Dead Heat [Paperback]

Caroline Carver (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 4, 2003

Georgia Parish never regretted leaving Nulgarra, Far Northern Queensland, to pursue her career. She didn't miss the oppressive heat, the wet, the bugs, the deadly wilderness. But after a plane crash she finds herself back there, struggling to comprehend a sinister fact - the plane was sabotaged. Was it someone hoping to kill Ronnie Chen, the man who never turned up to take the flight? Or is it to do with the two other passengers, unfriendly but heroic Lee Denham, and his frightened companion, Suzy? After all, nobody could have a reason to want Georgia dead...Georgia's search for the truth plunges her into a harsh and unforgiving landscape, across oceans and into crocodile-infested swamps. There, unable to trust anyone, she discovers that more than just her own life is at stake. Evocative, violent and shocking, "Dead Heat" is a fast and terrifying journey into the heart of one of the wildest places on earth.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After her well-received debut, Blood Junction (2002), with its absorbing interaction of present and past, an overly busy plot mars Carver's otherwise exciting, frightening second mystery. Like Australian journalist India Kane, the heroine of Blood Junction who here plays second fiddle, Georgia Parish, a publisher's rep, faces a host of mind-boggling perils. At her grandfather's funeral in remote northern Queensland, where Georgia grew up in a hippie commune, a friend who owns a small airline gives Georgia a spot on a connecting flight home to Sydney, replacing a no-show. When the plane makes a crash landing, killing the pilot and one of the passengers, scientist Suzie Wilson, Georgia suspects sabotage. Georgia soon becomes the target of a violent gang, who kidnap and torture her, then kidnap her mother and threaten to kill the mother if Georgia can't get the information they want in one week. With India's help, Georgia must figure out who murdered the no-show plane passenger; what research Suzie and her brother Jon were working on; who another passenger on the fatal flight, Lee Denham, really is; and the connection between Suzie and Yumuru, a healer who cares for Georgia's injuries after the crash. And that's only the beginning—a tall order for a book rep! If the disjointed story tries to cover too much, from experimental antibiotics to Chinese politics, the novel nonetheless has its rewards, notably the distinctive characters and the vibrant picture of the harsh, exotic Australian wilderness.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Returning home to the sweltering rain forests of Nulgarra, Queensland, to attend her father's funeral, Georgia Parish gets much more than she bargains for. When her plane crashes in suspicious circumstances and a woman passes her a computer disk before dying in her arms, Georgia finds herself swept up in desperate doings involving illegal immigration, the curious healing properties of crocodile blood, and brutal Chinese gangsters, who torture her and kidnap her mum. Unsure whether to trust the dark outlaw who saved her life, the intense cop who was her high-school crush, or a new-age healer with a suspicious background, our intrepid heroine depends rather a lot on the kindness of strangers, including journalist India Kane, from Carver's award-winning debut, Blood Junction (2002). An overabundance of plot threads gives the book a jumbled, baggy feel, but the nonstop stream of incidents keeps the pages turning. Add to this a well-realized exotic locale, and you have a diverting mystery-thriller for those who enjoy Nevada Barr or Elizabeth Peters. David Wright
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Orion Publishing (September 4, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0752856960
• ISBN-13: 978-0752856964
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars "Truth ...suffers more from the heat of its defenders than ...arguments of its opposers." Wm Penn, January 18, 2010

By 

michael a. draper (Guilford, CT) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Dead Heat (Hardcover)

Georgia Parish is in Nulgarra, Australia for the funeral of her grandfather.

She meets two people who got stuck in a river crossing, while driving to the airport. They are on the same plane as she is. The plane crashes and the pilot and one passenger die. It was sabotage. Georgia is so caught up with the deaths that she wants to find out who was the target and who sabotaged the plane. One suspect is Ronnie Chen, who never showed up for the flight and was found murdered.

Lee Denham was also on the plane. He is a former police officer who is searching for Jon Ming, a scientist who left China with a valuable formula and entered Australia illegally. Other members of the Cheng family are also looking for Ming in order to take him and his formula back to China.

The action never stops in this narrative. Georgia is a fun character to read. She blunders into situations but alsways manages to escape. However when she is tortured and the Chen's do something to her hand, it is hard to believe that she would be able to continue her activities with her hand bandaged and the damage that resulted.

The plot develops in a logical manner and we share with Georgia the search for Jon Ming and the attempted evasion of the Chens. However, when the author provides one plot twist toward the conclusion of the story, it didn't fit with what the reader learned about that character up to that point.

There are some exciting parts to the story and both Georgia and Lee Denham are interesting characters. Her descriptions of the Australian territory were pictuesque and added to the enjoyment of the novel.

4.0 out of 5 stars Paced like an action movie, June 14, 2011

By 

Evan the Dweezil (A Place-Sort Of, Montana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dead Heat (Mass Market Paperback)

Save for being predicable in spots, Dead Heat is a competent thriller that kept pages turning all night. Characterization elevated this novel to an above average grade with bits of humor helping out. Crooked cops, medical research, sabotage, gang wars, kidnappings, shipwrecks, plane crashes, there's a lot of adventure packed into this book. I'd love to see more of Georgia Parish in the future.

4.0 out of 5 stars Lots of twists and turns, November 19, 2010

By 

G. Henson - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dead Heat (Mass Market Paperback)

Carver's second novel, Dead Heat, is again set in Australia, and the mystery here is probably a little more tightly woven than her first effort. Reporter India Kane makes a return appearance, but in secondary role. Police moles, Chinese gangs, human trafficking and new medical breakthroughs all play a part in this intriguing drama. While not written on the literary plane of James Lee Burke or Louise Penny, the writing is crisp and the plot moves. I seem to enjoy each Carver novel more than the last.