THE TWO MINUTE RULE (audiobook) by Robert Crais


Originally Published in 2006.
Audiobook edition published in 2008 by Brilliance Audio.
Read by Christopher Graybill
Duration: 9 hours, 23 minutes.
Unabridged.

Named Best Crime Novel of the Year by the London Evening Standard.

Named one of the Top Ten Crime Novels of the Year by The New York Sun and the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel.

Audiobook version named a finalist for the Audie Award.

Veteran writer Robert Crais is mostly famous for his Elvis Cole/Joe Pike novels. The Two Minute Rule is on of his few stand alone novels. It features a former bank robber named Max Holman. 

Synopsis

Holman has a son that he barely knows because of Holman's life of crime and his subsequent prison term. All he really knows about his son is that he has become a policeman in LAPD - and Holman couldn't be more proud.

That pride turns into sorrow on the day of Holman's release from prison. As he is packing up, he gets a message that tells him his son has died as a result of a shooting along with several other officers.

Holman comes to believe that the police are intentionally botching the investigation and starts his own while trying to restart his life outside of prison...

My Review

There was nothing wrong with this book. It is a good mystery and the steps that were taken to solve it made total sense. But, the story has to be more than the mystery. To me, the whole thing felt forced.

Despite the accolades (see above), I am puzzled as to why this book just did not gel for me. There were great aspects to this story - a strong lead character, a great buddy from the old days, a new partner. All of the parts were there, but just didn't gel together even though there was great potential in this book to become something special and even start a series.

The audiobook was read by Christopher Graybill. He was excellent with any of the dialogue parts - lots of different accents and all delivered well. But, the rest of the text was just read like a bored tour guide who has delivered the same boring speech too many times.

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: The Two Minute Rule by Robert Crais.

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