Author:Campbell Armstrong
The world of Frank Pagan, Special Branch's counter-terrorist agent, is being violated. He is being observed, his every movement tracked and recorded. His flat is broken into. The only object stolen is a photograph of his dead wife, which is later returned to him grotesquely disfigured.
But it is more than Pagan's residence that has been invaded. His dreams, his every waking moment, are filled with hot, obsessive thoughts of a mortally alluring woman. For it is the most critical assignment of Pagan's career, as well as his fate, to bring to justice the enigmatic and ruthless terrorist Carlotta, who is wanted the world over for her hideous crimes.
Indifferent to the horror and destruction she leaves in her wake, yet curiously fixated on Pagan, Carlotta sends emotional depth-charges into his life to the point where his pursuit of her crosses the line that separates duty from sexual obsession. In a deadly cat-and-mouse chase, Pagan is destined always to stay just a step behind Carlotta, until the fatal day he catches up with his nemesis.
Riddled with intrigue, violence and sexual tension, Heat resolves the confrontation begun in Campbell Armstrong's bestselling Jig, and Jigsaw. A consummate psychological thriller, it takes the reader on a journey into the darkest reaches of a man's soul.
Esmé Olsen is, like her author, a woman whose powers of imagination and recall are considerable, not to say formidable... Every era, every episode is densely imagined and detailed
—— GuardianA slice of psychogeography... This is a story of broad horizons that brings together battlefield horrors, a touch of German Romanticism, and tales of the supernatural
—— IndependentA terrific novel... Atmospheric, clever and gripping
—— ObserverAn undeniably artful frenzy of violence, guilt and unappeased self-loathing. Ellroy's crime fiction represents a high mark in the genre
—— New York NewsdayA fascinating, swaggeringly confident performance
—— Sunday TimesA page-turning caper filled with well-timed surprises...there is also the saving grace of Reacher's deadpan humor -as when he is sawing with a motel key at a captive's rope bindings. "Don't you have a knife?" the man asks. "I have a toothbrush,! Reacher responds. "That won't help," the captive says, to which Reacher retorts: "It's good against plaque."
—— Wall Street JournalWith Child, you can always count on furious action - and a damned good time.
—— Miami HeraldMasterful writing and storytelling...Child makes it look effortless...If there were such a thing as a writer-magician, Lee Child woud be the face above the cloak.
—— Washington PostChild always puts his heart into the elaborate quasi-military operations he cooks up for Reacher...But there's something even more chilling about those lonesome hours spent riding the Interstate, watching the rundown family farms and commercial strip malls and topless bars go by.
—— International Herald TribuneWill leave the legion of Reacher addicts satisfied but craving for their next fix.
—— Irish IndependentThe most satisfying of all 17 thrillers in the series. The unfolding of events nudges along at just the right rate... toward an authentically gripping climax.
—— Toronto Star