Review: Five Days of Fear

Five Days of Fear

by David Kovach

Why did you choose this book? I won a bookclub set

When did you read this book? June 2013

Who should read this book? readers who enjoy suspense and don’t mind a bit of bad dialog

Source: TLC Book Tours

Here is a synopsis of Five Days of Fear from Goodreads.

During a family picnic, Jessica Britton’s well-ordered world is slammed against a brutal reality and her faith is tested when her mom is kidnapped, her dad is shot, and authorities can find no clues to begin their investigation. Jessica’s own anxiety and fear for her mother’s life compels her to help FBI Agent Dan Hamilton look for motives and clues that would lead to rescuing her mom. By chance, clues begin to emerge, and the once floundering investigation speeds to a hectic race against time and criminal minds in a desperate attempt to save Jessica’s mom and the lives of many in San Francisco’s business district.

My Review 

This is the author’s first novel, and a good attempt, so I am going to be gentle with my review. I won a book club set for my book club, and we chose to read this as our June 2013 selection. The book takes place over 5 days, and there is a chapter for each day. The story starts when the Britton family is picnicking on a beautiful day in San Francisco, when the Grandma retrieves a ball from the parking lot and overhears something she shouldn’t. This results in her being kidnapped and her husband being shot. The FBI is called in, and the resulting investigation and search for the kidnappers really is interesting. It this alone had been the story, the book would have been short, but quite good.

The problems arose when the author attempted to make this a crime thriller - romance. The youngest daughter, Jessica, is unattached and content to remain that way unless a man she is interested actually like her freckles. Of course, FBI Agent Dan comes to the rescue, and immediately notices her freckles. The problem here is that while her dad is recovering from a gunshot wound and her mother is missing, and possibly dead, Jessica has time to not only notice what a nice guy Dan is, but fall in love with him. And yes, her family noticed....and approved. Because you can’t control when the Mr. Right comes along. This was not only pretty unbelievable, it felt very forced to me, and really slowed the story down. At times, I felt like I was listening to B movie dialog being read by bad actors. There was also the issue of Dan violating policy and allowing Jessica to become very involved in the investigation, also unrealistic, but this didn’t bother me nearly as much.

I could see this book getting a good screenwriter to fine tune the dialog and get rid of the romance, and it would make a great movie. But as it is, there were too many times I had to put the book down or skim through a section because it got bogged down in the very rapidly developed relationship between Jessica and Dan. A lot of reviewers at Goodreads really liked the book though, so if the story sounds like something you’d enjoy, go for it!

My Rating:  ★★1/2   2-1/2 Stars