Customer Reviews

The Last Six Million Seconds

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4 star:		(2)
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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.

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.

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.

I can't believe this is out of print. It should be out in paperback, as it's far superior to most mystery/thrillers you can buy today. Thankfully there's a lot of online places where you can get a good used copy. That said, I'll get on with my review.

The book opens with DCI "Charlie" Chan on a police launch in rough seas near the Communist border, seeking out three severed heads floating in a plastic bag. He is investigating a gruesome murder made even more grisly by the fact that the victims' bodies have already been put through a meat grinder.

There are only two months left before the official hand over of Hong Kong to the Peoples' Republic of China. Or to be more accurate, for those residents of the territory who fear that day, a mere six million seconds, and that's the amount of time Chan has left to put together the pieces of a bizarre puzzle before it gets buried by the change of administration.

Chan is an uncompromising, unhappy, chain smoking, half-Chinese, half-Irish cop who is more comfortable with his asian ancestry. He is ethical, honest, and unfazed by his superiors. Furthermore, despite a principled dedication to his job, he doesn't attend the social functions that grease the wheels of free-wheeling ambition. His efficiency and his success rate are legendary, but in this sea of corruption he is distrusted because of these very qualities.

As the story moves along a web of deceit and subterfuge unravels which connects a communist general, Chinese Triads and the Mafia, unlikely bed-fellows united by the common language of money.

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. Chief Inspector Chan, is believable and human. He makes mistakes, suffers from self-doubt and solves crimes through good police work and determination, despite the roadblock and red tape thrown in his path

This is certainly a five star story and again, it's a darned shame that it's out of print. I highly recommend that you get yourself a used copy if you can.

Reviewed by Vesta Irene

I am a fan of Burdette's, having read his Thailand books. Based on Amazon reviews, I 'had' to buy this even though the lowest price was way more than I usually spend. It was worth it! The previous reviewers have echoed my sentiments; I just wanted to add one more 5 star rating and to say I wish he would write more.
-Martin Freifeld

Royal Hong Kong Police Chief Inspector Chan Siu-Kai,`a Eurasian, is nicknamed "Charlie Chan" by the British dignitaries still in Hong Kong during the last days of British rule (the 69 million seconds referred to by the novel's title.Naturally, the nickname is purposely derogatory and so the detail of the nickname helps set the tone for the fact-based fiction.This is Burdett's 2nd novel which along with A PERSONAL HISTORY OF THIRST established him as a writer of superior and knowledgeable suspense fiction, a reputation maintained also by his more recent novels. Along with a well paced investigative novel, the reader receives a better understanding of the status of Hong Kong as it's returned to mainland China after 100 years as a British colony. Highly recommended as a taut thriller as well as a factually based novel.

It's Hong Kong and there are two months left to the PRC's (People's Republic of China) takeover of the British Colony. Detective Inspector Chan Siu-kai, called Charlie Chan by just about everybody who knows him after the character in the old movies, is out in a launch in search of a clear garbage bag that had been reported floating off the coast by some tourists. The contents, three human heads. And by strange coincidence the Hong Kong police have the remains of three bodies, sans heads, that had been fed alive into a giant meat grinder.

Charlie and his comrades find the bag and its grisly contents, but a PRC Coast Guard launch comes up on them as they are in PRC waters. The Chinese want the bag, Charlie bribes them and takes the heads back to Hong Kong even as he wonders who told the PRC about the heads and why would they care?

The powers that be in Hong Kong meet secretly and they are of two minds. Some of them want Charlie taken off the case because he has a high success rate and he's honest. They don't want the case solved and they definitely don't want someone working it who they can't control, because the British don't want to rock the boat before the Communist takeover and this case has potential huge political considerations. They eventually decide to keep Charlie on the case, but to have him report to an officer they think they can trust.

However Charlie isn't so easy to control and when wealthy Emily Ping commits suicide and Charlie is framed for her murder, he goes all out to solve the crime and it looks like the political bosses on both sides of the border may learn that not only can Charlie not be bought, but he can't be threatened either.

This mystery by Mr. Burdett is one of the best I've read in ages and it's a crying shame that it's out of print. One can't help but wonder what in the world is going on in the book industry when they allow an excellent book like this to die. Fortunately you can still get "Bankok 8" by Mr. Burdett everywhere books are sold. As far as "The Last Million Seconds" goes, my recommendion is to buy it used if you can find it, because you won't find a better thriller or mystery anywhere.

Six million seconds adds up to about 67 days. This novel takes place in the 67 days leading up to the British hand-over of Hong Kong to the mainland Chinese government in 1997.

I won't go into all the details about Inspector Chan, etc. because other reviewers have done a good job of that already; but let's just say that this exciting, perceptive and often grisly novel satisfies as great crime fiction and as incisive commentary on the changes taking place in the "new" China.

Wherever there is money, there is greed and corruption; and the oligarchs (former Communist generals) who run mainland China have no qualms about using whatever means at their disposal (bribery, extortion, slavery and murder) to control their newly won prize. This is the force Inspector Chan has to reckon with, and since he is Eurasian, I take it that Burdett is letting us know that both East and West will have to reckon with the powers-that-be in China -- whether they like it or not. The Chinese oligarchs have the ability to influence world affairs just as the European Colonists once did. And, as Burdett's story testifies, the Chinese know full well what's at stake and have no fear about having to play hardball to come out on top.

Burdett has an insider's understanding of a world few uninitiated Westerners understand (he was a lawyer for a British firm in Asia for many years). He provides readers with the perfect guide to the crossroads of East and West -- the Eurasian Inspector Chan.

A fun and absorbing read. A must for any Burdett fan.

Burdett shows alot of the promise that is even more evident in his later books based in Bangkok. Excellent pre-handover thriller. I'd have liked to see some more Charlie Chan books.

A story that takes place in Hong Kong 6 million seconds before the take over and opens a new picture on the upcoming threats on this City. This brilliant triller, that pulls out all the stops of this genre, gives you all you hope for and much more. I have never read a more exciting book than this one. Much better than Jack Higgins 'On Dangerous Ground'