Five Days of Fear by David Kovach was an exhilarating read. The story which twists the real time incident of revenge and kidnapping starts you running at full force at page one. The story was easy to follow yet showed the detail needed to achieve the quality of a seasoned writer. Although this is David's debut novel it was of excellant quality. The romance between jessica and dan was a nice addition and gave the plot an even greater twist. I loved that the story was written in real time segements which made it feel like you were going along for the ride and had a part in helping to solve the crime. If you like detective, suspense or mystery reading you will not want to miss reading this author's first gift to the literary world. I can't wait for another novel by David Kovach. ( )

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! ( )

I felt such a part of this story; it was that compelling! I loved and could relate to the characters: their fear, their pain, their challenges, their interactions. The way Jessica sorted through faith issues was so real and encouraging. The suspense of what twists & turns would take place next in each of their lives kept me flipping pages quickly. Even now(a few weeks after completing the book), I miss these characters! Would recommend this book to anyone and wish for a sequel.

I was given this book by Christian Review Of Books. ( )

I enjoyed the mystery more than the romance part. While the compressed timeline made for exciting suspenseful mystery, it made the love story implausible. ( )

I felt such a part of this story; it was that compelling! I loved and could relate to the characters: their fear, their pain, their challenges, their interactions. The way Jessica sorted through faith issues was so real and encouraging. The suspense of what twists & turns would take place next in each of their lives kept me flipping pages quickly. Even now(a few weeks after completing the book), I miss these characters! Would recommend this book to anyone and wish for a sequel.

I was given this book by Christian Review Of Books. ( )