The Plan: Level I: The Awakening

In this first installment of a trilogy, a country boy from Colorado and a spunky girl from Silicon Valley team up to take on a shadowy agency with agents in every branch of the U.S. government.

Seventeen-year-old Gabe Anderson comes across a video on YouTube of a young man spouting seemingly crazy conspiracy theories—including one known only as “the plan.” Gabe’s interest is piqued, and when he learns that the young man, Franklin Williams, apparently committed suicide after shooting up a school, he becomes even more intrigued, wondering if there is truth to Franklin’s paranoid words. Gabe confides in his friend (and crush) Hanna Jamison, and they begin to investigate whether Franklin was actually a crazy killer or someone who was eliminated for knowing too much. However, the people apparently responsible for Franklin’s death soon come after them as well, determined to halt their quest in its tracks. The agency has infiltrated all levels of the government, and it’s powerful enough to orchestrate tragedies to obtain public support for laws it wants to push forward. After a brush with death, Gabe and Hanna flee across the country to join forces with Franklin’s younger sister, Sophi, currently hiding out in a safe-room that her secret-agent father built to protect his family. Together, the three kids vow to halt the agency in its tracks before more people die. Debut author Woods immediately launches his characters into the depths of the story and keeps things moving at a quick clip—indeed, there’s never a dull moment. The book’s astonishing paranoia and staunch pro-gun stance, though, may make some readers uneasy, especially when characters launch into speeches, as when Sophi tells of her father saying “that guns are…for our defense against criminals and being overcome by a power hungry government. I finally see that if we didn’t have guns for protection, only bad people would have them; and they’d make us do whatever they wanted.” However, others will eat this story up, and quickly.

A fast-paced conspiracy thriller that will please those who agree with its sentiments.