Book Details:
Author: Bob Brill
Release Date: January 26, 2026Series:
Genre: Crime Thriller, Detective Fiction
Format: E-book
Pages: 210 pages
Publisher: Oracle Bookart Publishing
Blurb:
A hard-nosed private investigator learns from a former movie star of a plot to take down humanity for greed and profit. P-I Casey Order teams with Ginger Queen and the pair are charged with foiling the plot of a coalition of brutal criminal gangs. With the world’s premier sporting event set to take place in Los Angeles, the criminals plan to execute a massive hack that could devastate economies and wreak havoc across nations. With the help of various law enforcement agencies, their own wits, some strategically placed friends and a lot of luck, can Order and Queen survive?
Read full book blurb
Filled with relentless action, sharp dialogue, and unexpected camaraderie, “5 Seconds to Die” is an adrenaline-fueled journey that explores the lengths two unlikely heroes will go to protect the world. The clock is ticking-are you ready to hold your breath until the final second?
“Bob Brill has truly crafted an international thriller that reads like a fast-paced movie. “5 Seconds to Die” is a rapidly moving, film noir-style story set in Hollywood. No matter what genre you love, you are in for the thrill (and the chase) of a lifetime in ” 05 Seconds to Die.”
-Edward Gusts Film Producer The Magpie film company
“Trust a radio reporter to know that seconds count — especially in this atmospheric noir featuring a PI, a moll, feds, and cartels galore.”
-Jonathan Handel Entertainment Reporter
Bob Brill is an award-winning author, writer, radio broadcaster, newsman and filmmaker. He’s written more than a dozen published books, made several short films, written two dozen screenplays, and produced a feature-length documentary.
Review
:05 Seconds to Die by Bob Brill is a fast, cheeky, old-school private-eye thriller with a modern cybercrime premise and the swagger of a Hollywood action caper. The novel follows Casey Order, a private investigator and former reporter whose life is thrown into chaos when fading actress Ginger Queen approaches him with information about a massive criminal plot involving Armenian mob boss Gerry Artimian, hacker Taco Miller, global crime syndicates, and an $80 billion cyber-heist targeting the Summer Games.
The book’s biggest strength is its voice. Author Casey narrates with a wisecracking, self-aware, noir-adjacent style that constantly nods to old detective fiction, classic Hollywood, spy thrillers, mob movies, and pulp adventure. The tone is deliberately broad and playful with car chases, burner phones, secret meetings, FBI contacts, mob bosses, assassins, hackers, international escapes, and sudden comic asides all sitting side by side. Author Brill clearly enjoys the genre, and that enjoyment gives the novel its energy.
Ginger Queen is one of the more memorable parts of the book. She begins as the glamorous, dangerous client figure, but gradually becomes more than a femme-fatale device. Her faded Hollywood past, vulnerability, courage, and sharp survival instincts give the story an emotional centre beneath the escalating cyber-conspiracy. Casey and Ginger’s dynamic is flirtatious, messy, funny, and occasionally surprisingly tender, especially as the plot moves from Los Angeles to Europe and back.
The thriller plot is intentionally big, almost cinematic in its scale. Artimian’s criminal coalition brings together multiple gangs, hackers, mobsters, and international players, while the stolen flash drive becomes the key to preventing a catastrophic attack. The final stretch, where Rigo and the cyber team race against time and stop the plot with only five seconds left, is wonderfully over-the-top in the best action-thriller tradition.
That said, the novel is not a subtle read. The humour can be brash, the dialogue occasionally exaggerated, and some character descriptions and cultural shorthand may feel dated or blunt to contemporary readers. The pacing is also very episodic, with the story moving from one set-piece to another at high speed. Readers looking for a tightly realistic techno-thriller may find the tone too pulpy, but readers who enjoy action-heavy, wisecracking crime fiction will likely have fun with it.
Overall, :05 Seconds to Die is an entertaining, fast-moving cyber-noir caper that blends private-eye fiction, Hollywood satire, mob thriller, international chase, and digital-age conspiracy. It is loud, funny, chaotic, and proudly cinematic, basically the kind of book that reads as if it already has one eye on the screen.
The Reading Bud 
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