Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Conspiracy Thrillers

  • HEAVY HYSTERIA: A novel of Corporate Intrigue Involving the Minerals of this Sacred Earth by Charlie Robinson – Conspiracy Thrillers, Technothrillers, International Mystery & Crime

    Scientific and moral questions swirl in Charlie Robinson’s latest thriller, Heavy Hysteria: A Novel of Corporate Intrigue Involving the Minerals of this Sacred Earth.

    Readers are thrust into a suspenseful journey with worldwide implications alongside Dr. Charlie Cavanaugh, a 68-year-old priest and scientist.

    Arriving home after a spiritual retreat, he is surprised by an FBI agent sitting with Cavanaugh’s gun on his lap. The agent has subverted a freshly enhanced security system to retrieve Cavanaugh’s encrypted, unpublished Hybrid Hysteria report from a concealed USB stick.

    The FBI needs Cavanaugh’s assistance with a delicate national security issue.

    His widely researched and circulated Applied Physics Letters scientific publication revealed the severe danger that specific configurations of the Gauss Hybrid Electric Auto Company’s batteries posed for human health. That report saved thousands of lives—and his expertise is called back to action.

    GHEA is now under new management. Prices for GHEA battery minerals are rising rapidly, putting national security and electric car manufacturers at risk.

    A small secret organization wants to build on Cavanaugh’s research to track down the people behind the threat, focusing on the “Tones,” a rogue group within the Deep State. But chances are high that Cavanaugh’s involvement will again put him on the Tones’ radar, who previously abducted his fellow scientists and co-authors.

    Following the widely acclaimed Hybrid Hysteria—a Novel of Corporate Intrigue Both Holy and Diabolical, this serpentine tale reveals deep-seated treachery and calamitous profit-driven deception.

    Cavanaugh, a man of the cloth, shrewdly transcends his duty as a “simple priest” and takes on the unfamiliar hat of a spy to unearth complex truths. With a bull’s eye on his back, he assumes challenging positions that push him into the unfamiliar dark web.

    Heavy Hysteria’s corporate espionage transcends tribal territories and state borders.

    It is a truly compelling plot with a vividly drawn, sharp-witted hero, ticking all the boxes of a suspense thriller. Together, these features draw readers with ever-growing curiosity towards an exciting and unforeseen end.

    Well-written and propulsive, this novel delivers much more than it promises.

    Robinson’s background in electrical engineering and neuroscience also adds a unique power to his narration. Heavy Hysteria: A Novel of Corporate Intrigue Involving the Minerals of this Sacred Earth earns a high place within its genre.

    With an intriguing premise, this tour de force is bound to captivate readers whether or not they’re fans of suspense thrillers.

     

  • UNTIL MORNING COMES by Jonathan Epps – True Crime Thriller, Vigilante Justice Thriller, Conspiracy Thrillers

    UNTIL MORNING COMES by Jonathan Epps – True Crime Thriller, Vigilante Justice Thriller, Conspiracy Thrillers

    Jonathan Epps pulls from the darkest corners of our headlines a tale most despicable in his latest novel, Until Morning Comes.

    Young girls seldom know the dark, wicked places awaiting them in the world, but they do have real problems. They come from hard-scrabble backgrounds and make destructive decisions because they want something more for themselves. These girls don’t know how to get what they desire, only without a doubt, each one understands they need something so much bigger – so much better than what life currently offers, and they will believe anyone – and do anything – to attain it.

    In short, they become targets for predators.

    The very rich and the celebrated take what they want from these girls and leave them worse off than ever. It’s those people who should know better but don’t care. They hire people to hunt down these girls, profit from them, and promise a future that never comes to fruition, then discard them like trash.

    The girls participate in sordid parties for the uber-wealthy, famous, even celebrated elite who enjoy perpetrating illicit and disturbing actions upon the underaged and vulnerable. They take their pleasure in places where drugs never run dry, and consent is deemed optional. Lots of money changes hands, and some of it even makes its way to a few girls. But at one of these events, Ava witnesses a most deplorable act, and instead of helping the girl, she runs away. She can’t forgive herself. Ava’s haunted by the sights, sounds, and smells of that night, and her hatred grows for the people who perpetrated these offenses.

    Ava forms friendships with two others, and they all try to move on. Each one deals with the lingering trauma in different ways. The other two begin to piece together plans for the present, hoping they can eventually set goals for happy futures. But Ava fails in all her attempts. She can’t move on from her past. She can’t move on from the horrific scene she ran from, and so she puts together a plan for revenge.

    Ava Rose Anderson decides to put an end to the group.

    Why? Simple. She has nothing left to lose. Ava seeks revenge for herself and for all those who suffer the aftermath of the life they once lived. She challenges the offenders with exposure of their crimes – and she’s determined to fight that nightmare to the bitter end.

    Revenge may give Ava closure, if not peace. Ultimately, she wants to face the man who ran the trafficking operation. She wants to see him dead. Also, she wants to face off with the woman who recruited her – and so many like her. Ava hunts her targets through media and across a couple of major cities to trap the human trafficking ring. She doesn’t know it, but Ava is not the only person on this trail. Who will reach them first, and how will it all end?

    Jonathan Epps masterfully develops his latest thriller with public figures we all recognize from today’s headlines. True crime and thriller fans alike will find Until Morning Comes riveting and simply impossible to put down.

     

    5 Star Best Book Chanticleer Reviews round silver sticker

  • The EIGHTH SISTER: A Thriller (Charles Jenkins) by Robert Dugoni – Conspiracy Thrillers, Espionage Thrillers, Assassination Thrillers

    The EIGHTH SISTER: A Thriller (Charles Jenkins) by Robert Dugoni – Conspiracy Thrillers, Espionage Thrillers, Assassination Thrillers

    It begins innocently enough if anything connected with the CIA can be labeled “innocent.” Long- retired, 63-year-old CIA agent Charles Jenkins is enjoying his Puget Sound farm, reveling in his life with Alex, his wife, and his nine-year-old son. The small family is eagerly awaiting the birth of their second child. Life is good. He has a private security business that has paid the bills up to now. A major client is falling far behind on paying invoices.

    Then, Jenkins’ former CIA station chief from oh-so-many-years ago shows up at his door.

    The U.S. government, it seems, has reared seven Russian “sisters” who are meant to embed themselves in the Russian government as spies. The problem is, the sisters are mysteriously disappearing. The former station chief and his team believe there may be an eighth “sister” activated by the enemy to uncover our agents’ identities. Jenkins is uniquely qualified for the job.

    The mission, should Jenkins choose to accept it is to go to Russia and identify the eighth “sister.” The job would end there. And the payment? Honestly, he would be a fool to turn the assignment down. But why him? How could he possibly enter Russia as a former CIA spy and not be picked up by the FSB, successor to the notorious KGB?

    Dugoni is a master writer of slam-bam, can’t-put-it-down action novels. The Eighth Sister follows in that path. For followers of his other series, many will be pleased by the appearance in this book of attorney David Sloane, the popular hero of three previous Dugoni novels: a sign, perhaps that other beloved characters from his galaxy of heroes and anti-heroes will make appearances in subsequent Jenkins books.

    Like other Dugoni novels, the author gives us a rich protagonist. Jenkins emerges as a complex man, caught up in multiple webs of deception, and desperately aware of his limitations. He is no longer in his prime, and he’s yearning to be back with his family on the quiet farm. Instead, he finds himself in an inescapable trap. What will happen next?

    In the end, Charles Jenkins ponders if he can ever return to his life from which he was wrenched on that fateful day.

    A second Jenkins novel will be released later in 2020, and it’s a sure bet he will once again find himself at danger’s doorstep. It’s a promise on which Dugoni readers can count on. Roadside Attractions, a sister company of Lionsgate Productions, producers of Netflix’ “Orange Is the New Black” TV series, and the John Wick film franchise has recently optioned The Eighth Sister for an 11-part television presentation. They know a killer series when they see one, and so will you when you pick up Robert Dugoni’s latest thriller, The Eighth Sister.