Tigerpetal Press : Book Review: April

Conspiracy 365 Book 4: April by Gabrielle Lord

I liked it

Here’s book 4. The back of my copy is a bit chewed up, so I couldn’t read the entirety of the back blurb. I don’t mind all that much, though it is unfortunate.

Read: December 16 – December 17, 2023

Genre: Action/Adventure
Audience: Teen; Young Adult
Book contains: conspiracy, on the run, difficult medical decisions, mental institution

Purchase a copy from Amazon.ca

Kills Me on a Personal Level

After three months of being on the run, fifteen-year-old Callum (Cal) Ormond is trapped between a rock and a hard place. He can’t leave Lachlan to drown, but he also needs to escape from Sumo and Kelvin before it’s too late. With stupendous good luck (or bad luck) he escapes yet again but is hit with the worst news imaginable—his little sister, who has been in a coma for three months, is going to die. They’re going to turn off her life support. Cal races back to the city, abandoning his quest to his great-uncle’s home, to stop that from happening. Can he make it in time?

This book ends in a cliffhanger like the last ones, but I can appreciate that it isn’t the same kind of cliffhanger. This one is not a life-threatening cliffhanger (like the last few where he was on the verge of death), but rather, an identity-threatening one. It makes me wonder how he’ll get out of this one. Plus, Cal seems to have the worst luck when it comes to his public image. Everything he does seems to be twisted in the worst possible light; the injustice is unreal!

Such a busy weekend! I was glad to take a load off and be able to sit back and read this book.

Cal’s perspective in first person again. Still in past tense, still structured the same. The page numbers still go backwards.

Cal is on his own for the first half of the book, which all seems to take place in one day. The rest of the month just flies by, and of course, more action happens by the end, in which he turns back to Boges and Winter (though he’s still unsure about where Winter’s loyalty lies). A few more interesting things are revealed. He now has the riddle to mull over, and both his mother and Winter reveal some upsetting information. (I’ve had a theory about what Winter reveals ever since book 1! I’m anticipating whether I’m right or not.) Not many new characters are introduced in this one except another boy on the run that may or may not return, and a kind old lady who helps Cal out of a jam. It’s almost hard to believe at this point that people can be kind for the sake of kindness.

Some old characters return, including that one police officer that Cal stabbed in the butt with a tranquilizer, and Cal returns to others. His relationship with his mom is fraught with tension, as she still believes that he is responsible for his sister’s attack and that he’s crazy—all stemming back to something that happened in his childhood. Cal must flee before she can explain more. Uncle Rafe is peculiar in his actions, and it’s still unclear whether he’s more of a help than a hinderance to Cal’s progress.

This book gives me the vibes of A Series of Unfortunate Events because it’s just one thing after another for Cal, and while he’s getting lucky breaks through all the strife, the strife keeps coming. He’s one of those characters with the best and worst luck all at once, getting into all kinds of trouble and somehow surviving it. There is less action in this book, and more emotional pain finding Cal, but it’s a good break for the physical vs. emotional balance. There was even a part in the middle that made me cry. Poor Cal.

I still really want to know the riddle, so I’m sure other readers will too. It’s been so hard keeping myself from looking up spoilers! It’s definitely not the kind of series for someone with that weakness, but I’m certain thrill-seekers and mystery-lovers will enjoy unravelling the clues as they reveal themselves.

Conspiracy 365 Book 4: April by Gabrielle Lord

Kills Me on a Personal Level

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