This is a very gripping book. It grabs your attention and won't let go. Fortunately you don't want to let go either as you are carried through the story all the way to the equally gripping ending.

Jenny Schultz wakes up trapped in a basement. A pitch-black basement. No light to show her where she is or what is around her. Instead she must feel her way around the room to find a door or an opening or even a weapon. While she searches the room, Jenny must also look inside for the strength to continue and to survive. She relives her life in an effort to determine who trapped her here and why. Until she can find a way to escape.

In my mind, the theme of the novel is survival, finding the strength and hope to fight to survive. As Jenny is reliving her life, she keeps remembering the hard parts. All the times where life was beating her up and where she was losing. But then each of those memories always end with Jenny getting past the troubles and surviving. Exactly what she is trying to do in the basement. The details of the past are slowly revealed while giving us hope for the future. I absolutely found myself hoping and caring for Jenny as she went through her struggles. They were very real to me. Well, being locked in a lightless basement with no memory of how I got there might be a bit harder to accept but the rest of her life provided reality. It's what made her current situation that much more dire. And in this case, the story stays true all the way to the very end, making a great book even better. Highly recommended. ( )

A woman wakes up in a pitch black cavern with no memory of when or how she arrived. She feels her way around her bleak surroundings in search of clues, escape, hope, but instead encounters an ominous omen. Scratched into the wall she finds six hash marks... six days to live. Using senses other than sight, she is forced navigate this physical prison and the prison in her own mind in hopes of finding an escape before the seventh day arrives. ( )

A year ago, I had never heard of Kelli Owen. Now, I can honestly say she is my favorite female horror writer. Is that a sexist thing to say? God, I hope not, because it's the truth. Don't get me wrong, there are a number of strong contenders for that title, but there is something about a Kelli Owen story that set's it apart from the rest of the field. Remarkable prose and at the same time she can make you cringe without going over the edge. All this from someone who used to hide her work, apparently as a result of some misguided fear of rejection.

Six Days was Owen's first full length novel and was a part of the 1st signed, limited collection from Thunderstorm Books new line, Maelstrom, headed by Brian Keene.

In the story, Jenny awakes thinking she's gone blind. It's beyond dark. The kind of dark where you can't see your hand in front of your face. The author skillfully helps you to see, or actually to not see, the world through Jenny's eyes.

As Jenny struggles to understand what's happened and how she may have come to be in this situation we are treated to dreams, memories and the like to help us learn more about the captive. What we learn through these snippets is that Jenny is not all sugar and spice, she has skeletons in her closet, but none of that matters right now. What matters is escape and getting home to her 10 year old son, Alan. What must he be thinking at this point?

Six Days is a wonderfully written novel, especially the flashback scene in the hospital room the day after the "surprise" party for Jen's best friend Beth. Some of the best writing I've read in quite some time. I was drained when I finished the passage and actually had to take a break from reading for a bit. Congratulations to the author.

If you didn't get a chance to pick up this one in it's signed, limited edition release, there's good news. It's now available in e-book format from Amazon.com and if you happen to be a Prime Member you can get it for free as one of your monthly selections from the Kindle Owner's Lending Library.

If you enjoy getting a bit unnerved while immersed in a good story. You might want to check out Six Days. Enjoy. ( )

Over the past twelve months I've started to read more books by Kelli Owen after finding her books easy to read but with plenty of originality in the stories. This is now the fifth book I've read of hers; although this is actually her debut novel now released to the masses in e-book form.

The story is about Jenny Shultz, the victim of a kidnapper, who wakes up surrounded by darkness in a small, unknown room. It's up to her to work out where she is, who took her, and look for a way of escaping. The darkness not only hinders her quest for answers forces but her to look inwards at herself and the people in her life. The feeling of claustrophobic has been written well into the book and it helps the reader to feel what it is like to be in such a frustrating and dangerous situation - whilst a series of flashbacks help flesh out Jenny's character as well as her family and friends.

I really enjoyed how the book took such a simple concept like a kidnapping and turned it into something much more psychological than most stories and has enough quality to pull you along for the ride that Jenny takes.

One of the best debut novels I've ever read. ( )