The baseball described in "Heat" is meticulously accurate, yet the novel's rather formulaic melodramatic structure is not its dominant strength. Instead, Brock's vivid characterizations and his passioate commitment to historical accuracy are the hallmarks of this strong novel. Focusing on the attempted comeback of former New York Giant hurler Luther "Dummy" Taylor and the obstacles confronting a renewal of his career erected by the irascible, intemperate and tyrannical manager, John McGraw, the novel reveals the internal tensions and ambivalences Lu experiences during a 1911 barnstorming tour in Cuba. Taylor learns, at times reluctantly and painfully, that a person's worth is determined by much more than his win-loss record, that development of character and hope are more vital than prolonging a moribund career, that the satisfactions of teaching far outweigh the evanscent thrills of victory. Ultimately, Brock's greatest virtue as a novelist is his knack for using the action of the game and fluidity of the sport as representations of the human capacity for growth, self-forgiveness and redemption.
And that's not all. Brock writes with a refined and welcomed advocacy for the hearing impaired. Even though deaf players in the dead-ball era were invariably called "Dummy," at least they were in the big leagues. Where are the hearing impaired role models today in the national sport? The author's eloquent description of signing speaks directly to how much Brock believes sports novelists can write about much more than the game: "People who feel sorry for deaf folks don't have it quite right. Sign is a rich language...it also makes for a special kind of closeness. For one thing, you have to pay closer attention to others when you can't hear their words. You come to know them in ways that are direct and intimate."
Finally, Brock pays painstaking attention to detail. His historical descriptions of the atrocities a Kansas regiment committed while fighting against the revolutionary insurgents in the Philippines and his deft inclusion of reconcentration camps in rural Cuba by the Spanish (which left a heritage of bitterness and racial division) are but two examples of how hard the author worked to create a sense of authenticity. "Havana Heat"'s melodramatic structure is the only weakness in an otherwise compelling and convincing novel.