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A Thriller (Christchurch Noir Crime Series)
by Paul Cleave
In the latest thriller by the Edgar-nominated author of Joe Victim, someone is helping rape victims exact revenge on their attackers, prompting an edge-of-your-seat, cat-and-mouse chase between old friends, detectives Theodore Tate and Carl Schroder.
Carl Schroder and Theodore Tate, labeled "The Coma Cops" by the media, are finally getting their lives back into shape. Tate has returned to the police force and is grateful to be back at home with his wife, Bridget. For Schroder, things are neither good nor bad. The bullet lodged in his head from a shooting six months ago hasn't killed him, but—almost as deadly—it's switched off his emotions.
When the body of a convicted rapist is found, obliterated by an oncoming train, Tate works the case, trying to determine if this is murder or suicide. The following night, two more rapists go missing. It's hard to investigate when everyone on the police force seems to be rooting for the killer.
There's a common plea detectives get from the loved ones of victims: When you find the man who did this, give me five minutes alone with him. And that's exactly what someone is doing. Someone is helping these victims get their five minutes alone. But when innocent people start to die, Tate and Schroder find themselves with different objectives, and soon they're battling something they never would've expected—each other.
"Ferocious storytelling that makes you think and feel," says The Listener (New Zealand). Smart, funny, and breathlessly suspenseful, Five Minutes Alone takes the definition of "crime thriller" to a whole new level.
"Starred Review. The truth is beyond complex, and Cleave's masterful plotting skills are matched with superior pacing and characterization." - Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. [A] powerhouse of a tale... A gripping thriller from beginning to end." - Booklist
"Starred Review. 'All of this killing has made him feel,' Carl's exhilarated to realize. Readers following him through this season of Breaking Bad reworked by the Coen Brothers will feel the whole gamut right along with him." - Kirkus Reviews
This information about Five Minutes Alone was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Paul Cleave is the internationally bestselling author of ten award-winning crime thrillers, including Joe Victim, which was a finalist for the 2014 Edgar and Barry Awards, Trust No one and Five minutes Alone, which won consecutive Ngaio Marsh awards in 2015 and 2016. He lives in Christchurch, New Zealand.
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