Customer Reviews

Minutes to Burn

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

"Minutes to Burn" is a biological suspense story set in the not too far future, when ozone depletion has started to become critical, not only endangering life, but releasing tectonic upheavals that have started to spread chaos in equatorial America. The name comes from warning signs that appear in the exposed areas which inform people of the estimated time before exposure will cause serious sunburn. Throughout the book this is measured in short minutes, not in hours.

When a Navy SEAL team is assigned to accompany Dr. Rex Williams to Sangre de Dios, in the Galapagos Islands, the task is considered a cakewalk. It is a simple matter of affixing six tectonic monitors and leaving. The small team is put together out of what's available. Derek Mitchell, recovering from the death of his child and the institutionalization of his wife is the Officer in Charge. Szabla is his fierce, determined second. Carmeron Kates, considering an abortion is brought in with her husband, Justin. Tucker, recovering from drug abuse, Tank, the demolitions man, and, finally, William Savage, a 50 year old ex-con and Viet Nam vet, round out the personnel.

What the team doesn't know is that Sangre de Dios is in the middle of a biological crisis. The release of a DNA modifying virus has triggered the development of a nine foot tall praying mantis form that is viable and laying eggs. When the team has all its weaponry stolen in Ecuador, and they decide to proceed to the island anyway, they find themselves facing a deadly and efficient killer. In the ensuing action they quickly realize that something must be done to control the Mantid's hatchling larva as well.

Back in the U.S. Dr. Samantha Everett, a viral specialist, analyzes water samples from Sangre de Dios and discovers the DNA changing virus. All involved realize that the virus must be cleared and the mantid carriers killed or Sangre de Dios must be completely destroyed. Hampered by internal dissent, the SEAL team is slow to mobilize its limited resources and the crisis worsens exponentially. A new mantid reaches adulthood and the only things left to eat on the island are the team members.

I was amazed how believable this story is, especially considering it's somewhat outlandish plot. Hurwitz has taken the time to fill in all the interesting details of ozone depletion as well as biological and tectonic information. The science is fascinating. The team's military behavior is equally well drawn. Beyond this is the fine detailing of the many characters that play a part in the story. Action thrillers rarely have writing this strong. This may be the best of its kind this year.

"Minutes to Burn" does present the conscientious reviewer with something of a dilemma. Most of the key plot elements are borrowed. The most blatant case, the idea of a monster created by a virus that modifies DNA, is a straight take from "The Relic." But stranded SEAL teams, ozone depletion, and earthquake scenarios are all commonplace as well, even giant mantids. Despite all that borrowing, Gregg Hurwitz has taken these ideas and created a novel that feels entirely original and is every bit as exciting as its predecessors. Perhaps more so. In the end I felt that I had no choice but to give it a well deserved full rating.

Marc Ruby for The Mystery Reader

The novel moves along at a fast clip. Although many of the characters are almost sketches, the action sequences were what grabbed me. And a line regarding anthrax on page 262 will really bring it on home. Reading very much like a Star Trek episode...the guys in the red shirts are first to go....the monster would be an animatronic feat to reproduce on screen.

Hurwitz does it once again, but this time he does it even better. After reading his brilliantly terrifying psychological serial-killler thriller, The Tower, I didn't know what to expect with his next book; but it's clear, he's the next Crichton. Hurwitz switches gears and takes us on a terrifying trip to the Galapagos, where scientists and Navy SEALs find themselves stranded on an island, fighting to survive an evolutionary nightmare. What unfolds will leave your heart racing until the book's breathtaking end. While the book's premise may seem unlikely, even far-fetched, Hurwitz clearly did his homework; he has such a firm grasp of so many fields of study--from entomology to virology to ecology to biology--he's able to create the illusion that such a scenario could possibly happen. Hurwitz more than delivers. His brilliant plotting and deft characterizations, not to mention the language he uses place him among the very best writers today. I can't wait to see what in the world he comes up with next.

The beginning of this novel was the best since it introduced an assortment of interesting characters, but after that, it seemed to bog down and bore me.
Now, ususally I love these types of books and movies, but after about 100 pages, I found myself losing interest due to lack of movement and great action sequences.
This is where the book fell flat for me. If you could combine this authors ideas and add some great action-type writing such as Matthew Reilly, then you would have a blockbuster on your hands. These two writers need to meet and collaborate!

Like a previous reviewer, I found myself wanting to like this book more than I did. But, "Minutes to Burn" is far too long, and filled with useless description and repetitive sequences. A blend of every sci-fi/horror cliche of the past twenty years, the novel starts off well, but gets bogged down by a little too much technical garbage, and scenes that seem padded to expand the characterizations. Unfortunately, most of the characters in this book are not that likeable. Once again, we are treated with a Sigourney Weaver pair of female warriors, one black, one white. Szabla is so obnoxious in her braggodocio that I wanted to slap her several times; meanwhile, the tough Cameron is such a self-centered, whining brat that she and her husband Justin come across as the Ken and Barbie of the future. Savage is such a pompous and evil, insensitive character that one can't find much in him to admire. That leaves Tucker and Tank as the only real likeable SEALS, and poor Derek goes off so weirdly, and becomes a father figure to the larva of one of the monsters. Needless to say, Daddy doesn't fare too well. Through the novel, we learn that Derek's child died a horrible death, obviously at the hands of its mother, but in the revelatory scene, we aren't really told WHAT the heck happened.
But, nonetheless, the last section of the book does move better, and the action sequences are very well developed. The inevitable sequel looms, but I don't think Hurwitz has anywhere to go with this one.
Not a horrible read, but not one I'd recommend at this time.

Minutes To Burn is the second book I've read by Gregg Andrew Hurwitz and I am thouroughly impressed. There are a lot of authors out there who stick to the same themes in their books, but not this one. Hurwitz's first book The Tower was a psychological thriller and he has now jumped to a science thriller involving Navy Seals and a phenomenon none of us could imagine encountering. The characters in this book are fascinating, funny and at times brutal. This book is smart and fast paced. You won't want to put this one down.

A fascinating and thoroughly absorbing ecological thriller whose multiple strands of intriguing characters and creatures, environmental mutations, & catastrophic events, are woven together into a spine-tingling climax!
Set in Darwin's endlessly fascinating Galapagos Islands, evocatively and exquisitely described, blending well-researched fact with imaginative, often frightening science fiction, Gregg Andrew Hurwitz has created a cast of complex & unique characters. Their personalities, & interactions with each other & the evolving creatures, who are the product of the strange & bizarre environment, lure you within the first few pages & hold you captive & eager to ascertain the outcome of their fantastic adventures, in which a mutating virus wreaks havoc with an unsuspecting team of weaponless Navy Seals who have been sent to the islands, to escort a group of scientists, intent upon monitoring seismic eruptions, despite the recent disappearance of their colleagues from the islands.
Although dying to finish the tale before falling asleep, I feared that the terrifying nightmare described within would become my nightmare that very night. I reluctantly closed the book just a few pages from the end. Upon awakening, I immediately reached for the book, devoured the finale, and, like the evolved monster within, found myself fully & completely satisfied with my meal!
Masterfully told!!!