7 Days In May

by Peter Barns

How far would you go to save your family?
Marine biologist, Alex Winters, is about to find out.
When a secret experiment goes terribly wrong Dawn Winters is trapped, her life is in danger and Alex is the only one who can rescue her. While Alex battles to reach her, Dawn and virologist Sheena McKenzie make their own voyage of discovery.
Until Gonzalez, an American mercenary arrives to clean things up for his paymaster.
And the bodies begin to mount.

Genres: Fiction

261 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2011

About the author

Author - Poet - Versifier
Born in Harlsden on the outskirts of London in 1943, Peter Barns spent his formative years living beside Regent's Park.
Educated at a Secondary Modern school, he left with just one qualification in 'O' Level Art.
Passing through a variety of occupations after leaving school, he finally ended up working in the construction industry as an electrician. After taking his City & Guilds, he became an electrical engineer and spent the next twenty years working on building sites. Somewhere in there he got married and divorced - a couple of times - and had two children.
He moved to the Highlands of Scotland in the late 1980's along with his partner. With the move came a new occupation - counselling people with alcohol and drug problems - which he did for six years before managing a charitable company recycling redundant computers back into the community.
Now retired he spends his time writing and refurbishing houses.

Reviews

[Lorraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the book. It is a well written and easy story. The story has all the makings of a good drama - introduction; rising action; plateau; falling action and conclusion. It is well constructed and the story is held together tightly through clever use of characterization, diction and settings.

It got me thinking about a lot of stuff and I compared it to the movie "Wag the Dog". It really raises a few questions about the causes of war. Of course, the Americans were pulling strings in the background. (Typically)!!

Basically this is a story about a science experiment gone horribly wrong and the powers at be used "The war on terrorism" to cover their tracks. It also highlighted how the pharmaceuticals used unethical methods to test their illegal products on defenceless animals; ultimtely the cats turned on the humans, ironic isn't it!. This flippant disregard to laws governing such testings made me realise that, the power behind politicians is "old money" and brought the old adage "money is the root of all evil" to life.

Innocent people lost their lives, lies were created and spread about the Al Qaeda, in this instance, but ultimately, good triumphs over evil and Alex, Dawn and Sheena live happily ever after on the beach front in Cuba.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could not finish this book.

[Baratang · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was a very interesting thriller and suspense. It covered what would seem to others as simple societal issues, and overtly complex ones. How Alex and Dawn dealt with Karen's death was typical of many young families undergoing the same predicament. Carolyn's life was that of a miserable rich kid and ended with typical tragedy, even though not through her own doing. Booker and Holland typified societal ills at a higher evil, all driven by wanting more and more no matter what the costs were to mankind. Their demise was a common eventuality to people like them, even though many a times not noticed by those who prayed for it. What were the powers that be doing with such illicit experiments when they already had a way of turning soldiers into insensitive killing machines like Gonzalez? Their shameful victory was embodied in that character. Even though fictitious, the story reminded us of how billions of people across the globe and the entire world is held hostage by a few greedy people, with horrifying and senseless loss of precious life, and eternal socio-economic aberrations.Even though the author's research into the subject matter was questionable given his account of what was done at the laboratories, the scientists' academic accolades and their expertise, he used simple but captivating language, and was excellent at describing scenes, raising more and more curiosity and keeping readers in suspense.

[Evie Maiolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This reminded me of a James Herbert book, 'The Rats', though less gruesome.

A lab experiment using animals to test the effects of a new 'military warfare' virus goes terribly wrong when the lab burns down and one of the infected animals escapes undetected.

Following a series of attacks on humans by subsequently infected animals and the discovery of the sinister nature of the experiments, it is up to the lead researcher to keep the research out of the wrong hands, while trying to find an antidote to the now mutated virus which is killing anyone who comes in contact with the host animals.