otis.
Speed up the reading to 1.15/1.2 because the narrator reads SLOW.

Peter Giles is amazing.

Michael Mann’s Heat (1995) is in my top five movies of all time. So I was excited to read this. And I loved every page of it. But listening to it being narrated by Peter Giles is a different experience. His gruff voice has the same tone as the story of these characters. Harsh. Giles brings everybody to life. He almost sounds like Pacino himself when he’s doing Vincent Hanna’s dialogue. The action scenes are incredible and Giles has a firm grip on the tension of each word. Some parts are downright scary. I kept playing the ending over and over. I can’t get enough of these characters and I can’t wait for the movie.