'Relieved to be alive': David Pepper was kidnapped. Now it's part of his new novel

Sharon Coolidge, Cincinnati Enquirer
·4 min read
David Pepper, novelist and former Cincinnati City councilman, Hamilton County commissioner, and Ohio Democratic Party chairman, stands near his former home in the Mount Adams neighborhood of Cincinnati on Monday. Pepper was kidnapped 21 years ago outside of his home at gunpoint and forced to withdraw money from an ATM. His latest book recounts the experience.
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David Pepper has been a Cincinnati City councilman, Hamilton County commissioner, Ohio Democratic Party chairman and now a political thriller novelist.

Anyone who follows him on X, formerly Twitter, might also know him for his "whiteboard" dissertations against gerrymandering.

But 21 years ago he was a 31-year-old, single, up-and-coming councilman getting ready to go on a date when he was kidnapped outside his Mount Adams home, forced into his car at gunpoint and then driven to nearby bank machines in the robbers' attempt at a cash grab.

His attackers left him on the side of the road physically unscathed, but what followed would reverberate for Pepper for years – many doubted his story. The Enquirer's first headline was a skeptical "Pepper reports he was abducted," despite a police spokesman saying Pepper was kidnapped and the robbers got away with cash.

Eventually, the suspects were caught and sentenced to prison, and even then some were still skeptical.

Now Pepper, who lives in the Cincinnati suburb of Indian Hill, has incorporated the harrowing incident into his new book, "The Fifth Vote," which is set in Cincinnati and Cincinnati City Hall and revolves around a plot of corrupt politicians seeking favorable votes. It's Pepper's sixth book and fourth novel.

David Pepper, novelist and former politician, wrote about his kidnapping experience in 2002 in his latest novel.
David Pepper, novelist and former politician, wrote about his kidnapping experience in 2002 in his latest novel.

'You are relieved to be alive'

Pepper, 52, hopes you'll buy it, but don't go looking for anyone you know. The characters, Pepper said, are strictly fiction, although some of the main character, Dylan Webb, is based on himself. In the book, the police chief was problematic for Webb, but for Pepper former police Chief Tom Streicher played an important role in quashing the rumors the kidnapping had been faked.

And there was no corruption as described in the book during his years on council. Nor is it based on anything he's read about the 2020 Cincinnati City Council, which saw three of its members arrested on federal corruption charges for trading favorable votes for cash or campaign contributions.

"It's a fictionalized account of someone who experiences what I experienced," said Pepper, who served on council from 2001 to 2005. "What does it feel like to be in that car, as you are driving with a gun pointed at you? The first part of the book is what it's like to go through something that traumatic. The twist is, what is it like after that? You are relieved to be alive, but a lot of people are saying you made it up."

David Pepper just published his sixth book, a novel called "The Fifth Vote." It's a fictionalized version of corruption at Cincinnati City Hall. But what's real is an acount of how he was kidnapped and the aftermath of what happened when he was a Cincinnati city coucilman in 2002.
David Pepper just published his sixth book, a novel called "The Fifth Vote." It's a fictionalized version of corruption at Cincinnati City Hall. But what's real is an acount of how he was kidnapped and the aftermath of what happened when he was a Cincinnati city coucilman in 2002.

Inspired by a Zoom party

Pepper started noodling on the idea of writing about what happened in 2020, when young staffers asked him to recount the incident during his going away Zoom party (it was during the pandemic) from the Ohio Democratic Party.

What happened was so long ago few stories about it pop up in an online search. Someone on that Zoom call suggested he write it all down. So Pepper did. He was surprised how fresh every detail was in his memory, even after all this time.

Pepper recounts how scary it was to have somebody else in control of whether he lived or died. He wrote about the relief of being free. He wrote about his fear of returning home, which took him weeks to do, and about the shock and bewilderment he felt only days later when so many people questioned his story.

Pepper started writing the book in 2021, long before so many details in former Cincinnati City Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld's federal corruption case were chronicled in a two-week trial. But the power of the fifth vote has long been part of Cincinnati City Hall politics.

"When you're the fifth vote of a nine-member council, you can end up being the person who is determining most of what happens," Pepper said. "In the end, the book is about a corrupt city hall and the way city halls can be corrupted. That is broader than Cincinnati."

Where to buy 'The Fifth Vote'

At Joseph-Beth Booksellers, or online via Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Pepper will be signing copies at Books on the Banks on Nov. 18, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Duke Energy Convention Center.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: David Pepper's new novel includes a detailed account of his kidnapping