It has been over a year and a half since Mr. Valen's first published book, "White Tombs," found its way into my hands, yet I remember it and its impact vividly. For me, it was love at first read, somewhat surprising in view of the fact that I am not a great lover of violence, evil and generally unpleasant situations. I fell in love with Mr. Valen's writing, his clever use of contemporary issues, his heroes and his insights into the human mind. I also clearly remember wishing for a sequel, or better yet, sequels.

With the sequel in front of me, I hesitated for a moment.  Will it be as good as the first one or am I in for a disappointment? There was only one way to find out, so I opened it. And four hours later I sat back and finally exhaled. Just like the first one, "The Black Minute" grabbed me from the first page on, and pulled me into a complex world of evil, violence, deceit, bravery and search for justice. 

The story opens with detective John Santana, Colombian-born and still haunted by his past, investigating a suspicious death of a young Hmong girl, Mai Yang. While investigating her death, Santana meets her "business associate," another young prostitute going by the name of Jenna Jones, as well as Mai's father and brother. While trying to discover what brought Mai to Harriet Island, where she met her death, Santana also questions a woman who discovered her body, Grace Chandler. Grace, daughter of a powerful politician, stirs something in Santana and he finds himself falling hard for her. Jenna is soon murdered herself, and so are several gang members with close ties to Mai Yang and her family. While most clues for those murders point straight to Mai's brother, Kou Yang, Santana is simply not convinced. Will he discover the true culprit before more innocent people die?

Once again I was very pleasantly surprised by the quality of Mr. Valen's writing and storytelling. While the plot is complex and anything but predictable, his storyline stays comprehensible and easy to follow. The characters are well developed, very believable and constantly evolving. The setting of the story is vivid, detailed and engaging.  While being thoroughly entertained, I also felt that I've learned a good few new facts, notably about the Hmong people and their fight, as well as details of police procedures and some other items I do not want to mention for fear of divulging too much of the story of "The Black Minute." Suffice to say that Mr. Valen again wrote an incredibly relevant story, touching on a significant number of challenges facing us today. Although I learned more about Santana and his early life than in the first book, my curiosity is anything but sated, so once again I will - impatiently! - wait on the sequel.

North Star Press of St. Cloud (2009)

ISBN 9780878393329

Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (10/09)