‘One More Minute’: Author Robert Rotenberg goes back to 1988 G7 in latest thriller

Robert Rotenberg’s novel ‘One Minute More’ tells the story of an assassin on his way to the 1988 G7 Summit in Toronto.

Robert Rotenberg’s inspiration for his latest novel began decades ago, long before he was a published author.

“We were on the Quebec-Vermont border; there’s the July 4th parade and I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if an assassin was coming across to kill the world leaders?’” Rotenberg told CTV News.

His latest novel, One More Minute, is based around the G7 Summit in Toronto in 1988 and investigator Ari Greene’s attempt to foil an assassin’s plot.

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This is Rotenberg’s eighth thriller, but the first prequel, featuring Greene early in his police career, and Rotenberg admits the setting in 1988 was a more innocent time.

“It was so much fun. Nobody had cell phones. The police officers had to carry quarters with them to use the phone,” Rotenberg said.

“As a writer, it was great because I couldn’t have everybody texting and emailing. You had to really kind of have people figure things out.”

• Watch the full interview with Rotenberg in the video player above

Rotenberg is also a criminal lawyer.

He says he never takes material from his clients’ lives and uses it in books, but his interactions with others give him insight into the human condition.

“I see people in crisis and I see how they deal with things. I see cops, I see judges, I see lawyers, I see detectives. So I’ve got a really inside view of human personalities.”