- Hardcover: 336 pages
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1 edition (Feb 21 2006)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0743281616
- ISBN-13: 978-0743281614
- Product Dimensions: 20.8 x 14.5 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 454 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #486,609 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Two minutes, in and out, that's the rule for robbing banks in this page-turning action ride around L.A. from bestseller Crais (Hostage). Break that rule, and you can end up like Marchenko and Parsons, dying in a violent shoot-out on the streets, the fortune from their string of heists deeply hidden. Max Holman certainly knows the time limit better than most. Dubbed the "hero bandit" by the press, he got caught during a robbery after he stopped to perform CPR on a bank customer who had a heart attack. About to leave prison on parole, the 48-year-old Max hopes he can establish contact with the son he never really knew, now a cop. When Max's son is murdered, suspected of being in a ring of dirty cops seeking the Marchenko and Parsons loot, Max needs to know the truth. The only person he figures can help him is Katherine Pollard, the fed who nabbed him, who's now ex-FBI and a struggling single mom. The perfect odd couple, they keep this novel personal and real as it builds to an exciting twist on the bank-robbing rule. 200,000 first printing; 15-city author tour. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Max Holman is a career criminal. At least he was until he violated the two-minute rule, bank robbery's inviolable maxim. When he stayed in the bank four minutes, he was arrested by FBI agent Katherine Pollard. The intervening decade hasn't been kind to either of them. Holman spent it in jail; Pollard quit the FBI to raise her kids and then lost her husband to his secretary and death, in that order. The day Holman is paroled from prison he learns that his son, Richie, an LAPD officer, was gunned down. The investigating officers assure Holman that Richie's killer acted alone and then committed suicide. Something doesn't feel right, and Holman turns to Pollard, the only cop he ever trusted. She is suffocating in a cash-poor widow's hell and reluctantly begins to help Holman investigate. The unlikely allies butt up against a seemingly impenetrable wall of corruption and soon find many of their theories discredited. In general, Crais' Elvis Cole novels are superior to his stand-alone thrillers, but this is his best effort yet in the latter category. Pollard and Holman are carefully drawn, flawed, but empathetic characters. One of Crais' previous thrillers, Hostage (2001), resurfaced as a movie starring Bruce Willis. This might work for Willis, too, possibly with Sandra Bullock as Pollard. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thriller fans will appreciate this terrific tale of revenge,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Two Minute Rule (Hardcover)
Ten years ago Max Holman was caught robbing the Studio City Pacific West Bank. He was convicted and went to prison, but today he is being released. All Max wants to do is see his son Ritchie who he has not seen since the kid's twelfth birthday. While Max was a guest of the state of California, Ritchie became a cop. However, on this day when he should be rejoicing in his freedom, Max learns ironically that his son and three other cops were killed in Los Angeles. P The LAPD accused gang leader Alejandro Juarez. Stunned and needing to avenge his loss, Max begins his own inquiries and quickly concludes that Juarez may be scum, but neither he nor his associates and employees killed Ritchie or the other cops. Unable to let go, Max digs deeper and begins to uncover police corruption that could easily cost him his life or at a minimum his freedom, but he refuses to back down as he has to do this for Ritchie. P Though the romance with an FBI Agent seems more obligatory than plot needed, action thriller fans will appreciate this terrific tale of revenge. Holman knows he failed his son in life so he fixates on bringing justice to the real killer. Thus Max's obsession and his criminal past make him a dangerous adversary, but against who is his problem as the Juarez's gang and the cops want him dead. A final plausible twist will shake readers as much as it does Max as Robert Crais hooks readers with THE TWO MINUTE RULE between life and death. I also recommend-The Quest-by Giorgio Kostantinos.-Thanks, Harriet.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining, but slow in pace...,
By comets (Toronto. ON, Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Two Minute Rule (Audio CD)
I enjoyed the characters in this novel they were well developed and motivations were totally plausible. The pace was a bit slow, but I never mind this situation when written by Crais. He does such interesting character studies, that I'm more annoyed when he interrupts his excellent writing for implausible twists-and-turns, which fortunetly doesn't occur in this book as it does in the Elvis Cole series.Found one interesting errata (if such a thing is possible for fiction) Crais writes that one bill of us curreny is 454g (1lb) As we all know this is not true, imagine how heavy your wallet would be... Just to be sure here is a quote from the Federal Reserve "Each currency note, regardless of its denomination, weighs about one gram. There are 454 grams in one U.S. pound, so there should be 454 notes in a pound."
5.0 out of 5 stars
STELLAR READING OF SUSPENSE FILLED TALE,
By
This review is from: The Two Minute Rule (Audio CD)
The relationship between father and son has often been a focus in literature. There have been unbreakable bonds between the two, distrust, hate, reconciliation, love, all manner of emotions. Yet, I expect that few examinations of this relationship result in a scenario as explosive as the one devised by Robert Crais.The author's rather catchy title comes from the knowledge that if you're going to rob a bank, you have about two minutes to get away with the money before the police arrive. Protagonist Max Holman knew that dictate well but he lingered long enough during a robbery to help a person suffering a heart attack. The result? Sympathetic press for Max and ten years in jail. Like many other prisoners Max thought of what he would do when he was released. Uppermost in his mind was setting things right with his son, a policeman. Tragically Max learns on the very day of his release that his son and three fellow officers have been shot and killed. The official story is that they have been gunned down by a gang leader, Juarez. Max doesn't buy that but there's no help for him from the LAPD. The only person he can think of who might help is the FBI agent who arrested him - Katharine Pollard. She has retired and living peacefully, comfortably. There are just a few people in this world that she wants to avoid and one of them is Max. Nonetheless, when Juarez becomes an apparent suicide she has to reluctantly agree that the official story doesn't make much sense. She and Max join forces and begin to investigate on their own. What they uncover is not only shocking but dangerous. The pleasure in listening to a story by Crais is his ability to intricately plot and surprise with every turn. Christopher Graybill offers a laudable narration, moving from the determined voice of a father who wants to avenge his son's death to the longing and sadness in the voice of a man who finds himself drawn to a woman he doesn't think he deserves. - Gail Cooke
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