Author elevates crime fiction in ‘Two Minute’

“The Two Minute Rule”

by Robert Crais (Simon & Schuster, 336 pages, $24.95)

The two-minute rule is a simple guide for bank robbers: Get in, get the money and get out in less than two minutes; otherwise you risk getting arrested.

But Robert Crais’ 13th novel is anything but simple. While the thrilling, action-packed, multilayered story revolves around the life of a former bank robber, “The Two Minute Rule” explores choices, regrets, rehabilitation and the bonds between parents and children.

Crais puts his perennial hero, the wisecracking private detective Elvis Cole, on vacation. Instead, the author’s third stand-alone novel revolves around Max Holman, who’s coming to the end of a 10-year sentence for bank robbery.

Max knows the kind of man he was – thoughtless, selfish, often high with no concerns about others, especially not his girlfriend or his son. But he’s hoping to change the way he leads his life and, he hopes, establish some sort of relationship with his estranged son.

An hour before Max is scheduled to be released from prison, he’s told that his son, an LAPD officer, was killed the night before along with three other cops.

The case is quickly wrapped up; the prime suspect, whom the police insist was acting alone, commits suicide. But Max doesn’t believe the suspect could have ambushed four experienced police officers. He starts his own investigation, not only to find his son’s killer but also to learn about the kind of man his son was and whether the murders were related to a series of high-profile bank robberies.

He turns to the one person he can trust – Katherine Pollard, the FBI agent who arrested him. She resigned from the FBI to raise her children; now a widow with a cash-flow problem and, admittedly, a lot of boredom, she reluctantly agrees to help.

Crais wastes little time in getting to the heart and soul of Max. Our initial reaction is to dislike him and to fear we are being manipulated into sympathizing with a criminal. But Max has few illusions about himself and the man he used to be and fears he still could be.

His attempts to leave his past behind – even when he could easily be drawn back – are realistically explored. Crais makes Max’s regrets about his son heartbreaking, but never maudlin.

Likewise, Crais, who has always excelled at creating women characters, shapes Katherine into a realistic human being.

Once again, Crais elevates crime fiction. “The Two Minute Rule” is time well spent.