11 Minutes

<p><strong><em>* As featured in The Age - Weekend Crime Feature by John Silvester. *</em></strong></p><p>On its <strong>50th Anniversary</strong><em> 11 Minutes</em> is a gripping Australian noir crime novel based on a True Crime: Great Bookie Robbery of 1976<strong>.</strong> This audacious daylight heist remains Australia's greatest armed robbery.</p><p><strong>Part I: The Crime of the Century</strong></p><p>The novel opens with a meticulously executed robbery. In just eleven minutes six masked men storm the Victoria Club and disappear with a fortune-an estimated $15 million - $80 million in today's money. No arrests. No recovery. A perfect crime.</p><p><strong>Part II: Where It Began</strong></p><p>The docks of 1960s Melbourne. Ray Chuck Bennett and Ian Fingers Carroll rise through the ranks of the Painters and Dockers Union where violent factions fight for control of the city's underworld. As the Waterfront War claims dozens of lives their wives-Raelene and Gail-are left to navigate this hostile world.</p><p><strong>Part III: The Making of a Legend</strong></p><p>Conceived in Pentridge developed in the UK the crew is assembled and trained like commandos. This heist elevates them to legends in the underworld. But Vivian the Victoria Club's lounge manager saw it differently.</p><p><strong>Part IV: The Aftermath</strong></p><p>For a short time they enjoy the Life of Riley. However it's not just the police looking for them. The Kane Brothers Australia's Krays and Sydney's Toecutters want a share. Meanwhile the seeds of internal fracture are sown and the once-tight bonds begin to unravel.</p><p><strong>Part V: Retribution</strong></p><p>Greed and paranoia take hold. Mistakes during the heist set off a chain reaction. As the body count rises Ray and Ian struggle to maintain control. Their wives wrestle with love fear and the inescapable pull of the crime. No one walks away clean.</p><p>Told through the lens of Ian Carroll's younger brother in the end <em>11 Minutes</em> isn't about the heist. It's about what came after. The price of power. The weight of greed. The illusion of control.</p>