October

Conspiracy 365 #10

by Gabrielle Lord

A fast-moving twelve-volume crime thriller series from a bestselling Australian author. On New Year's Eve, Callum Ormond 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. Cal’s beginning to understand only too well the meaning of the word ‘deadline’ as he struggles to stay alive. His enemies have united and the search for him is trebled. How much longer can he evade the assassins and cops trailing him, as well as trying to solve the legendary Ormond Riddle? Will the secret be lost for ever?

Genres: Young Adult, Mystery, Adventure, Fiction, Action, Thriller, Conspiracy Theories

196 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2010

About the author

Gabrielle Craig Lord is an Australian writer who has been described as Australia's first lady of crime.

She survived being ‘razed’ by the nuns, acquired an education despite this, and after working in many different areas, sales, teaching, brick-cleaning, peach-picking and packing, and in the Public Service as an employment officer, started writing seriously aged 30.

Her first two manuscripts ended up composting the tomatoes at her market garden – another attempt to make a living – but the third one FORTRESS was picked up internationally and made into a feature film starring Rachel Ward. A later novel WHIPPING BOY was made into a telemovie starring Sigrid Thornton. The film rights money, coinciding with her daughter leaving school, allowed Gabrielle to resign and instead of getting up at 4.30am and writing for several hours before heading off for work, she could write full-time and lead a more ‘normal’ writer’s life – hanging around with scientists and detectives, badgering forensic anthropologists (she studied some Anatomy at Sydney university) and doing work experience with a busy private security business and of course, writing.

Research is everything, she says. ‘Out of my contacts with experts (who are always far too modest to describe themselves that way) I get not only the fine-tuning necessary for today’s savvy readers, but also wonderful incidents and images that enrich and enlarge my books.’

Gabrielle’s interests are very simple. ‘After a misspent youth, I don’t have many brain cells left so I enjoy walking, meditation, singing, gardening, chatting with close friends, being with my family and grandkids, feeding my goldfish and keeping up to date with bodywork and enlightened psychotherapy.’

Gabrielle has now written fourteen adult novels and a novel for young adults. Once the 12 books of Conspiracy 365 are completed, this tally will be a tad bigger! Following this mammoth endeavour she already has plans for another three adult novels and two more YAs.
2013

Reviews

[shannon✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dit boek vond ik wel weer veel leuker dan de andere boeken. Er zat veel actie in en je kunt merken dat de tijd begint te dringen, maar ook dat ze steeds dichter bij de oplossing komen. Ik ben erg benieuwd naar hoe het afloopt!

[Cami · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am still enjoying this series! Each book begins with "No way! Are you kidding me? That's unbelievable how that all worked out!" and ends with "Nice cliffhanger! How are you going to get out of this one, Cal?" and I fall for it hook, line, and sinker. I want to give Cal a slow clap for his evasion capabilities. It is truly remarkable that he has made it this many months without anyone keeping him detained. It's a good thing grown ups like bank security are never paying attention. He goes in public a lot more than I'd expect and Boges contacts and visits him all the time without being detected. Bravo, Cal. Keep it up. For a while I thought maybe Oriana was actually on Cal's side and Cal was misunderstanding that her so-called thugs were bullying her too, but now that theory doesn't hold up. That girl is crazy. I liked the twist of Kelvin, the kind woodsman (from Snow White, anyone?). Sometimes Cal doesn't see the obvious, like the meaning of what's written on his ankle, but I appreciate the author giving the reader clues so I can feel smart! I love the aliases and teen spying - what kid wouldn't think that's cool that it works for them just like on TV?! This last cliffhanger was interesting too. He's got to get out of this one and get to Ireland! That probably won't happen until December, but I'm excited for him. Let's see what happens!

[ღ suus ღ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Op naar november en december... t blijft allemaal een beetje van t zelfde. Dit had beter 1 boek kunnen zijn!ipv 12..

[Evan Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Libra

[Jacob Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about a boy called Callum trying to track down and work out what the Ormond Singularity is. My favourite of the story is at the end when everyone like Rafe Ormond, Eric Blair, Nelson Sharkey and Winter, Cal, and Boges are all double crossing each other. My favourite character is Callum because he shows that even though you are a teen fugitive, being chased by everyone from major criminals, ex-detectives, police and his own family, while his friends are the only people he can trust.

When all things prove to fail, it can always be worse.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

More action, more danger, more mystery. The characters keep moving toward the next steps in solving the mystery but I really want more answers right now. Cal continues to have to deal with the Ormond mystery, personal mysteries that have shown up, helping a friend who suspects her parents were murdered as well as stay alive, stay out of the hands of criminals as well as the police, and figure out how to clear his name. There are some interesting changes in this book but I still have the same issues, I want more answers. Anyways, 10 down, 2 to go! This is going to be one of the longest series I have ever read.

[Matt Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book was really good out of the ten I have read so far. This main character's name is Callum Ormond, he is a six-teen year old wanted fugitive. I don't know where the book takes place though. Callum has been on the run for a long time now, he has to survive 365 days and figure out a family mystery. To do that Callum has to take an airplane to Ireland and find out more, because his father died in Irelad. These books take place from January first to December thirty- first. Callum is a wanted fugitive because he was accused of attempted murder. The Media says he shot his uncle with a shotgun because his fingerprints were on the gun, and putting his sister in o coma.

[Gibson Gallant · Rating 4 out of 5]

october starts off as cal is being chased by the greedy prospectors to be turned in for the reward money as he makes his escape back home from the desert at the cold of night this book was really good in the series and i would recommend this book to people who read september

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oktober. Ook dit boek weer keurig meegelezen met Books Ever After. Het einde is eindelijk in zicht, nog 2 boeken te gaan.
Gabrielle had van deze serie echt gewoon beter een boek van een bladzijde of 300 kunnen maken, dit is echt te langdradig.

[Nicole Astell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been blasting through these books so quickly I can't remember what happened when!

**SPOILER**
- Cal is on the run from prospectors in the desert who want to turn him in for the reward money. For WHATEVER REASON, their hunting dog, Sniffer, decides NOT to lead them to Cal hiding in a bush, but instead leads them another way? (WHY?? That dog's whole job was to track Cal, but when he found him he licked Cal's face then ran off in another direction... WTH?? Makes no sense.)
- Cal escapes the desert and makes it back to the city by sneaking into the back of a truck delivering... water. *biggest eye roll ever* (The luck this kid has is just... astounding.)
- Once back in the city, Boges, Winter, and Cal hatch a plan to break into the Zurich Bank to retrieve the Ormond Riddle and Jewel. In order to get to the safety deposit box the items are located in, they need to copy Oriana's fingerprint AND know her pin number... Well, Boges copies her fingerprint off of the handbag Cal stole using glue/fuming technique (similar to "National Treasure") and wouldn't you know it - the numbers written on Cal's ankle are Oriana's SDB number and pin!! (HOW did Kelvin know Cal needed those? Did he figure Cal would figure out a way past the fingerprint obstacle? WHY did Kelvin give them to Cal??? Makes no sense!)
- Boges and Winter impersonate Oriana and Sumo to get to the safety deposit box and as they're leaving the REAL Sumo and Oriana show up! #Obviously But Oriana and Sumo were too busy arguing to notice their look-alikes sneak out behind them. eye roll
- When everyone gets back to Winter's place, they find out the Riddle and Jewel Oriana had in the vault were FAKES! SO WHO HAS THE REAL ONES??? Cal doesn't them; Oriana doesn't have them; Sligo doesn't have them... the only option is Rathborne.
- Winter and Cal sneak into Rathborne's office to search, but discover they're not there and that Rathborne is ALSO looking for them! WHO HAS THEM?!?! A file with the name "Charles Fong" is also discovered...
- Sligo throws a party to invite Oriana to work with him to find the Ormond Singularity, but Oriana is convinced Sligo stole the Jewel and Riddle from her and thinks Sligo's confusion about the event is all a lie. It's then discovered that "someone" (Winter) is wearing a wire to the party which enrages Sligo so he declares the party over and everyone searched. During the chaos Winter sneaks out unnoticed.
- Cal shows Winter the file he stole from Rathborne's office with her dad's name on it. The file contains the will that Sligo said was written up, but when Winter was over at Sligo's earlier, she found a notepad with her dad's signature "practiced" all over it. So Winter knows the will on file, that Cal stole, really is a fake and Sligo forged it.
- Cal finds out that his mom is going to marry his uncle Rafe (who is also his dad's identical twin... which is weird), but he also learns that there is a hit out on his uncle and that it's going to happen AT the wedding. So Cal tries to warn Rafe but he won't listen, so Cal goes to the wedding in hopes of stopping the assassination, which he does, but now the cops are after him. Oh, and he accidently set fire to the old chapel that the wedding was being held at.

While I really do enjoy this series, sometimes the situations are just too unbelievable, and "October" was FULL of unbelievable situations/coincidences/escapes!

I'm convinced the Ormond Singularity has to do with Cal being a descendant of Queen Elizabeth I, but I'm confused why that "legacy" would expire and how other people (like Oriana and Sligo) would benefit from finding the Singularity first..? Isn't it a bloodline? How would someone ELSE benefit?

Either way, there are 2 months left, and SOMEHOW:
- Cal needs to get to Ireland
- We need to find out what is wrong with his mom ( I think she's being drugged by the tea Rafe is giving her)
- We need to find out about the twin abduction/who Ryan Spencer is
- Find the Riddle & Jewel

LOTS to cover in only 2 more books!!!

[Ty H]

this book is good. it is about this 16 year old boy his name is callum ormond he is trying to solve the ormond mystery with his friends winter and boges. in order to solve the mystery he has to get the ormond jewel. while he is looking for he runs into people who are also trying to find it. almost to the end they start finding more things about the jewel and were its at they find out that this guy sligo is holing a meeting so they sneak his friend winter in there with a spy cam in her necklace. she watches the thing and boges and callum sit in a shed outside and watch on boges computer. they find out that somebody is wired and they look for who is wired they don't find out who it was and winter gets out. at the end he does not find the jewel and he has to get out of were hes at because he is wanted(it did not say were it takes place) he wants to go to Paris and thats it.

in this book the author uses flash forward by putting a safety deposit number on callums ankle. and red hiring by saying that callums gold with be worth at least 2000 dollars but when he trades it in its only 500 dollars.

i would recommend this book to somebody that likes mystery, a little drama and likes to read some times but not all the time. it was not to hard to read but to somebody that likes reading it would probably be not that bad of a book for you. i liked this book it is one of the only book that make me want to read. the book was not confusing you could not predict what would happen i would like turn left and right so it was very suspenseful. my favorite part of the book was probably when they snuck winter in the meet were alot of criminals were. the end was not as good as the rest of the book.

[Derek Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book "October: Conspiracy 365" by Gabrielle Lord was the greatest of the series! The book starts with Cal running from two creepy prospectors and eventually escaping. After returning to the city and reuniting with his friends, Cal decides to spy on some houses. First he hides outside of Oriana de la Force's house and listens for any information reguarding the DMO. A few nights later, he investigates his own house to check on his sister, mom, and uncle. After learning about Sligo's last minute party, Cal, Boges, and Winter plan to survey it as well. With a camera in her necklace and a speaker hooked up, the two boys listen in on the party while Winter serves drinks. A fight breaks out an Winter barely escapes but no without some good information. The book ends on a huge cliffhanger once again with Cal being surrounded by police and the SWAT team with no where to go after one of Boges smoke bombs fail to detonate.
I enjoyed this book the most because it had so many events and mysteries inside that it always had me on edge and wanting to read more. I wouldn't change anything about this book only because it was so good!
I would recommend this book and series to anybody who enjoys a good dose of action and mystery in the same novel. I certainly enjoy this series and don't know anybody else who wouldn't. I can barely wait to read "November"!!!!

[old account (rl) · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

This review contains some unavoidable spoilers for the previous Conspiracy 365 books.

That wasn't too much that I could really fault in October, apart from the usual unbelievable scenarios and irritating lack of progress in the DMOs. A lot of pointless action happened. It was dull and frustrating. They only have two months left to figure it all out and now they are blackmailing Rathborne? What was the point really? Even Winter says that she thinks they should move back to working on the "old leads" or really what is actually important. It was good that they made progress on at least one of the drawing though. Not that many left I don't think...

What I loved most about this instalment was reading about the relationship between Cal, Boges and Winter. They have a great friendship and are all supportive of each other which is great considering the circumstances. I really love Winter and Boges is hilarious.

Overall, October wasn't eventful enough to keep my attention but I thoroughly enjoyed the exploration of the main trio's friendship. Moving on to November next - only two to go now!

[Carol Ashey · Rating 5 out of 5]

GEEZ! He's 16, people! He has NO prior medical stuff that would indicate a psychotic breakdown. WHY don't more people believe him? What is UP with his Mom?! SERIOUSLY. I still think Rafe might be involved, like he's drugging her in order to gain control.
HOW is this framing so nail tight? Rathbone? AND. WHAT. ABOUT. THE. TWIN?! WHAT. ABOUT. RYAN. SPENCER?! Come ON, Cal!! Start pursuing THAT lead!
Cal has EVERY right to get back at EVERYONE involved in this whole mess.
Reading Revenge should be interesting. TOTALLY called Rafe and Mom trying to tie the knot. How on EARTH is Cal going to escape a SWAT Team?
SOMEONE in the media HAS to be involved, otherwise the firm belief that he's dangerous wouldn't be so ingrained in the public. Why hasn't anyone picked up on THAT? OR pursued it?
And how is he supposed to get to Ireland now?

[Gretchen Fatouros · Rating 4 out of 5]

1 - read in order,
2 - there is a reminder of what happened last month at the beginning,
3 - fast-paced,
4 - ends in the middle of something exciting going on. You will want to jump from one Book right into the next.

Seems similar to 39 Clues though I think (if I remember right) that the kids were younger in that book. This one is better because it is all written by the same author. 39 Clues began to feel like it wasn’t thought out much ahead of time because of the authors thing. I never finished it because I started reading before all the books had been published...

[Nienke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ik heb niet alle boeken van deze serie achter elkaar gelezen, de eerste delen zijn al een tijdje geleden, hierdoor wist ik niet altijd even goed waar Cal, Winter en Boges het over hadden. Er werd verwezen naar een gebeurtenis en een persoon die ik me niet meer kan herinneren, jammer dat dat niet meer even kort herhaald werd. Verder zijn er wel weer wat vragen bij gekomen, maar gelukkig is er ook wat meer bekend geworden over het raadsel.

[Ruairi Gillon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book, time is running out for Callum Ormond and his friends, can he retrieve the jewel and the riddle before the criminal parties? Can he reach Ireland or is that off the charts? Find out as you keep reading this series. It is so good. I just want to read it all night long, I am coming to school more and more tired from staying up late reading this series.
But is is totally worth it. Recommended.

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read. While the mystery is still at a standstill this book seemed to move things along. I like how Boges, Winter, and Cal work together to come up with clever ideas to help themselves. It has been interesting watching them make connections, have friends help them, etc.

I do recommend this series.

[Iris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Voor mij zeker 1 van de betere delen!
Ik heb trouwens allang de geloofwaardigheid opgegeven. Maar dit mag de pret niet drukken. Vind het nog steeds fijne boeken om te lezen. Erg benieuwd naar het volgende deel! De tijd begint te dringen!

[Karine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now this month there was a lot more twist and news. I enjoyed this months book but I still think we should have more answers to the questions we have been reading about since the beginning of the year. 2.5 ⭐️

[Cathy Hunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

As this series goes on the amount of ways Cal can get into trouble and then out again becomes harder to accept. while out of town for a young audience even they by now must be questioning just how much luck Cal has left.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Soooo good cant wait to read the next

[Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

good book less than 5 left

[Emily Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

YA

[Galion Public Library Teens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review by H.G. : "October was a really good book because it was action packed. The end leaves a big cliff hanger."

[Mackylie Marlowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a weird police involved book. This kid Cal is running from the cops and their phycopath dog Sniffer. [He is a K-nine

[Genevieve · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed trying to figure out the mystery.

[Brandon Kopceuch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again Callum is about to die...

[NathanlèllH4 · Rating 4 out of 5]

My seventh favorite month personified in this Action/Thriller.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! This little book packed a punch. There was a ton of activity in this one. Can't wait to see what happens next!