A review by mewsie
CSI Miami: Heat Wave by Max Allan Collins

3.0

After the drive-by killing of crime boss Kurt Wallace, a war between the many gangs of Miami began to vie for control of the Miami's underworld. Soon each gang becomes a victim to an attack, only to turn around and kill out of revenge, leading to the city becoming a bloodbath. Soon after this all starts, a DEA hotshot, Jeremy Burnett, is wounded and his wife killed in drive-by identical to the murder of Wallace, bringing the Feds into the picture as well. Lieutenant Horatio Caine and his CSI team are trying to solve the mystery behind the Wallace murder because they believe that once they find out who started the gang war, they can bring an end to it. On top of this, this all has to be done before the Governor is forced to bring in the National Guard to stop the gang war.

One thing I like about Collins' CSI books is that they aren't based on a specific episode of CSI (like you find with other novelizations of TV series) but are stand alone books. It was nice being able to relate to the main characters of the book since I am familiar with the show, but I honestly got very confused with all the different gangs and their leaders, and who was involved with what that I almost had to start taking notes. Unless an author is generous enough to put in a separate listing of cast of characters, I'm not too thrilled when a book gets like this. Other than that, it was an enjoyable, easy read and well worth putting on a summer reading list.