The Doomsday Conspiracy by Sidney Sheldon

 

Having been through a reader’s block (Yes, similar to a writer’s block) for almost a year, I decided to break it by getting a novel from Blossoms and I had a hard time choosing the right one, and I finally decided to read ‘The Doomsday Conspiracy’ by Sidney Sheldon.

My primary reason for choosing this book being Sidney Sheldon himself. I had read many of his other books, Nothing lasts Forever, If Tomorrow Comes and Sky is falling to name a few among them. And his style of writing being simple and easy to understand, it naturally appealed to me when I was a book loving teenager.

So, what’s the whole book about, it is similar to many of his other titles, with the protagonist racing against time to prevent a global catastrophe of which he knows very little. And as usual, Mr. Sheldon keeps us on the edge of our seats with the pacing. The story moves from one city to another in a blink of an eye but you don’t feel it is rushed or hasty as there’s ample amount of suspense built up and a lot of sub-plots built up along the way. Also, Mr. Sheldon has carried out a lot of research which can be clearly seen in the details he gives about each city and for a moment you’re there looking out for danger in the busy streets of London or waiting out for a ferry in Naples. And, as seen in many of his other books, Mr. Sheldon seems to be a fan of hotel lobbies, receptionists and secretaries as you get to meet hundreds of them in this adventure which traverses across the continents of Europe and North America.  

 The best part of the story are the flashbacks! They’re handled gracefully, the flashbacks are placed at the right parts of the story and they serve as detours of motivation for the protagonist Robert Bellamy rather than being a speed breaker for the readers. The flashbacks enhance the characters to a realistic level. And Full points for Mr. Sheldon for fleshing out Robert so well, Robert’s thoughts are splattered along with all the dialogues which gets you in the shoes of Robert and makes you feel the helplessness he faces to save his marriage with Susan.

 In fact, I could feel the jealousy felt by Robert when Susan mentions Monte, the guy she marries after leaving Robert. You feel short of breath as the story goes on and Robert is chased across Europe by Interpol.

Unfortunately, this is where the story feels dragged out and slowly becomes ridiculous page by page. Robert is hunted across Rome by thousands of cops and secret agents however he manages to evade them while being severely tired and having an endless supply of cash! Which just doesn’t make sense. The chase moves on from Rome to Paris and yet Robert keeps evading the cops endlessly and this is the point at which the author seems like he forgot what the story was all about! In the last few pages, the story is wound up in a ridiculous fashion with the worst possible Ex-Machina. Compared to his other titles, the ending of this book severely disappointed me and felt like Mr. Sheldon had nothing to do with the ending.

However, handing it out to the book for bringing me back to reading and making me complete its 430 pages within 24 hours. Hopefully, I’ll be reading more books and improve my skills of writing a review as weeks roll by.