6.8 /10 1 Votes
Language English Pages 244 Originally published 1985 Page count 244 Country United States of America | 3.4/5 Goodreads Publication date 1985 ISBN 0-446-51275-3 Publisher Grand Central Publishing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Adaptations Wild Card (2015), Heat (1986) William Goldman books Control, Wigger, Brothers, The Thing of It Is, Tinsel | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Heat is a 1985 novel by William Goldman about a soldier of fortune in Las Vegas.
Contents
Plot
The novel is about a man named Nick Escalante, nicknamed "the Mex" by his friends, who hires himself out in Las Vegas not as a mercenary or bodyguard but as a service listed in the Yellow Pages directory under "Chaperone." He eschews firearms but is particularly lethal with sharp objects.
Escalante has one ambition, which is to save up enough money so that he can move to Venice, Italy for the rest of his life. The trouble is, Nick is a compulsive gambler.
When he comes into a large sum of money after coming to the aid of a woman friend who has been physically abused in a Vegas hotel suite by DeMarco, an arrogant mobster, Nick ends up losing it at the blackjack tables. He is hired by a meek millionaire named Cyrus Kinnick on the pretense of needing a bodyguard, but in actuality the small, modest man seeks lessons in how to be a tougher individual who can properly defend himself.
Background
Goldman says he began the novel with "that main character and I had that opening sequence and I'd been in Vegas a lot and it's such a terrible place to be a compulsive gambler and try to earn a living there."
Reception
The Chicago Tribune called the book "a casual blend of novel, screenplay" which was "not quite as good" as his earlier novels.
Adaptations
The book was adapted into a 1986 film that starred Burt Reynolds. It was later remade in a 2015 version starring Jason Statham.