36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Thinking Man's Cop!, July 28, 2002
This review is from: The Last Six Million Seconds: A Thriller (Hardcover)
I, too, can't believe this is out of print and only available as a used book. It should be in paperback, and is far superior to most thriller/mystery books available today. Mr. Burdett writes with an insider's knowledge of Hong Kong prior to its transfer from Great Britain to the PRC, as well as knowledge of the sinister world of both the People's Liberation Army and the Chinese Triads. His protagonist, Chief Inspector Chan, is believable and human. Chan makes mistakes and suffers from self-doubt like everyone else. His uncanny ability to solve crimes comes more from good police work and determination than anything super human, despite the bureaucratic roadblocks and red tape he meets along the way...as well as the political dirtywork that thwarts his investigation of one of the grizzliest murders you'll find in literature today. Royal Hong Kong Police Chief Inspector "Charlie" Chan isn't James Bond...Thank God! No gimmicks. No sci-fi gizmoes. Just plain old police work. He's half Chinese-half Irish and 100% real (warts and all)! I hope Mr. Burdett writes another Chief Inspector Chan novel soon. I hated to see this one end.
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another fine Burdett mystery, August 16, 2004
This review is from: The Last Six Million Seconds: A Thriller (Hardcover)
The Last Six Million Seconds is a marvelous combination of engrossing mystery and the drama of Hong Kong's transition from a British colony to the control of a Chinese dictatorship. Throughout the story, one of Burdett's strengths is his ability to capture the intangibles of culture. Consider this insight:
"In the beginning was the Word. But it was sung, not spoken. Prehistoric humans from Peking Man in the East to Cro Magnon in the West used the full range of the vocal scale to sing instructions for the hunt, sing guidance to their children, sing reverence to the gods that provided the mammoths. They would have despised the flat, dead speech of modern times for the tuneless whitterings of ghosts.....the oldest language in modern usage is also the most musical. With nine tones to condition meaning, Cantonese can present a challenge to a tin ear from the Bronx." (p.283)
Burdett uses Richard Hughes' formula of 'a borrowed place living on borrowed time' to explain the psychological challenge Hong Kong residents face during the last six million seconds before they return to Chinese control.
The criminal activities of the People's Liberation Army, including their willingness to use violence and intimidation to create rigged enrichment for a small handful of Generals, are described in accurate details. Burdett even uses official United Nations reports to enhance the sense of realism. He also manages to weave through all this the issue of the Laogai--the prison/slave labor system by which 50,000,000 people live lives of enslavement in China, according to Burdett.
Burdett's protagonist is a driven Chinese-Irish policeman seeking answers to the brutal deaths of two Chinese men and an American girl. The journey is worth the read. Indeed I am beginning to believe that anything John Burdett writes is worth reading.
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23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent, complex and intense book, October 22, 2003
This review is from: The Last Six Million Seconds: A Thriller (Hardcover)
A thriller is usually has some artificially constructed point
of suspense. A race against time or against forces that
outnumber the protagonist. The suspense in "The Last Six
Million Seconds" is different. The central character,
"Charlie" Chan is outnumbered by the forces surrounding him.
But he is more than willing to let go of his investigation
if told to do so by his British masters. As with other
"thrillers" there is a mystery at the core of the story,
but this mystery is simply a center around which the powers
in the story orbit. The suspense arises from plot elements
and the setting.
There are four forces which operate in the plot: the British,
the fading colonial masters of Hong Kong, the triads or tong,
China, which will take over Hong Kong and "Charlie" Chan,
a somewhat fanatic chief inspector of the Hong Kong Police.
The triads are supposed to be some of the most violent criminal
organizations in the world. I read somewhere that they once
cut the arms off a journalist in a conference room where he
worked. With the take over of Hong Kong by China the triads
have to adjust to the new power realities of another criminal
faction, the generals of the Red Army. The fading British
Empire wants nothing more than to extract itself from Hong
Kong. Like a cork floating in this stormy sea is inspector
Chan and his investigation. The violence that is the
undercurrent in the story simply reflects the violence of the
triads and the Red Army. Reading this book I not only was
reminded of the storied corruption of the Red Army but also
of the fact that China executes over 1,000 people a year,
taking them to killing fields and shooting them in the head.
The book also captures the Hong Kong obcession with making money.
This obcession with business and profit has historically made
much of the Hong Kong population apolitical. While British
law and jury trials existed in Hong Kong, the British never
ran their colony in a democratic fashion. The
rulers of Hong Kong were appointed in London, never elected.
So the assumption of power by China in some ways changed little,
at least on the surface.
The question that this book brings up,
but does not answer because it was published in 1997, is what
effect two lawless organizations, the triads and the Red Army,
have had on Hong Kong. The politics and power structure of the
Middle Kingdom make the late Soviet Union appear transparent
by comparison. The rule of law seems to be emerging slowly
in China. Has the corruption, drug and arms trafficing changed
as well?
I read this book after reading Burdett's "Bangkok 8". Like
the excellent "Bangkok 8" this is a story of complex plot
and realistic characters. As other reviews have noted, "The
Last Six Million Seconds" deserves to be in print. I look
forward to more of Burdett's work.
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