The Dying Minutes by Martin O'Brien

The Dying Minutes by Martin O'Brien
Buy The Dying Minutes by Martin O'Brien at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Crime
Reviewer: Jo Heffer
Summary: In 1978 a daring gold bullion robbery took place on the outskirts of Marseilles. No one was arrested and the gold was never found. Over twenty years later though, two different men receive unexpected gifts. One is a police officer and the other a lawyer. Although these two gifts appear unrelated, they both set off a stream of events that might ultimately lead to the mystery being solved.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 480	Date: April 2012
Publisher: Preface Publishing
ISBN: 9781848090613
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Chief Inspector Daniel Jacquot is recovering after being shot after his last case. His pregnant girlfriend is away when he receives news that he has been left a boat – Constance -by an old sailor. At about the same time, lawyer, Claude Dupont visits one of his unsuccessful defendants in prison. The man is dying and leaves his lawyer an unusual bequest on which he feels that he needs to act. What follows starts to unnerve many of the criminal fraternity in the South of France and stirs up old rivalries between two of the most feared criminal families on the Cote d'Azur. It also raises questions about what happened to gold bullion, stolen over twenty years previously, and leads to a deadly race as both families seek the gold and also seek revenge. Amidst all of this, Jacquot seems to find his new acquisition at the heart of it all and starts to unravel the mysterious life of the boat's former owner.

There follows much danger and numerous deaths; many are extremely gruesome as it seems that both families will stop at nothing to recover the missing gold and never mind who stands in the way. This makes it a tense compelling read that will leave the reader in suspense to the very last pages. I enjoyed reading it although I would say that some of the murders are not for the faint hearted.

This is also a very busy book with a huge cast of characters. I did find that I really needed to concentrate at the start in order to remember who everyone was, especially as I was not always sure how they all fitted in to the bigger picture. However, as I read more, things became clearer and as more and more characters were killed off, there were less to keep track of!

Although there is a great deal of violence in this book, it does also have some tender, lighter moments between Jacquot and his girlfriend, Claudine. This created some relief from the drama, especially when Isabelle, an old girlfriend turns up and one wonders if there is likely to be a love triangle.

This is not the first book that features Chief Inspector Daniel Jacquot and I did wonder whether I needed to read the previous ones first. However, although there are obviously some references to previous stories, the book also works very well as a stand alone read as well as being part of a series.

Overall, 'The Dying Minutes' is a tense and thrilling read, and one that had me on the edge of my seat all the way through.

Why not also take a look at Dead Man's Grip by Peter James

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