Conspiracy 365. (January). Gabrielle Lord. Toronto, ON: Scholastic Canada, 2010. 188 pp., pbk., $7.99. ISBN 978-1-4431-0229-2. Grades 4-9 / Ages 9-14. Review by Mark Mueller. **** /4
	Conspiracy 365. (February). Gabrielle Lord. Toronto, ON: Scholastic Canada, 2010. 183 pp., pbk., $7.99. ISBN 978-1-4431-0230-8. Grades 4-9 / Ages 9-14. Review by Mark Mueller. **** /4
	Conspiracy 365. (March). Gabrielle Lord. Toronto, ON: Scholastic Canada, 2010. 181 pp., pbk., $7.99. ISBN 978-1-4431-0231-5. Grades 4-9 / Ages 9-14. Review by Mark Mueller. **** /4
	Conspiracy 365. (April). Gabrielle Lord. Toronto, ON: Scholastic Canada, 2010. 181 pp., pbk., $7.99. ISBN 978-1-4431-0232-2. Grades 4-9 / Ages 9-14. Review by Mark Mueller. **** /4

excerpt:

He stared into my eyes, “The Ormond Singularity,” he said between gasps of breath. “Don’t let it be the death of you too, boy! Get out! Get away! Hide and lay low until midnight December 31st of next year. You don’t know what you’re up against. Listen to me! Please! 365 days, Cal. You have 365 days!”

Conspiracy 365, a projected 12-volume, crime thriller series for teenage boys, is written by Australian author Gabrielle Lord. Each book in the series corresponds with a calendar month of the year and chronicles the thrilling adventures of 15-year-old Callum Ormond, a young fugitive who is determined to find out a family secret and clear his name of assault charges against two close family members.

Conspiracy 365. January.

      The first book starts on the night of December 31st when Cal is approached by a stranger who addresses him by name. The stranger advises Cal that his father, who had recently died of a mysterious disease, was actually murdered, and that Cal is to keep away from the “Ormond Singularity” for one year. Later on that night, Cal and his estranged uncle, Rafe, get into a boating accident. While Cal is in the hospital, he receives a letter that his father mailed to him prior to his death. The letter advises Cal to expect another package containing very important images the following day. The letter also contains a drawing of a mysterious angel that contains a family secret that could change history. At this point, Cal does not have any idea what the angel means or what the family secret is. That night, when Cal returns to his home with his little sister, Gabi, and his mother, they find that the house has been destroyed by thieves.

      On the same day, Cal receives another pre-dated letter from his father, and it is intercepted by Uncle Rafe. Though Cal sees that the letter was addressed to him, Uncle Rafe is very adamant that the letter has nothing to do with him. Later on that day, Cal and his best friend, Boges, sneak over to Uncle Rafe’s house in order to steal the envelope. However, when they find the stolen envelope in Rafe’s study, they find that the anticipated images are not there. Cal also finds a key to the family mausoleum, and he takes the key as well as photocopies of the contents of the letter. When Cal comes home that evening, he receives a telephone call from a Jennifer Smith who claims to have been his father’s nurse prior to his death. Cal makes arrangements to meet Jennifer; however, he is kidnapped by two thugs, who, readers later find out, work for a criminal lawyer named Oriana de la Force. The gang questions Cal about the “Ormond Angel” and the “Ormond Riddle.” Cal eventually manages to escape the thugs after failing to provide them with any valuable information on these two items. After escaping, Cal and Boges take the key that Cal had stolen from Uncle Rafe’s house, and they pay a visit to the family mausoleum. They find the pictures that Rafe stole from the envelope. When Cal returns to his home the following day, he finds Uncle Rafe lying in a pool of blood in the kitchen and his younger sister, Gabbi, in the hall, unconscious and not breathing. Cal performs quick CPR on his younger sister and flees from his house when he hears someone coming into the kitchen.

      As Cal is walking downtown, he sees himself on the television, and he is shocked to hear reports that his Uncle Rafe is blaming him for shooting him and trying to kill Gabbi. Now that Cal is on the run from authorities, he needs to find a place to “lay low” and work on the family mystery. He finds an abandoned house where he can stay for the time being. Later on that day, while he is walking downtown, Cal is kidnapped by a second pair of thugs who work for the infamous Vulkan Sligo. The thugs take Cal to another secluded house for questioning about the “Ormond Angel” and the “Ormond Riddle”. The novel concludes with an intense cliffhanger that finds Cal trapped in an underground oil tank after the thugs are unable to find out answers to the mysteries of the “Ormond Angel” and the “Ormond Riddle”.

Conspiracy 365. February.

      Cal is rescued from the underground oil tank by the mysterious Winter Frey. Winter claims that Vulkan Sligo is her guardian and that she rescued Cal from the tank because she likes Cal’s piercings (which are fakes). Winter takes Cal to another house nearby in order to do a break-and-enter. Cal only agrees to go with her because she saved his life. When they reach the house, both Cal and Winter sneak through a window. Winter sneaks into a room and steals a small, heart-shaped locket.

      After escaping from the house, Winter leaves Cal her telephone number on his cellular phone. She claims to have seen the “Ormond Angel” and will not tell him where she has seen it. Cal returns to the abandoned house. His friend, Boges, starts to visit him on a regular basis with gifts of food and money. Boges helps Cal create a web log. They also figure out the message behind the mysterious drawings that Cal’s father sent to him via mail. After much effort, the two still cannot figure out the meaning behind the drawings.

      Later, Cal decides to try and find the house in which he had been held captive when he went to meet Jennifer Smith in the first novel. He has strong suspicions at this point that Jennifer Smith had set him up to be kidnapped by the thugs. When he finds the house, he climbs a tree, and, using his cellular phone, he takes a snapshot of the people inside. Cal flees the scene and goes to the Central station where he spots somebody that could be his double.

      Cal eventually meets up with Boges and shows him the picture that he had just taken of the people. Boges instantly recognizes one of the people in the picture as being Oriana de la Force, a criminal lawyer with connections to the underworld. Cal also meets up with Winter Frey, and she shows him the “Ormond Angel” – which turns out to be a stained glass window at the Ormond Cenotaph. The soldier is the image of a Piers Ormond a soldier who was killed in Flanders during World War 1.

      Cal receives another phone call from Jennifer Smith who convinces Cal that she truly wants to help the family. She claims that she has something of his father’s that she would like to return to Cal. The two of them agree to meet at the zoo at 4:30. When Cal arrives there, he does not have enough money to pay the entrance fee. Sneaking into the zoo, Cal finds himself in a lion pit. He barely escapes a lion attack and is chased by one of Sligo’s thugs into the subway tunnels. The novel ends with another cliffhanger that finds Cal trapped in the subway tunnel

Conspiracy 365. March.

      Cal is rescued from the oncoming train by Repro, a homeless man who lives in the subway tunnels. Cal befriends Repro and returns to the abandoned house. There, he meets up with Boges who advises Cal that his sister, Gabbi, is in a coma and that his mother has gone bankrupt. Boges also advised Cal that he is being watched by Winter and one of Sligo’s thugs. The two decide that it would be best for Cal to leave the city and visit a distant relative in a nearby city for the time being.

      Cal and Boges continue to inspect the drawings and the picture that Cal took at Oriana de la Force’s house. Cal notices a piece of paper on the desk that has the letters “-IDDLE’ written on it. He figures that the piece of paper could be the actual Ormond Riddle and that he would need to steal the piece of paper.

      Later, Cal receives a third telephone call from Jennifer Smith, and the two make plans to meet at her “new” place of employment, a laboratory that makes anti-venom. When they finally meet, Jennifer finally gains Cal’s trust. She advises him that his father had given her a memory stick containing important information and that she would like to get that memory stick to him soon. Two of Oriana’s thugs break into the complex and chase both Cal and Jennifer out of the complex.

      Cal returns to the abandoned house and meets Winter and Boges. The police show up a short time later and break up the meeting. Cal returns to Repro’s house near the train yards and convinces him to help steal the “Ormond Riddle” from Oriana de la Force’s house. The two of them barely manage to break into the house and steal the riddle.

      At this point, Cal is forced to flee the city and “lay low” for several weeks. He hitches a ride into the country with a man named Lachlan. As they are driving down the highway, Lachlan’s truck is run off the road and into a creek by two of Sligo’s thugs.

      The novel concludes with another cliffhanger. Lachlan is thrown out of the vehicle and trapped under it. Cal is forced to stay and hold Lachlan’s head out of the creek so that Lachlan would not drown. The novel concludes with the thugs quickly approaching the scene of the accident.

Conspiracy 365. April.

      Cal is holding Lachlan’s head out of the creek while Sligo’s thugs approach the scene of the accident. The thugs flee from the scene when the police arrive and take over for Cal in keeping Lachlan’s head out of the water. Cal flees from the scene and into the forest.

      Cal finds and empty cabin in the forest and discovers some supplies inside a crate. Cal then examines the piece of paper that he and Repro had stolen from Oriana de la Force’s house in the previous novel. The paper turns out to be the “Ormond Riddle,” but Cal realizes that he is not holding the riddle in its entirety and that he needs to locate the last bit.

      Cal falls asleep in the cabin and wakes up several hours later to find the two thugs creeping into the cabin. He flees into the night and, when bullets start to zip past him, Cal discovers that he is in a live firing range. One of the bullets catches one of the thugs in the chest just as he is about to catch Cal. Cal flees the site and eventually makes his way to a gas station.

      When Cal arrives at the gas station, he manages to recharge his cellular phone and phone Boges who tells him that Gabbi’s condition has gone from bad to worse and that his mother is going to turn off the life-support system. Cal manages to hitch a ride back to the city with a kind elderly woman named Mrs. Melba Snipe. The elderly woman cleans Cal up and provides him with some new clothes. Cal agrees to mail a letter for her to the city in exchange for her kindness.

      The following night, Cal meets another fugitive, Griff Kirby, while sleeping in a field. The two agree to travel back to the city together in the trunk of someone’s car. When they reach the city, the two boys part ways. Cal goes directly to the hospital, hoping to stop his mother from turning off Gabbi’s life-support system. Cal barely makes it to see his sister, and, when he starts to talk to her, Gabbi is responsive to Cal’s voice. He flees from the hospital and delivers the envelope for Mr. Melba Snipe.

      After delivering the envelope, Cal hides out in a nearby boathouse in the area where he used to go fishing with his father. He arranges for Boges and Winter to meet him at the boat house so that the three of them might study the “Ormond Riddle” together. The meeting is broken up when Sligo’s thugs arrive at the scene.

      Cal accidentally leaves his knapsack at the boathouse when he flees from the scene. When he returns after some time to retrieve the knapsack, he finds that the drawings, as well as any document he had in regards to his family, have been stolen. The novel ends when Cal is knocked out by an unknown person and is taken to the Leechwood Lodge Asylum for the mentally ill.

      The first four books in the Conspiracy 365 series contain enough conspiracies, twists-and-turns, and mysteries that would keep almost any teen, regardless of his/her age and/or reading level, interested in the central character. Each book also concludes with a cliffhanger that certainly made this reader eager to pick up the next book.

      This series would be good for beginning readers because the books are written in language that is easy-to-understand. When author Lord introduces a concept and/or a word that might be difficult for younger readers to understand (i.e. doppelganger), she educates her readers about that word or concept as it relates to the rest of the story. Each book in the series also has a recap of the events that took place in the previous book in the series – and there are lots of reviews woven into the text – which also helps make the series accessible to younger audiences. The recaps are also craftily woven into the narrative of the story so that they would not be very distracting to older readers. I would highly recommend this series to any student and/or school library.

Highly Recommended.

Mark Mueller is the Education Librarian at Tyndale University College in Toronto, ON.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

Copyright © the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.

Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364

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