"With
spare prose, a fascinating location, strong characters and a damn good
story, Petrick takes us into journalism's heart of darkness; that is,
the false sense of safety that comes with being the 'outsider,' the one
who merely covers a story, versus the dangers of what might happen if
one day you suddenly step away from the middle of the road and fall
into your story..."
--Linda Ellerbee, journalist and author
"Petrick
makes the Belize jungle come alive with the precise lyricism of his
language. He's written a thinking man's adventure tale, laden with
political, social and cultural significance--in the tradition of Peter
Matthiessen's Killing Mr. Watson and Paul Theroux's The Mosquito Coast."
--Philip Cioffari, author of Catholic Boys and A History of Things Lost or Broken
"William Petrick's novel puts one in mind of James Dickey's Deliverance.
Weaving taut prose with vibrant, sultry images, Petrick has composed a
compelling, often startling narrative about the human folly of
self-deception..."
--Peter Coston, playwright, Wiring
"You
know you're in good storytelling hands when within the first five pages
you can't stop reading. With masterful suspense, Petrick brings us into
two little-known worlds: the mountains of Belize and television news
production. Truthful and wise, The Five Lost Days is a debut novel that actually delivers..."
--Michele Mitchell, author of The Latest Bombshell
"One life can hold many secrets that may benefit the world. However, one life is also very fragile. 'The Five Lost Days
follows aspiring documentarian Michael Burns as he goes on the search
for the last curandero, a traditional healer of the Mayan culture. This
individual, with his knowledge of the plants and flora of his home
region, may be key to unlocking their medicinal properties. However,
violent civil wars and many other events may snuff this knowledge out
from the world for good. The Five Lost Days is an intriguing novel of adventure, sure to please fans of the genre."
--Midwest Book Review
"...From
the moment I picked up this novel...I was hooked. Petrick's characters
and their situation drew me in right away. Everyone in the novel is a
shade a gray and have various hurts and regrets that are haunting their
lives and makes the interaction between them fascinating and
compelling. Burns thinks that he knows it all and can control the
"characters" in his documentary just as much as he tries to keep his
relationships under control so as not to have to confront whatever
demons he harbors in his heart. He has a girlfriend back home who has
never been able to get through to him, but he is intrigued by the
possibilities of Kelly, the American scientist who also serves as the
curandero's assistant. Kelly is equally intrigued by Burns, but she
comes with baggage of her own, including a troubled marriage to her
surly husband Frank, an aging revolutionary who has a few tricks up his
sleeve. Burns' awakening as he interacts with Pedro, the curandero
makes you wonder if it will be enough to help him start to heal his
issues. I loved the shifting narratives which were delicately balanced
throughout the novel so you got just enough of any one character to
keep you interested while still balancing the story. The only time this
got a little confusing was the abrupt entrance of some very minor
characters toward the end. What's
wonderful about this novel is that all the human drama and emotion is
set against the back drop of civil war, the beauty of the rainforest,
and a culture that moves at a much different place and with different
beliefs than what the American filmmakers represent. The filmmakers
have 5 days to shoot their documentary and they run into many problems
as they try to impose their will on the world around them. The
surprising ending leaves you to wonder what lessons any of them take
from their experiences."
--Linus's Blanket
"THE FIVE LOST DAYS is a thrilling tale of ancient beliefs and local politics that will keep you begging for more."
--Jenn's Bookshelf
"So
much about THE FIVE LOST DAYS appeals to my adventurous side. Taking
place in Belize, a small Latin American country I long to see, it
focuses on Michael Burns, a documentary film director who takes his
crew to the jungles to film a "curandero." Curanderos are a sort of
Mayan medicine man, close to extinction. Their focus on herbs and
medicinal plants only heightened my fascination with the book. Kelly,
an American who lives in the jungle with distant pot-smoking rebel
husband Frank, works for an American pharmaceutical company. She was
sent to Belize ten years previous to study the healing plants; in her
love for the jungle and a deep affection for the elderly curandero, she
stays on much longer than she’d originally intended. As Burns soon
finds out, the five days he’s scheduled to film are considered in Mayan
tradition to be The Five Lost Days - an evil time Mayans of the old
ways see fit to stay home and wait out in fear. But the show must go
on...if Burns can help it."
--carp(e) libris reviews
