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FIVE MINUTES ALONE
by Paul Cleave
Atria, November 2014
432 pages
$16.00
ISBN: 1476779155


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

The fourth Theodore Tate novel, FIVE MINUTES ALONE, sees author Paul Cleave continuing to pull together connections from many of his previous novels - this series and the Christchurch Carver books. Must admit some of these connections and the continuation in these books fascinate this reader. But then I've been amazed, fascinated, confronted, discomforted and flat-out frightened by most of them.

The FIVE MINUTES ALONE of the title is a reference to that oft-quoted reaction of loved ones, and victims of, violent offenders. It's a hard sentiment to argue with - five minutes alone with an offender to even some scores. Whilst it's more normal for cops to politely deflect the request, this time, an ex-cop is only too happy to oblige, even instigate. The ex-cop is Carl Schroder, off the force since being wounded six months earlier.

"And that did it. At the mention of the Carver he felt something stir inside him. It was like an old car that hadn't run in years was being started. Only the fuel was bad, the engine was half-seized, there was enough juice for the engine to try and turn over, but that was all, a hint of life and then nothing."

Perhaps it's the bullet lodged in Schroder's head that's made him lose his moral compass, then again, there's only so much depravity, cruelty and downright nastiness that some people are able to deal with. Schroder's reached his limit and given he's out of the police and living a lost life, he's quite "content" to take up a cause.

"There they were. Two small words. Why should, and a future opened in front of him, just like that, a doorway to a world of possibilities. That was the moment he realized he was a man searching for something....

"Why should a guy like Dwight Smith get a second chance at hurting people?

"Why should Dwight Smith get to be happy?"

Tate, on the other hand, has returned to the job. His own injuries healed, he's dealing with two major problems - his wife has not recovered fully from the car crash that killed their daughter, and her memory is patchy. Dangerously so for him. Somebody is also killing violent and nasty rapists and whilst initial suspicion seems to indicate victims or their families, it's not long before Tate has other ideas.

"Four weeks after joining the land of the living, Bridget's memory came back. All of it - minus the few hours before and during the accident. Then two weeks ago the problems started. Small problems. Painful problems. My wife wakes up into the morning of the accident. She thinks that everything is as it was three years ago. It's the school holidays and she's taking Emily to the movies and Schroder is my partner and the world, to her, hasn't moved on."

There's such strength in the portrayal of these characters. Whilst the reader knows from the start who the killer is, and why he's doing it, there's much that is sympathetic about him. There's something real and sympathetic about all of these main characters - all of them battle-weary, many morally ambiguous, these people have things about them to admire as much as things to dislike.

§ Karen Chisholm has been reading crime fiction since she could hold a book upright. When not reading she builds websites and pretends to be a farmer. Her website, AustCrimeFiction has been covering fiction from Australia and New Zealand since 2006: http://www.austcrimefiction.org/

Reviewed by Karen Chisholm, January 2015

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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