Heat Wave

CSI: Miami #2

by Max Allan Collins

Lieutenant Horatio Caine leads a crack team of forensic scientists who investigate crimes amid the tropical surroundings and cultural crossroads of Miami. Together, they collect and analyze the evidence to expose the truth and to bring justice to those who often cannot speak for the victims.

Crime boss Kurt Wallace was fighting to hold his vast crime empire together -- until a few well-placed bullets ended the struggle. As a host of dangerous "business interests" move in to seize control of Wallace's piece of the Miami underworld, Caine's CSIs must piece together the evidence to discover who was responsible for the crime that all of Miami had a motive to commit.

Genres: Crime, Mystery, Fiction, Media Tie In, Thriller, Ebooks

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 2004

About the author

Received the Shamus Award, "The Eye" (Lifetime achievment award) in 2006.

He has also published under the name Patrick Culhane. He and his wife, Barbara Collins, have written several books together. Some of them are published under the name Barbara Allan.

Book Awards
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1984) : True Detective
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1992) : Stolen Away
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1995) : Carnal Hours
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1997) : Damned in Paradise
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1999) : Flying Blind: A Novel about Amelia Earhart
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (2002) : Angel in Black

Japanese: マックス・アラン・コリンズ
or マックス・アラン コリンズ

Reviews

[nats]

Es un libro entretenido para pasar la tarde. No es, obviamente, una obra maestra de literatura, pero consigue engancharte hasta cierto punto.

[Charlene]

This was where it all started. Of course I'm talking about my obsession with the CSIs. Picked this book up at school library for something to kill time, yet this hooked me to all the books available on CSI, then I move on to the tv shows, which I now watch religiously. Awesome read.

[Viki]

Not a bad book. The author definitely has character dialog, interaction, and behavior down. The plot was pretty decent, though it didn't really get interesting until about halfway through.

My reason for the three stars is mostly because the book reads like a cheap romance when describing characters. Example: "He yanked once more but couldn't seem to make any more progress. Hunkering down, grunting, he jerked with all his strength, the effort burning in his biceps as he strained to free the trap," and the author is way too fond of descriptive words with an -ly suffix, to the point where it tends to jerk you right out of your reading revelry to realize you are, in fact, reading. Example: "Grins blossomed, and clumsily suggestive offers of help tumbled out, echoing off dreamily reflective walls." The author even used the most cringy of -ly descriptors - "funnily." So yeah, not the best read in the world, but definitely not the worst and well worth reading if you really love the CSI shows.

[Rachel]

This one was better than the first CSI Miami novel by this author, but still suffers from the same problem. The author gives way too much detail to things that don't need that much detail. Knowing which street H turned down to get to a crime scene or how many turns he had to take just wasn't necessary.

[Cat]

After the drive-by killing of crime boss Kurt Wallace, a war between the many gangs of Miami began to vie for control of the Miami's underworld. Soon each gang becomes a victim to an attack, only to turn around and kill out of revenge, leading to the city becoming a bloodbath. Soon after this all starts, a DEA hotshot, Jeremy Burnett, is wounded and his wife killed in drive-by identical to the murder of Wallace, bringing the Feds into the picture as well. Lieutenant Horatio Caine and his CSI team are trying to solve the mystery behind the Wallace murder because they believe that once they find out who started the gang war, they can bring an end to it. On top of this, this all has to be done before the Governor is forced to bring in the National Guard to stop the gang war.

One thing I like about Collins' CSI books is that they aren't based on a specific episode of CSI (like you find with other novelizations of TV series) but are stand alone books. It was nice being able to relate to the main characters of the book since I am familiar with the show, but I honestly got very confused with all the different gangs and their leaders, and who was involved with what that I almost had to start taking notes. Unless an author is generous enough to put in a separate listing of cast of characters, I'm not too thrilled when a book gets like this. Other than that, it was an enjoyable, easy read and well worth putting on a summer reading list.

[Sarah]

Very impressed with the author’s eloquence. He’s remarkably descriptive which helped me imagine/visualize what was happening at every turn of the plot and understand the character’s emotions and personality. Overall a great light read.

[Brigitte]

Weer een goed geschreven verhaal, waarin je meeleeft met het team van csi miami.
Er wordt ook goed uitgelegd hoe bewijsmateriaal onderzocht wordt en waarom precies het ene materiaal wel bewijs is en wat niet. Dit maakt ook of je echt kan meezoeken met het team.

[Leo]

Wasn't for me. Usually like this type of novels but meh

[Jessica Hannon]

Love this series! Characters are true to the show. Can't get enough of the book series.

[JR Eftink]

I loved reading this book!!!

[Macarena Parra]

Presenta la dinámica del equipo de Caine, considerando cierta situación con Yelina y su pasado. Interesante manera de conocer a los personajes desde otra arista.

[Shannie Joy Kosman]

I so enjoy reading Max Collins TV series books. He’s so good at bringing the characters accurately to life on the page. Full of action and science, love it.

[Rob Smith, Jr.]

The genre of choice by Collins should have him as one of my favorite writers. However, I have had a clunky time trying to embrace his novels. This one is better than some I've read, though not as good as it could be.

It's the writing that bugs me. Though the characters are mostly well drawn, the overall story is clunky. I've had similar trouble with other Collins books. It's as if he is writing sections of the story and, after it's tacked together, the seams are still showing. This is particularly true as the story is resolved at the end.

I should add that I've never seen the television program.

About the Florida setting: Collins clearly has little knowledge of Florida and used other resources to enhance the story. There's one point where he is pointing out something, that now slips my memory,involving the area of Dade County and it's obvious that he pulled that from something like an encyclopedia because he entirely ignored the larger picture of what has been going on in Dade County. The set piece that sets off the rest of the book involves someone running to the scene. How that is described would be pretty impossible if you knew the area of Miami Beach. All of this does not effect my rating of the book, just wishing for better accuracy.

Big kudos to Collins for not draping a backdrop of the book of a realtor's fantasy of sunshine and palm trees. Bulk majority of Florida authors, who don't know the state, do this and often ruins the book for me.

Bottom line: I don't recommend this book. 4 of ten points.

[Dark-Draco]

In this story, Miami's finest CSI's are called to the scene of a drive-by shooting. The victims are highly placed within Miami's gang hierachy and their death's leave a dangerous void to fill. Horatio and the others race to find the true villains before the whole sity erupts into one big gang war. But the trail soon leads them dangerously close to one of their own.

A really good story and with characters that are written just like their TV counterparts. You could really imagine this being an episode of the series. A good twist at the end that I really didn't see coming.

[Carrie]

Enjoyed this as a second-time read. The author definitely did his homework and really seemed to keep the book characters close to the TV series ones that this is based off of. It was also good to have Tim Speedle's character in it--probably one of the reasons I felt like a re-read (always really liked his character in the show). It had been long enough since the first time that I had forgotten the "who-dunnit" too.

(first finished on Oct 26, 2009)

[Sian Wadey]

Heat Wave by Max Allan Collins

I'm a massive fan of CSI, even if CSI:Miami is my least favourite, so when I realised there were accompanying books I leapt at the chance. Collins knows what the characters are like and how they speak. It's evident he's researched the show. It was great reading new stories about some of my favourite characters. Overall, they're a good, easy read that require practically no imagination because you already know the people and their history.

[Jonathan Gentry]

Heat Wave is the second CSI Miami book and the last book to be written by Max Allan Collins. It follows the team of investigators led by Lt. Horatio Caine in an attempt to solve the murder of crime boss Kurt Wallace to prevent an all out war on the sun sizzling streets of Miami. I think that if this were an episode of the show it would have been a good two part segment, or an explosive season finale as it certainly had the fast paced thrillers to be one.

[Vidya]

Perhaps it's because of the fact that I love the TV series, however I find this book just as great if not better than a lot of the episode on the series. The action is fast-paced never a dull moment. The character descriptions are spot on and the scenario realistic enough to be believable even if it was a little cliched... And the bad guys were predictable...;)
However five stars and can't wait to read the rest of the books

[Jennifer Wardrip]

One of my favorite CSI: MIAMI reads! When the leaders of a number of gangs in Miami start dying, it's up to Horatio and the CSI crew to figure out who's behind the deaths -- and the answer will surprise you! Another great, quick CSI read.

[Chi Dubinski]

Crime boss Kurt Wallace is murdered, and rival interests move in to take over their share of the criminal underground. Lt. Horatio Crane and his team investigate, looking for a motive and a suspect. There are plenty of both. For fans of the tv series.

[Kme_17]

This book is just like the television series. A fun quick read. It has a great mystery which is predicable but enjoyable read. Nothing ground breaking but enjoyable read. Would recommend for fans of the show. .

[Nicole]

My favorite show, ever!!... The book was okay- i didn't like the way the characters were described but i already had a clear description from watching the actual show for 2 1/2 years...

[Arlene]

Much the same....writing not fantastic, but the characterization makes up for it. Another good "I don't want to think" book.

[Brooke Plitnick]

This book was great. I enjoyed how the dectectives solve the mistery! I watch the CSI heat wave episode at home and the book was so much better because it went into depth on the crime.

[Scarlette Soto]

it was a great book! I loved the suspense and the action. I also watch the CSI:las vegas series. Also CSI kinda is inspiring me to be one too. I would have to study a lot though.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: Lieutenant Horatio Caine leads a crack team of forensic scientists investigating the death of crime boss Kurt Wallace.