Minutes to Burn [Mass Market Paperback]

Gregg Hurwitz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 30, 2002

"In the year 2007 the world is not what it was..."

Powerful earthquakes and hurricanes have left most of South America in ruins--and solar rays pouring down through holes in the depleted ozone layer can burn human flesh to a crisp in minutes. An impending global eco-catastrophe has brought a crack scientific team to a desolate island in the GalA paos--along with a ragtag squad of U.S. Navy SEALs entrusted with their protection--to position critical seismic equipment before the next wave of earthquakes hits. But there is something waiting for them all in the jungles of Sangre de Dios. A scientific phenomenon the likes of which has never been seen has evolved in the devastating heat of a killing sun. And with the world's future hanging in the balance, a desperate search for answers has suddenly turned into a terrifying war for survival--transforming scientists and soldiers alike into something they never dreamed possible: "prey."

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"...The science is fascinating, the story is exciting, and the plot moves with the unstoppable precision of a SEAL team..." -- Robert Crais, author of L.A. Requiem and Demolition Angel

"...Vivid cast, engrossing story... Hurwitz demonstrates once again that he's a thriller writer to be reckoned with." -- -- Kirkus

"...captures the warrior spirit of the past and takes us to a future where science unleashes discoveries that society has yet to comprehend..." -- Richard Marcinko, author of Rogue Warrior

"Get ready to stay up all night--Gregg Andrew Hurwitz is about to take you on a rollercoaster ride..." -- Jan Burke, author of the Edgar award-winning novel Bones

"Hurwitz's crew in Minutes to Burn are the hardest, orneriest, funniest soldiers since The Dirty Dozen..." -- James Thayer, author of Terminal Event and Five Past Midnight --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: HarperTorch (July 30, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061015512
• ISBN-13: 978-0061015519
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,063,884 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Gregg Hurwitz is the critically acclaimed, internationally bestselling author of The Tower, Minutes to Burn, Do No Harm, The Kill Clause, The Program, Troubleshooter, Last Shot, The Crime Writer, Trust No One, They're Watching, and coming soon, You're Next. His books have been nominated for numerous awards, shortlisted for best novel of the year by International Thriller Writers, nominated for CWA's Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, chosen as feature selections for all four major literary book clubs, honored as Book Sense Picks, and translated into twenty languages.

Currently a consulting producer on ABC's "V," he has written screenplays for or sold spec scripts to Warner Bros., Paramount, MGM, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, and ESPN, developed TV series for Warner Bros. and Lakeshore, written Wolverine, Punisher, and others for Marvel, and published numerous academic articles on Shakespeare. He has taught fiction writing in the USC English Department, and guest lectured for UCLA, and for Harvard in the United States and around the world. In the course of researching his thrillers, he has sneaked onto demolition ranges with Navy SEALs, swam with sharks in the Galápagos, and gone undercover into mind-control cults.

Hurwitz grew up in the Bay Area. While completing a BA from Harvard ('95) and a master's from Trinity College, Oxford in Shakespearean tragedy ('96), he wrote his first novel. He was the undergraduate scholar-athlete of the year at Harvard for his pole-vaulting exploits, and played college soccer in England, where he was a Knox fellow. He now lives in L.A. where he continues to play soccer, frequently injuring himself. Feel free to email him at [e-mail]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Refined Second Effort, July 26, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Minutes to Burn (Hardcover)

Gregg Andrew Hurwitz's Minutes to Burn is a fantastic sophmore effort. From the first pages, he grabs you by the seat of the pants and takes you on a thrilling ride through the Galapagos Islands. With rounder and more complex characters than his debut effort The Tower, Minutes to Burn shows the maturing of a fantastic up and coming author. Each word hits like a body blow, leaving you gasping for air, but reaching to turn the next page.

Set a few years in the future, on the archipelego that Darwin made famous, Minutes to Burn details a story of hunters becoming hunted. Evoking a terror similar to The Most Dangerous Game, a crew of Navy SEALS and scientists encounter Jurassic Park type monsters caused by a runaway virus. Stripped of weapons, the teams are left to fend for themselves. The suspenseful finish proves Darwin right; only the fittest survive.

If you are a suspense/thriller fan, this is a book, and author, worth burning a few minutes on.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A thrilling page-turner!, July 25, 2001

By 

M. Wits (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Minutes to Burn (Hardcover)

Minutes to Burn is a fast-paced, intelligent glimpse into the near future. Somtimes frightening, sometimes humorous with a biting edge, Hurwitz clearly has a gift for spinning a good scientific adventure tale. From the opening description of a cow being killed by a mysterious creature, I was hooked. The group of Navy SEALS are well developed and even the women characters are well written. The book was obvioulsy thoroughly researched and covers a broad range of topics...making it appealing for a wide range of readers. The frenetic pace, set against the altered ecosystem makes for an exciting read. This work can be compared to that of Crichton, particularly to Jurassic Park. As in his last book, Hurwitz is a very visual writer, and you can just imagine the story unfolding on the big screen.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Is this gonna be a stand-up fight or 'nother bug hunt, sir?, August 4, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Minutes to Burn (Mass Market Paperback)

In the near future our dreadful mismanagement of the planet has led to grim consequences. The ozone layer is all but gone and people can only go outside if they have SPF 100 sunblock and UV-proof contact lenses. Earthquakes have now begun to shake the ground with alarming regularity and economic crises and war are rampant.

In this grim future a very odd team of Navy SEALs has been ordered to escort a pair of scientists to a remote island to conduct tests and set up measuring instruments. The SEALs are sent because some of the villagers on the island have turned up dead or are missing. The locals are claiming that their animals and people have been the victims of... a monster!

This then sets the stage for what becomes a story that reads of like a literary stew, borrowing themes from other stories we have all come to know like Hot Zone, Predator, Aliens and so on, with a pinch of Tom Clancy for seasoning. But, like most stews, it has a tendency to be somewhat bland.

I wanted very much to like this book more than I did but it was tough at times. The book definitely has an eco-agenda; wagging its finger at us in stern warning of what will happen if we all don't stop mistreating Mother Earth. It is written well enough but not spectacularly so. I found the characters to be a bit thin in places and on the ragged edge of being too stereotypical. The plot was good -- if standard for this genre --and was presented in a way to be believable without relying on too many incredulous plot contrivances.

The author knows his science well enough to make the technical and medical parts seem genuine. I wasn't impressed with his vision of our Navy SEALs in the future. The team seemed to be more like a chain gang than a group of highly trained Special Forces professionals; their bickering, backbiting and personal issues seemed overplayed at times.

I also thought the book was about 100 pages too long. It started out fine but then it hit a flat spot in the middle that just kept going and going with nothing much happening other than speeches by the scientists about species protection and other eco-babble and the endless squabbling between the SEALs. Then it ramps up quickly, the body count rises and then it's over.

This book tries to be good and succeeds here and there, but all in all it is not a book that I would read again.