The One Minute Assassin

Ex-private investigator John Black becomes involved in a search for a murderer as one of the candidates for governor of California tries to kill his way into office.

The author's debut, 47 Rules of Highly Effective Bank Robbers (2006), was a comic caper novel reminiscent of Westlake or Hiaasen. Cook's second novel, which also spoofs a well-known business-book title, proves that he's definitely worthy of appearing on the same shelves as those two genre giants. A candidate for California governor has stumbled on a unique way to ensure victory: someone is killing the other candidates. It falls to John Black, whose sister (one of the candidates) has been targeted by the nameless nut job, to find out who has been taking the phrase dirty politics to a whole new level. This is an extremely entertaining novel: the election, which features a large number of mostly eccentric candidates, is clearly modeled on the free-for-all California election that put Arnold Schwarzenegger into office, and Black, a former private investigator, is a strong protagonist. While not as laugh-out-loud funny as 47 Rules, this novel is consistently entertaining, with plenty of amusing moments and offbeat characters. Pitt, David