One Man's Opinion: HEAT by ED McBAIN

 

I started to read a different book last week and barely made it through the first chapter. I'm not going to mention what it was, but can say that there were several blurbs heaping high praise on the work telling me that it was the best crime fiction of the year and that kind of thing. It really wasn't. It may be that the authors really believed that it was of very high quality, but I find it difficult to believe, so please oh important writers, don't just say nice things about a book because it's your mate or because it's published by one of your stable mates - that kind of thing is happening far too often. 

After that let down, Heat was an utter triumph. It's not perfect, but the bulk of it is gripping, tense and gets the grey matter working. 

It's formed of four parts though, in truth, there need only be three. 

Strand one is the main case of the day, the apparent suicide where the fact that the central heating has been loft off during a heatwave makes Carella suspicious. It's a Columboesque situation where the niggle grows even though the available evidence suggests all is plain sailing. The delay of various pieces of information is a tad contrived, but keeps us and the detectives on tiptoes. 

More engaging that strand one is strand two. Kling, between his shifts, is working his own investigation, that of a possible case of infidelity by his beautiful wife. He does try to take Carella's advice about how to deal with the situation, but in the end he is unable to react in a calm and sensible way. This one rolls nicely through to the end and is work the book price all on its own. 

Strand three, an ex con seeks revenge on Kling and buys the mother of all handguns to blow him away. The guy's a racist thug whose line of thinking should remind us all that the world can and needs to be be a better place. 

Strand four, I have no idea about. The rest of the squad are planning a drugs bust. There's a lot of huffing and puffing, but it just gets in the way. Thankfully, this doesn't take up much time, so it's not all bad news, but it puts a spanner into a read which would otherwise be superb. 

Heat is right up there for me in the 87th series, in spite of that drugs bust nonsense. A real nail-biter that accelerates all the way to the end and left me breathless. 

Great work.