A review by lunchlander
Heat 2 by Meg Gardiner, Michael Mann

Did not finish book. Stopped at 15%.

I love the movie Heat. One of my favorites. I'm aware that Michael Mann makes "guy movies" that couldn't pass the Bechdel test on a generous curve, but this movie has really memorable dialogue and is one of those "if I start it I'm gonna watch the whole movie."

It's also pretty much complete, so I wasn't sure I wanted to read a sequel, but I decided to give the audiobook a try, and the first 10 chapters (all really short, total chapters close to 100) were interesting. A bit about Detective Hanna searching for Chris, who killed his partner, and Chris dealing with his injuries and the loss of Charlene. 

And then. It jumps back to Vegas and Chicago 1988 and we see how Chris met Charlene, which is... not super interesting. And Hanna is investigating a crew doing home invasions. The home invasion is presented, in gross, lurid detail, as the home invaders murder the home owner and sexually assault the wife and 14-year-old daughter.

I've read a fair amount of crime, but this was *so* gross and upsetting and off-putting it has put me off reading the rest of the book, and honestly re-examining Mann. I'm stunned that this is co-written by a femme person, and neither she nor an editor or anyone said "Hey, maybe we don't need this, or at least not this graphic and detailed?"

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