Death Watch

YOU CAN'T PUT THIS BOOK DOWN!! A must read!! Makes you think what would you do if you only had 48 hours to live. I heard that a series might be coming out. I only wish because I would love to hear about what happens to some of the loved ones in the book.

When TV reporter Sydney St. James is sent to cover a fatal traffic accident, she is totally unprepared for the drama and mystery she is about to discover. For on the front seat in the car of the victim is a slip of paper that reads: "You have been selected for death. Stop. Precisely forty-eight hours from the receipt of this transmission you will die. Stop." Thus unfolds the sequence of bizarre events as more and more "Death Watch" notices turn up. There seems to be no rhyme or reason for the selected victims, no connection, no common denomination. What is this all about? Who is doing this, and why? After she manages to convince the TV studio powers that be that there is a story in this, Sydney is unwillingly teamed up with Hunz Vonner, a visiting TV anchor from Europe, to investigate. A number of those that have reported receiving a death threat are asked if they would be willing to appear on television as their 'promised' time of death approached. This macabre "interview" is turned down by several until finally a man agrees. Sydney, Hunz and the TV crew arrive and set up, prepared to watch the last supposed minutes of the man's life. Maybe they'll catch whoever it is that is sending these horrible threats. Or they might discover something quite normal to cause death. Yet this man is healthy. No medical history of anything life-threatening. There has to be something they can discover. Or maybe it is all a horrible prank. A hoax. But nothing can halt the dying. As reports come in all across the country and around the world, every recipient of the Death Watch notice dies at the appointed time. Everyone. As terror mounts, Sydney and Hunz follow trails all across the United States. Suddenly, it becomes personal. People close to Sydney are receiving the notices. Desperate, their quest culminates in Chicago, where the trail of a mysterious, unseen person reveals an astonishing secret. On the roof of the Hilton Hotel, Sydney gets the first hint of the answer, a revelation that could cost her the life of those she loves, ruin her career, or quite possibly save them all. She did something she hadn't done in a very long time. She prayed. When this book came to the top of my TBR stack I had no inkling of the heart-stopping intensity I was about to experience. It grabbed me from the first page and held on tight to the last. Yes, this is "something different" and I guarantee you won't be able to turn the pages fast enough. Well done MM Cavanaugh and Kuiper. Peggy Phifer ©2005

I couldn't put it down once I got into it and that didn't take very long. There were places in this book that I believe the Holy Spirit was truly shouting. "Listen and look to see yourself in this book". What would we do if we had only 48hrs to live or better still what would we do if we knew someone we loved only had 48hrs. This book caused me to realize even more how very little we are concerned about the eternal destination of others. One of the best fiction books I have ever read. I liked the way it ended. Leaving you to think about what you would do if you were in their places.

You check your email and open a message without a return address. The subject is: Death Watch. It says, "You have been selected for death. Precisely forty-eight hours from the time of this transmission you will die. This is an official death watch notice." Sydney St. James is a young reporter on KSMJ-TV, channel 2 in Los Angeles. In the opening scenes, Sydney is stuck in a typical traffic jam due to an accident. Later, when assigned to investigate this accident, Sydney presses a local policeman and learns that it is more than a traffic death. It's the seventh sudden death during that particular morning. As Sydney digs deeper into the story, she discovers this death watch is a worldwide situation where healthy people unexplainably die after their 48-hour notification. The death watch notices have no pattern or consistent target. Beyond the main plot of the death watch, several sub-themes are built into this fascinating novel. Cori Zinn is a jealous, young and ambitious reporter also on the KSMJ-TV staff. At every possible opportunity, Cori tries to turn any attention away from Sydney and toward herself --- whether in a meeting or with a choice assignment. The dynamic creates a realistic inner office rivalry between Cori and Sydney. Renowned international newscaster Hunz Vonner visits the station and assists Sydney as she tries to unravel the mysterious death watch. The pair, along with a camera crew, set ups close to the 48-hour time limit at healthy 61-year-old Lyle Vandeveer's home. They want to report on the death watch; mysteriously, at exactly the same time, Vandeveer dies on live television. Sydney discovers a lead as to who's responsible for the death watch from an unusual source --- Reverend Billy Peppers, a street preacher to the homeless. At first her reporter instincts say to ignore this lead. When the death watch becomes personal and connected to her co-workers, Sydney presses beyond her reporter instincts and follows her heart. With her career on the line and her friends facing the death sentence, Sydney makes a leap of faith and discovers an unusual antidote. While the book is page-turning suspense with a number of twists, ultimately Sydney connects with Rev. Peppers about the reason for the death watch. '"Why now?' she asked him." "Billy...folded his arms. 'We're approaching the end of history. It'll be different than what has gone on before. History has always focused on political, economic, and social events. It's time for the spiritual to come to the forefront. Soon spiritual events will overshadow everything else. This is but the first step.'" "Massive, worldwide deaths just to get people thinking about spiritual matters?" "What is more spiritual than life and death? At birth, the spark of the spiritual animates us; at death, it leaves the body." A Christy Award winner, Jack Cavanaugh is known for his excellent plots and well-drawn characters in the historical fiction genre with books like PROOF, WHILE MORTALS SLEEP and

So begins the terrifying message received by people all over the world. "...Precisely forty-eight hours from the time of this transmission you will die. This is an official death watch notice". The only consistent pattern with these confusing threats is the wording of the letter and the fact everyone who receives this message dies- despite all attempts to prevent it. Enter in rookie news reporter, Sydney St. James. She has finally found a break-through news story to cover. Teaming up with EuroNet newscaster, Hunz Vonner, the two will work together to find the force behind these shocking attacks. The idea behind Death Watch (the spiritual aspect) was interesting, though unexpected. Based on the summary on the back cover, I was prepared for more of a psycho-thriller type story line, which ended up not being the case. Instead, the emphasis was more on a spiritual attack rather than anything of this world. While I still found Death Watch worth reading, the novel started out strong but had a rather abrupt and not completely satisfying ending.

This terrific book sucked me in from the first page. Jerry Kuiper has a way with a turn of phrase that is strikingly visual. The characters are three-dimensional and enjoyable to read about. I loved the behind the scenes look at network news. I truly enjoyed this book and plan to share it with others. And I can't wait for the rest of the series!