Review: Conspiracy 365: December by Gabrielle Lord

Conspiracy 365: December by Gabrielle Lord (December 2010, Hodder Children's Books, ISBN: 0340996552)

Notes: I've previously reviewed January, June, August and October and November

Review: December is the final part in the twelve-book series which began with January. It's a slightly longer book than its predecessors and is an exciting and worthy finale to the tale of Cal Ormond.

Cal has been on the run for twelve months. His task was to a) stay alive and b) solve the mystery of the Ormonds ie find the Ormond Singularity with the help of the Ormond Jewel and Ormond Riddle. The latter two objects have been in and out of his possession for most of the year but finally he has them, and with his two friends, Winter and Boges, they make good progress in solving the mystery.

Having been in Australia for the previous 11 months, the story ends in Ireland where it had begun with Cal's Dad before he became ill and died.

You could read December as a stand-alone but it would be more satisfying to have read some, or all of the earlier books. I was pleased with the resolution to the mysteries and surprised by many of the twists. December was a strong entry in a series which was a little uneven: some months were better than others with the story not moving on in some and a tendency towards some repetition; Cal does seems to have an unfeasibly large number of handy skills plus quite a bit of luck at times, nonetheless I'm glad I read all twelve.

Initially I felt sad that the series had ended as I would like to have read more about Cal and his friends but it seems I may have my wish as I discovered that a 13th book is on the way, called Revenge according to the Conspiracy 365 website.

Review: October & November by Gabrielle Lord

Conspiracy 365: October & November by Gabrielle Lord (October & November 2010, Hodder Children's Books, ISBN: 0340996539 & 0340996546 )

Review: Almost a year since I read and reviewed January, I'm now closing in on the final book. I've just read October and November (I find it hard to read just one!) and the answers that Cal Ormond and his friends Boges and Winter seek will soon be revealed.

To briefly recap - Australian author Gabrielle Lord has written a monthly series featuring 15/16 year-old Cal Ormond who has been accused of attempted murder and is on the run. He has to unravel the secret of the Ormond family and stay alive until the end of the year. Each book opens and ends with him getting himself into or out of a life-threatening situation. Most of his help comes from his best friend and technical wizard Boges and Winter, the ward of one of the bad guys also after the secret of the Ormonds which is supposed to make Cal rich according to his late father. Other individuals both helpful and not, reappear at intervals so it's quite a closed world of characters.

As before, narrated in a diary style with descending page numbers, there is plenty of tension in these two outings as the gang spy on several key players in the mystery including a shady lawyer and Winter's guardian, plus disrupt a wedding in grand style and in November gain some vital information from a very unexpected source.

I am enjoying this series and though it can be slightly frustrating that the gang find clues and lose them quite quickly, and more than once, I'm with the likeable Cal and friends to the bitter end.

October and November probably aren't the best place to start in this series so if you like an action-led story set in a different and (to me) exotic place do go back to January and begin.

I've also reviewed June and August.

Review: Conspiracy 365: August by Gabrielle Lord

Conspiracy 365: August by Gabrielle Lord (August 2010, Hodder Children's Books, ISBN: 034099651X)

First Line:

1 August
153 days to go...

Unmarked grave, Infinity Gardens
12.00 am

Thud...

Review: August is the eighth in the Conspiracy 365 series in which a new book comes out at the beginning of every month for a whole year. I've reviewed June and January so far and I'm still reading and enjoying this series.

Slight spoilers for the earlier books may follow:

Up until now, each entry has ended in a major life-threatening cliffhanger for our on the run hero, sixteen-year-old Cal Ormond and July's ending was the worst so far. I won't say what it was but you may be able to tell from the first line quoted above. However August breaks the trend and ends on a different but equally dark note.

August's entry doesn't see the main mysteries of what is the Ormond Singularity, why does someone want Cal dead and so on explored much further but nonetheless this has been the most exciting book (for me) to date. The focus is away from the puzzles and instead Cal has to rescue his sister Gabbi from kidnappers. His family thinks he's behind the kidnapping and so his only help comes from his two friends and a disgraced former policeman. Much running and chasing ensues, as Cal keeps ahead of the authorities in this tense episode which ends bleakly for Cal.

I'm only doing a brief review as I'd only be repeating myself from June and January but this has been the one I've enjoyed the most though they are all entertaining. As the year counts down I know I'm going to miss my monthly fix of Australian adventure, when the new year starts.

Review: Conspiracy 365: June by Gabrielle Lord

Conspiracy 365: June by Gabrielle Lord (June 2010, Hodder Children's Books, ISBN: 0340996498)

First Lines:

1 June
214 days to go...

Big River State Forest
12.00 am

Everything fizzed and flickered out.

Review: June is the sixth in the Conspiracy 365 series in which a new book comes out at the beginning of every month for a whole year. I reviewed January a few months ago and I'm still reading and enjoying this series.

Slight spoilers for the earlier books may follow:

Fifteen-year-old Cal Ormond is on the run. He's suspected of hurting members of his family and two sets of criminals are after him and he has to stay alive for 365 days. It's all to do with the 'Ormond Singularity' but what that is, Cal nor the reader yet knows. Connected to the Singularity are others things called Ormond: the Ormond Angel, the Ormond Riddle and most recently, the Ormond Jewel. January set the premise of the series up and since then Cal has been in multiple scrapes and life-threatening situations and it was only in May that he began to get some information together about what's going on and discover how the bad guys always knew where he was.

After a trip into the countryside in May, June finds him returning home to the city and getting help from his best friend Boges and Winter, the ward of one of the criminals after him. He's not sure if he can trust her as she's very mysterious but she has saved his life before. Some familiar, friendly, faces from earlier books also reappear.

Most of the story is action but each book begins with a recap of the previous month and Cal usually tells his story to one of the characters in the current book so I don't think it would be too hard to pick-up the story if you began this series part-way through the year.

Conspiracy 365 is an action-packed series which should appeal to fans of thrillers. Each book ends on a cliff-hanger which makes you desperate to read the next one. The underlying mystery of the Ormond family, is slowly coming together and next month, July, it's Cal's birthday which is a significant one, so I imagine the baddies won't hold back on trying to find him.

Review: Conspiracy 365: January by Gabrielle Lord

Conspiracy 365: January by Gabrielle Lord (January 2010, Hodder Children's Books, ISBN: 0340996447)

First Lines:

New Year's Eve
Flood Street, Richmond

11.25am

It was the wild, billowing black cloak, streaming behind the menacing figure, that first caught my eye.

Review: Australian author Gabrielle Lord has written a series featuring teenager Cal Ormond which, is quite unusually, being published at the rate of one book per month with each issue coming out on the 1st of the month. In the first book, January, we are introduced to Cal on the 31 December. His dad has died a few months previously from a mystery virus which left him unable to speak. Cal is in the street when a shambling man tells him that he is in danger but if he survives the next 365 days then he will be ok.

Before Cal's dad died he visited Ireland where he stumbled on a family secret and he wrote about it to Cal and included a drawing of a soldier with angel wings. He said that they would be rich. Cal never found out what his dad knew and bad things have been occurring ever since. In January, Cal has several near-death experiences and when he can't even trust his family he is forced to go on the run...

January sets up the premise for the whole series and the pages count down from 185 to 0 along with the number of days Cal has left to survive. The chapter headings are the date and each chapter is divided into different times. The action is pretty non-stop, as any days which are quiet are missed out of the narrative. There are some real baddies in this and a nasty and scary cliff-hanger ending. I liked Cal and his friend Boges and the Australian setting makes a change (hot weather in January!) for UK readers. I think this could be a great series for teenage fans of thrillers, especially boys. The books aren't too long and the font-size is large, so that might also encourage less enthusiastic readers to have a go.

Waiting on Wednesday - Conspiracy 365: January by Gabrielle Lord

Conspiracy 365: January by Gabrielle Lord will be published in the UK on 7 January 2010 and is the first of a twelve books series, to be published monthly in 2010.

On New Year's Eve, Cal is chased down the street by a crazed man with a deadly warning: They killed your father. They'll kill you. You must survive the next 365 days!

Forced into a life on the run, Cal finds himself hunted by ruthless criminals and the police. Somehow he must uncover the truth about his father's mysterious death and solve the Ormond Singularity, a secret from the past, before the year is up. But who can he turn to when the whole world seems to want him dead? The clock is ticking. Any second could be his last. Callum Ormond has been warned. He has 365 days. The countdown has begun ...


Read more about the series and get a sneak peek at book 1 at the Conspiracy 365 website.