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Orion Publishing, March, 2006
Reviewed by Sunnie Gill
Two minutes. That’s all you have. Just two minutes to be in and out of the
bank. Overstay those two minutes and your chances of being caught by the
cops increase with every second. That’s the rule Max Holman used when he
was pulling bank jobs. But one day a customer had a heart attack and
Holman couldn’t walk away. He was caught by the FBI because he stayed to
administer CPR. The old man lived, but in many ways Max’s life ended
there.
Ten years later on the eve of his release from prison, Holman receives the
news that his son, whom he hasn’t seen since the boy was 8 years old, is
dead. Holman’s fears of “like father like son” are awakened when he is
told his son, a police officer, was shot with three others in a drainage
culvert. There are whispers of police corruption. Holman’s first act of
freedom is to attend his son’s funeral.
After being given the brush-off by the detectives investigating the case,
Holman decides to try and clear his son’s name. It’s the least he can do
for being such a lousy father. Holman contacts Katherine Pollard, the FBI
agent who arrested him ten years earlier. Katherine’s life has changed
too. Her husband died several years previously and she’s been left alone
to raise her two sons. She’s no longer an FBI agent. Pollard reluctantly
agrees to help and together the two embark on an investigation that pushes
them both to their limits.
TWO MINUTE RULE is a good pacy puzzler with several layers beyond that
puzzle. In particular the relationship between Pollard and Holman is
nicely complex. They are two people from opposite sides of the fence, with
different strengths trying to work together and having to overcome mutual
distrust to get to the truth of the murders. Pollard has contacts with the
FBI and some access to police information. Holman has friends from his
days as a criminal who are able to help in other ways. There is also the
added element of Holman trying to adjust to life outside of prison and
keeping one step ahead of the authorities in his endeavours to clear his
son’s name.
TWO MINUTE RULE is set in Los Angeles and Author Robert Crais has managed
to give the reader a strong sense of the city, without overpowering the
plot. The layers of the mystery, the relationship between two main
protagonists and Holman’s struggle not to return to his old ways, all
contribute to a book that easily holds the reader’s interest. If there is
any quibble about TWO MINUTE RULE it’s that a couple of aspects of the
final resolution are just a little too comfortable, but it’s such a minor
thing that it doesn’t detract from the overall enjoyment of the book.
June 2006 review first published on Murder and Mayhem
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