Book Review,  Thriller

BLOG TOUR: The Silent Conspiracy by L.C. Shaw @LCShawAuthor @SuzyAPBookTours @harperbooks #thesilentconspiracy

The second installment in the Jack Logan books is as compelling and heart-pounding as the first. L.C. Shaw’s The Silent Conspiracy is a high-octane thriller that definitely had me hooked!

About the Book

It’s been almost two years since investigative reporter, Jack Logan, and television producer, Taylor Parks brought down the Institute—the secret facility responsible for indoctrinating a generation of America’s political and media power players. Their lives are just getting back to normal, and Jack and Taylor have settled into married life with their young son, Evan. The man who’d threatened their lives—Damon Crosse, is dead, and his evil plan for society thwarted.

But soon a series of bizarre murder/suicides capture Jack’s attention. When he begins to piece together the seemingly unrelated incidents, a disturbing pattern emerges. Could someone be intentionally causing people to become homicidal? Meanwhile, Taylor is producing a story about a class action suit against a national insurance company that has reached the Supreme Court. As Jack and Taylor uncover layer after layer, they start to suspect that their stories are connected and that there is something darker and more insidious at play.

When they make the shocking discovery that Crosse actually faked his own death, and is very much alive, Jack and Taylor must race against the clock to try and find him before he executes his new plan to take back control and destroy not only their lives, but the future of the country.

Reflection

The Silent Conspiracy is the second book featuring Jack Logan, and it does pick up two years after the previous book and has a related plot. If you didn’t read The Network, I do recommend that these books are probably best when you’ve read both. However, the author does provide a recap of the main events from the previous book, so you could read this without reading the first one. But of course, it is best to read both in order!

L.C. Shaw I discovered is actually the pen name for one half of the writing duo that publishes under the name Liv Constantine—so that was a fun bit of trivia I discovered! I would say the L.C. Shaw books have a more traditional thriller feel to them than the psychological thrillers of Liv Constantine, and both are outstanding. The Jack Logan books always give me Dan Brown vibes (which I intend as a huge compliment), because they have ties to religious themes and relics or iconography that relate to a very real conspiracy in modern times.

In this book, Jack and Taylor are settled into life as parents of Taylor’s son Evan, whom she was pregnant with in the last book. Taylor is a bit overly protective of Evan for good reason, given what happened to her previously. Now, she works freelance for a media outlet and is pursuing a story interviewing families whose insurance claims were declined because their loved one wasn’t seen as having good enough health for the life-saving procedures. I thought this storyline in the plot was fascinating and sadly probably has some truth to it in real life.

Meanwhile, Jack is investigating a string of murder suicides popping up all over the area. These individuals largely seem to be regular people with no history of violence or mental illness, then suddenly they snap. Jack begins to suspect that there may be more to it when high levels of certain drugs appear in their toxicology reports, despite no evidence of prior use.

The most troubling storyline in this book is the terrifying realization that Damon Crosse—notable villain from the previous book and biological father to Evan—appears to have faked his own death and is still at large. And he is after something that Taylor and Jack have…

I really enjoyed the contrast of good versus evil and how many can be corrupted, no matter how good their intentions are. The back half of this book flies by in an action-packed sequence, and had some great twists along the way. And the ending! Well let’s just say I already am ready for the next book in this series!

Thank you to Suzy Approved Book Tours and Harper Collins for my copy. Opinions are my own.

About the Author

L. C. Shaw is the pen name of internationally bestselling author Lynne Constantine who also writes psychological thrillers with her sister as Liv Constantine. Her husband wonders if she is actually a spy, and never knows which name to call her. She loves to procrastinate by spending time on social media and, when stuck on a plot twist, has been known to run ideas by her silver Labrador and golden retriever who wish she would stop typing and play ball with them. Lynne has a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University and her work has been translated into twenty-seven foreign languages.

Social Media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LynneConstantineauthor/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/lcshawauthor
Twitter: @LCShawAuthor

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