Review of The Judas Conspiracy

[joshfee77]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Judas Conspiracy" by David Philips.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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The Judas Conspiracy: A JFK Thriller is a political thriller by David Philips. Sam Nathan, a Jewish teenager from Glasgow, Scotland, is inspired to help Israel fight against nearby Arab nations. His plans to go overseas are quickly condemned by his mother. She reluctantly agrees to let him raise funds and attend protest meetings instead. Against his mother's wishes, Sam reveals his travel plans to his classmates at school. His mate, Andy, joins others in mocking him. Sam's plans for revenge on Andy are convoluted, diabolical, and cruel. His Machiavellian machinations later bring him to the attention of Scottish law enforcement. They believe he could be useful in undercover work. Sam's actions have dire consequences, however, when a young terrorist swears revenge...

The Judas Conspiracy is an entertaining and engaging book. The story is told at a decent pace. I found myself invested in the plot and the characters from the beginning. Philips has crafted a well-researched thriller. It demonstrates a clear knowledge of historical events and the American political landscape from World War II through to the 1970s. The story links back to the JFK assassination in 1963. The author believably describes the political machinations in his fictional conspiracy to assassinate the president.

Philips maintains the suspense throughout the book by holding back crucial information from the reader. I was never really sure how Sam's cruel trick on Andy might end. The shocking information whispered to Sam by an elderly dignitary is also not revealed to the reader at the time. I read on eagerly to learn what these revelations were.

The Judas Conspiracy suffers from missed punctuation at times. It contains occasional misused words such as "discrete" for "discreet". There are also some unwieldy sentences that need editing: "It would be for the best if he could remember seeing no one matching Jordan's physical description or remembering his distinctive accent, ever calling at the Swansong Building." The comma in this sentence is not strictly correct. It could be avoided by shortening the sentence.

This book also contains a lot of swearing. Most of it occurs in the dialogue during tense situations, which is where you would expect to find it. However, the f-word occurs 135 times in total. When added to other profanity, I found this excessive. I rate The Judas Conspiracy 3 out of 4 stars, with one star subtracted for the editing issues. Fans of political and crime thrillers would enjoy this suspenseful story and its strong characters.

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The Judas Conspiracy
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[Vivian Writes]

This story seems wildly interesting but I’m not sure I’d like to follow a diabolical “protagonist” as I prefer more heroic main figures. Readers who enjoy blurred lines between good and evil will like this story, though.

[Amy Luman]

A book that has such suspense is one that I need to read. It’s too bad that there were so many errors and so much swearing, but I think I can overlook those problems.

[Ummusofia21]

Though am not politics person but I wouldn't mind giving it a trail because am a fan crimes and suspense

[joshfee77]

A book that has such suspense is one that I need to read. It’s too bad that there were so many errors and so much swearing, but I think I can overlook those problems.

This one is a really solid thriller. Though it did have heaps of profanity, it made sense in the extreme situations depicted.

[NetMassimo]

This novel is quite short, so it seems quite intense considering the suspense in the story. I hope the author does proper proofreading to prevent distractions for readers. Thank you for your great review!