Framed by a fellow officer, ex-DEA agent Jesse Warden is offered a deal, a presidential pardon in exchange for infiltrating the Aryan Universe, a deadly Idaho cult, but his mission becomes complicated when he falls in love with a cult member. 100,000 first printing. $135,000 ad/promo. Tour. Unjustly imprisoned, bereft of wife and daughter, ex-DEA agent Jesse Warden is offered a daring gamble: if he can infiltrate and destroy a heavily armed religious cult, he can win his freedom. The previous two infiltrators have disappeared; the cult leaders are smart, wealthy, and completely amoral; Warden's landlady is beautiful and sexy. Do you feel you've heard all this before? The plot is so old it creaks, but there is a certain loopy and innocent amiability in the telling, as though the author cannot bear to disappoint his hero. There is much rushing about on all sides, surreptitious communications, hair-breadth escapes, and the inevitable (ever since the Branch Davidians) call-up of the military for the climactic battle. We get just about everything we expect, from fistfights to forged passports, and if several story threads are left dangling, Heat is still a satisfying beach-blanket read. Elsa Pendleton, Boeing Information Svcs., Ridgecrest, Cal. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. Woods' books, while often flawed, are always popular--witness the recent success of L.A. Times , Dead Eyes , and Santa Fe Rules (1992). This one, though, may deserve its likely bestsellerdom more than any of its predecessors. The mile-a-minute plot is clearly modeled on the Branch Davidian disaster, with Aryan Universe leader Jack Gene Coldwater playing the role of David Koresh and exerting control over a band of followers in Idaho. Enter Jesse Warden, former federal agent convicted of stealing confiscated drug money and killing his partner. Jesse is in prison for a good long stretch unless he's willing to do a deal with the government: a presidential pardon in return for infiltrating the cult and providing enough evidence to send Coldwater and his lieutenants to prison for life. Despite a few momentary lapses into banal predictability, Woods has concocted a high-octane story filled with nail-biting suspense and enough unusual twists to keep even experienced puzzle-solvers guessing. Buy plenty of copies--this one is as commercial as they come. Emily Melton Woods (L.A. Times, 1993, etc.) offers a high-concept action thriller that never lives up to its potential. Just imagine movie titles rolling over a helicopter as it ``beats its way'' over Atlanta Federal Prison. There's a loud Dolby track of the engine as the camera pans the prison walls and zooms in on a crowd of nasty convicts swarmed around two fighting men. ``What's going on down there?'' asks Kipling Fuller of the US Attorney General's office. What's going on is that Jesse Warden, 6 3" and 220 pounds of toughness (maybe Arnold Schwarzenegger or Steven Seagal; forget Bruce Willis) is serving two back-to-back life sentences because a dead cop and $500,000 in drug money were found in the trunk of his car. He's spent the first 14 months of his sentence in solitary confinement because each time he comes out, he gets into another fight. And why are all these hard-assed cons after Jesse's blood? Naturally, because he's heat--a cop. Kip and his boss, the creep who framed Jesse, offer him a deal. They will let him go if he will help them convict a seemingly indestructible Vietnam vet who heads a well-armed religious cult in the Idaho panhandle. They will also get a letter to his young daughter, Carrie, who was adopted after his wife died of cancer. In the working out of Jesse's victory (he finds his daughter, gets the bad guys, and screws the federal government) there's nothing to distract us from the predictable conventions. Jesse finds romance with Jenny, his large-breasted landlady, who has a daughter named Carey. After the climax, a Fourth of July of plastic explosives, he flies off into the sunrise with his woman and the homonymic girls. Naturally, he pilots his own jet. Roll credits. Woods never keeps up the power of his hard-muscled beginning. But he writes fairy tales for guys that continue to find a market. (Literary Guild alternate selection; $135,000 ad/promo; author tour) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.