Customer Reviews

Heat

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a frequent flyer (over 170 plane trips last year) and Stuart Woods represents a very significant resource for someone like me. He is a competent suspense writer with a much larger than average portfolio who is popular enough that his books can be found in some quantity in almost any airport bookstore and/or newsstand in America.

There are times you've just got to find something to read in about 4 minutes--in those instances, Woods is a no brainer.

This is not to say he's the best suspense writer around--he isn't. But, as my old man used to say, "Competence compensates for an awful lot..."

With Woods, you know you are getting well conceived, well developed characters. Moreover, Woods understands the mechanics of suspense and uses that knowledge to good effect. If Woods has a failing, it's that his stories are uneven. Good characters and good mechanics don't add up to enough--a credible story line is needed as well. Woods never goes totally off the deep end, but he has been known to stretch credulity pretty badly out of shape.

These are high grade potboilers.

Hest is one of Woods better efforts. Jesse Warden is a hard as nails cop in the pen for planning to rip off the goods from a sting. He's offered an out to infiltrate and do in a Waco like survivalist cult group. I won't dwell on the details--you can well imagine them--and be pretty much on the money. But the characters are superb, the story line tight and consistent, the suspense at high tension level.

If page turning potboilers are your thing, Woods is your man.

This is one his earlier books and is quite typical Stuart Woods which is in no way a criticism. This one plays more like a John Grisham than some of his other efforts.

Jesse Warden, a former DEA agent, has been sentenced to prison after being wrongly convicted for the murder of his DEA partner. His ex-boss removes him from prison to go undercover in a very small town in the northwest where a man has turned the town into a cult. The DEA is not for sure what the leader's plans are and they want to find out before he can act. Jesse is a likeable but tough character; Woods does a pretty good job of blending his two personalities together. The action is tense and makes you want to continue reading to see what develops.

I am a fan of Stuart Woods and am glad I picked up this older book to read. Looking forward to more from him.

Jesse Warden is an ideal creation. As such, he's too comic book for real life, but I like reading about people of such heroic inclinations and abilities who also like Beethoven. The book however does not live up to Jesse's form. It is a typical infiltrate the evil Nazis in the hills story, the kind of thing I'd expect from television, and is quite similar to a book by Lee Childs. In fact, I think this story is so cut from stereotype that it's fairly tedious and reminds me of the kind of bad television that's on late at night and you watch because you're sick and bored and feeling sorry for yourself. Woods writes well, but not compellingly. Read the first four chapters to learn about Jesse, then head for the hills, because after that it turns into saccharine candy and cliche.

Can I give more stars? I've read all Woods' books and this is my favorite. I've rarely been disapointed with SW,(DIRT), but the none stop action, the clever diologue, the literally gripping suspense makes this an easy A+. I've read it 3 times and bought it as a gift at least 5. When I heard "HEAT" was going to be a movie I was elated, only to be brought back to earth when I found out it had nothing to do with Woods' story. Their mistake.

Most of the reviews covered say what I would. I will add that if you have read The Big Picture and liked it, you will enjoy this book. Both books have the same kind of flow and engaging characters.

This book hooks you from the beginning and you CANNOT put it down. I recommend this book to anyone who likes excitement, suspense and at the same time a love story intertwined throughout. Stewart Woods is my favorite author and I hope he continues to excite us with his creativity and imagination. He's so talented.

Woods is just plain good. He's learned his craft well and is also quite good at developing sympathetic protagonists. As you'll read in books on writing, that is extremely crucial because if readers don't care about the "hero" there's a pretty good chance they will toss the book aside partway through.
The main character has received his just desserts for a crime and that proves that the hero can have faults and failings. But the reader begins to pull for him soon, and as his character is developed, one begins to actually respect the guy. The story line is taut and fresh enough and you just have to find out how everything turns out. And that's what every novelist wants, right? The reader must feel compelled to finish the book. Woods does it right.

This story, I agree played out like a movie. It was a quick paced page turner to the end. The character of Jesse was a character you could really root for. The Pastor made a great villain.

You could really feel the danger that Jesse was in throughout the story. I would not give the ending away but you'll see as you read the story that it will not be a predictable ending.

One of the best books I have read.

I like his writing style. He's concise and doesn't use a paragraph where a sentence will do.

A great plot line, well defined characters all combining to a great ending.

A great beach, or airline flight, book.

This is the second Stuart Woods book I've read. The first was one of his latest attempts and I was underwhelmed. The main character was not well developed and there was too much "jumping the shark" in the plot line. Thought I should give the guy another try so picked up HEAT. The main character, Jessie Warden, was better developed and I actually liked him and thought he was somewhat interesting. The plot line was interesting, but I had this feeling I had seen all this on the nightly news. While this one held my interest better than the first book, it still was not a page turner as some have suggested. This is mind candy and best read when you are killing time in an airport or trapped in a hospital room waiting on a sick relative.