Heat

Name: Heat
Rating: 3.92 (1742 reviews)
Author: Ed McBain, Dick Hill

87th Precinct • Book 35

by Ed McBain, Dick Hill

3.92 Goodreads

(1.7K ratings)

351 pages Published 1981 Mystery

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Why You'll Love This

A detective investigating a suspicious suicide while his own life quietly falls apart is a pressure cooker few crime writers could pull off — McBain makes it look effortless.

Great if you want: procedural crime fiction with real psychological weight and personal stakes
The experience: taut and claustrophobic — professional and personal dread build simultaneously
The writing: McBain layers multiple threats without melodrama, trusting readers to feel the tension
Skip if: you want a fresh entry point — 35 books in, character history matters here

About This Book

Summer in the 87th Precinct turns lethal when Detective Bert Kling catches a case that looks like suicide but refuses to stay that way. As Kling digs into the death, his own life is quietly unraveling — suspicions about his wife's fidelity gnaw at him, and a dangerous ex-convict with a grudge has put him squarely in someone's crosshairs. McBain layered this thirty-fifth entry with a particular kind of dread that comes not from the unknown, but from the things a man already suspects and can't stop himself from knowing.

What distinguishes this novel within a long-running series is McBain's precision with pressure — both procedural and personal. The 87th Precinct books have always balanced street-level police work with the messy interior lives of the detectives who do it, and Heat tilts that balance with uncommon intensity toward Kling's psychological unraveling. The prose is economical without being cold, the pacing deliberate without losing urgency. Readers who have followed this precinct across dozens of books will find Kling's arc here among the more emotionally honest chapters in the entire series.