Review: Conspiracy Rising by Simon Driscoll

Conspiracy Rising
By Simon Driscoll

Simon Driscoll has woven prophecies from multiple religions into an engaging, action-packed fictional thriller. Conspiracy Rising traces the lives of the Shumway family, together with a small host of others giving a range of understanding for the End Times Prophecies set in the near future.

Bryan Benson is out for revenge, prepared to turn the tactics of the terrorists who destroyed his life back upon their own heads. Gideon Shumway is a CIA analyst with extensive knowledge of these prophecies and how they affect current politics. His younger brother, Ben, is an operative for the CIA, ready to take the fight to the enemy’s home. Their oldest brother, Jon, has been estranged from the family, but he’s finally coming home for Christmas.

We live in an age when prophecies are being fulfilled. While the conflict between good and evil continues rising, who will be able to stand in that day?

My Take:
From the opening page where the Pope is assassinated, through the coordinated suicide bombings of seven churches just letting out from Midnight Mass, this book carried me along with white knuckles, wondering how this was going to end, and how it could possibly end well. 

Conspiracy Rising is the first book in Simon Driscoll's Warriors and Watchmen series. It is a well-written gripping end-times thriller written from the perspective of Mormon prophesy. In a way, I would label it a Mormon 'Left Behind'. While I am not LDS, I found the book significantly instructive in LDS end-times prophesy. The author did extensive research in end-times prophesy from multiple different sources, mainly drawing from his own knowledge of Mormon prophesy. What ensues, though, like in Left Behind, is a gripping race against time to determine who is behind the vicious terrorist attacks before the world is plunged into a bloody Holy War. 

The only quality issue I found in the copy I was provided is that there were sometimes multiple quotes in a single paragraph. While I normally wouldn't mention it, it would yank my head out of the story, because of the inner editor who wouldn't shut up. Your mileage may vary, dear reader, and those may be corrected in a later version.

Content:

Violence:
The story opens up with a brutal attack on the Pope, and there are many terrorist attacks from both sides leaving bodies in their wake. The violence, even so, is not too graphic, but probably PG, leaning toward PG-13.

Language:
Very clean.

Adult Content:
G. There is a scene involving home birthing, the reader is kept out of the room. There is no sexual content that I recall in the book, it is squeaky clean.

Christian content:
This book is clearly LDS in nature. There are multiple references to the visible glow of the believer, and the Calling and Election. Some prophesies in the book originate from sources other than the Book of Mormon, though the prophesies probably parallel in some respects, or flesh out details. There are a couple conversion scenes where some in the faith make their Calling and Election sure. From a Mormon perspective, this would be a wonderful read, and I doubt there would be anything objectionable in it. From a Catholic or Protestant perspective, I would simply say the book is a good read, and understand the perspective it's written from.

Final analysis:

I found it gripping and fast-paced, a barn-burner page-turner. While LDS is not my cup of tea, I found it instructive, encouraging, and engaging. Five Stars.

About the Author:

Simon Driscoll grew up in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. He is a graduate of Brigham Young University. He has been writing for the last three decades and minored in English in college, focused on creative writing. Writing has always been his first passion. His understanding of the Scriptures and Prophecy comes from a lifelong study of the written word. These two passions are combined in this series.