Minutes to Burn - Hardcover

Hurwitz, Gregg

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060188863 ISBN 13: 9780060188863

Publisher: William Morrow, 2001

Synopsis

In the year 2007, two scientists are accompanied by a team of Navy SEALs to position critical tectonic equipment on a deserted isand in the Galapagos and find themselves immersed in a brutal war for survival that could determine the fate of the world. 30,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Author

Gregg Hurwitz's father, sister, and grandfather were all physicians, so growing up, he was regaled at dinnertime with tales of bleeding colons and severed fingers. He was also subjected to vigorous discussion regarding the boundaries of medical ethics, which provided him a foundation for writing Do No Harm. In the course of researching the novel, he shadowed doctors in the UCLA emergency room, harassed government operatives to teach him surveillance techniques, and delved into psychological research on childhood trauma.

Minutes to Burn originated during Hurwitz's research travel in the Galápagos, where he confronted marine iguanas on lava plains, hiked through the islands' curious Scalesia forests, and contended with enormous crab spiders in shower stalls and toilet bowls. Upon his return, he spent months tracking down scientific experts around the world -- ecologists, geologists, entomologists, virologists -- continuing to indulge his fascination in the archipelago and to flesh out what would become Minutes to Burn. While undertaking the military research for the novel, Hurwitz dealt with an extensive network of Navy SEALs and related operators. He was obligated to familiarize himself with sidearms, meals-ready-to-eat, M-16s, SWAT ranges, and hand-to-hand techniques -- much to the derisive amusement of attendant Navy SEALs.

Hurwitz grew up in the Bay Area. While completing a BA from Harvard and a master's from Oxford, he wrote his first novel, The Tower, a psychological thriller set in and around San Francisco.

Hurwitz has published several academic articles. He lives in Los Angeles, where he is working on his fourth thriller and the screenplay of Rogue Warrior (based on Richard Marcinko's autobiography) for Jerry Bruckheimer Films.

Reviews

It is the year 2007, earthquakes rattle the globe, the ozone layer is shot and evolution kicks into overdrive in this gripping action-movie-in-waiting. Hurwitz has engineered a deft recombinant blend of a thriller, tossing in lots of scientific speculation … la Crichton in Jurassic Park mode, a ragtag Navy SEAL crew reminiscent of the Aliens heroes, some Predator and a dash of Rambo. In his jam-packed tale, a rogue virus appears on one of the Gal pagos islands, and soon the remote archipelago is populated by nine-foot-tall man-eating monsters. Unaware of the infestation, scientists are sent from the U.S. to set up seismic sensors, and a team of seven Navy SEALs are assigned to escort them. Team members include husband-and-wife Justin and Cameron, who is not quite showing her pregnancy; squad leader Derek, having problems with concentration, much less command; and the gigantic Tank, among others. Most enjoyable is the 50ish knife-wielding Nam vet, Savage, who practically steals the book. Stranded on the island without guns after a series of screwups, the team is sucked into a nightmarish chase, turned from hunters to hunted and back again. Hurwitz's first novel, The Tower, was labeled a satire of serial killer novels by some reviewers. This page-turner keeps a satiric edge, too, while Hurwitz proves he is perfectly at home with toothy creatures on the rampage and a thrilling array of other soon-to-be FX. Author appearances in Los Angeles.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Most of the time, Hurwitz's environmental catastrophe thriller resembles those '50s horror movies in which someone intones, "This must be the result of atomic radiation." Of course, now environmental pollution by a mutation-inducing virus is the culprit. Yet the yarn follows the classic pattern. Heck, it even has a lurking menace in the form of--you guessed it--a giant praying mantis. The manifold hero of the piece is a Dirty Dozen-style team of SEALs; the resident scientists range from eccentric to mad (one is gay); the secondary characters are expendable; and the mutated menace develops new improbable survival traits as the plot requires. Consider yourselves warned, but consider, too, that some characterizations are defter than expected, the Galapagos Island setting is vividly rendered, and the effort Hurwitz expends to strand his characters in an alligator-infested swamp after first physically and mentally disarming them is almost admirable. Few will turn these pages twice, but many thriller fans will thoroughly enjoy turning them once. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: William Morrow
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060188863
• ISBN 13: 9780060188863
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 432