Set across three timelines we witness the events that shaped Neil McCauley’s philosophy to life in 1988, the immediate aftermath of his crews bank robbery in 1995 and Chris Shiherlis escape to Paraguay and the inevitable collision of the outcomes of those events in Los Angeles 2000. 

Michael Mann has expressed his interest in making a sequel to the seminal Heat for some time now. This year he released the sequel as a novel co-written with Meg Gardiner. Heat is quite possibly my favourite film of all time. It stars two of the greatest actors to ever have graced the screen in Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, features a stunning supporting cast, has one of the greatest action sequences ever filmed and essays an array of characters on both sides of the law in a complex crime movie. The result is that for the first time I am reviewing a book on my blog. 

The book is set across six parts, each focused on one of the three timelines. 

Chicago, 1988. Neil and his crew are conducting a meticulously organised hit on a bank whilst Vincent Hanna is on the tail of a violent home invasion gang. The leader of which takes an interest in Neil’s crew when he spies him in a garage that supplies vehicles for illegal activities. As the action heads south to the border with Mexico we will learn about Neil’s life and what would lead him to believe in his “thirty second life philosophy”. 

Paraguay 1995-96. Chris has escaped the afternoon of the bank robbery in Los Angeles and begins a job as low level security for the Liu crime family. Using his skills and drive to find a way back to his wife and child that he left behind in LA he works his way into a position of power and develops a relationship with Ana Liu. 

Los Angeles 2000. Chris and Vincent find their paths crossing once more in the culmination of all the events to date. 

The result is an excellent page turning thriller. It does a superb job of expanding on the characters and motivations of all the main characters from the original film. It’s exciting to watch Neil Macauley putting together two high stakes jobs and get an insight into his no baggage lifestyle. Vincent Hanna is impossible to read without imagining Pacino delivering his lines. Whilst Chris Shiherlis character probably gets the most fleshing out. There is also another antagonist character in Otis Wardell who creates quite an impressive and evil villain. 

I found the novel to be a fitting prequel and sequel to the film I love so much. Whether it could become a successful film would rely entirely on two things. Could Mann find a budget large enough to do justice to the expansive sequel? And more importantly who on earth could he get to play these characters across three timelines that could live up to the legacy of De Niro and Pacino? And play them across timelines before and after the original film.

Highly recommended for any fans of the film.