Book Review: The Malthus Conspiracy By Danielle Uidam

***I received a free copy in exchange for a book review***

In 2011 the world population hit seven billion. Fourteen thousand babies are born every hour. By 2045 the population is predicted to hit nine billion. Can our planet cope?

In 1798 Economist Reverend Thomas Malthus thought not. His work ‘An Essay on the Principal of Population’ predicted that population growth would outpace our ability to obtain resources, resulting in a global epidemic of famine that would destroy society unless curbed.

Fast forward to 2012. College students Dean Adams and his best friend Felix Pye, unwittingly stumble across the greatest conspiracy in history, and by doing so sign a death warrant. They are forced to run as powerful, high society members of a 200 year old secret Malthusian League attempt to silence them.

The league will stop at nothing to continue its Malthusian cause. Their purpose? To curb population growth and ensure Malthus’ predictions for economic ruin do not come true.

With the aide of detective Isabella Mercena, Dean and Felix go head to head against the evil forces as they attempt to expose the league’s sinister plans to control population. Will they survive to tell the tale and tell it before the next wave of disaster is unleashed on mankind?

I loved this 145 chapter book. The setting was University of Virginia in present time as well as different countries throughout history. It was cool seeing how all the tragic, crazy, unbelievable moments in history were conspiracies regarding what Reverend Malthus predicted. Dean, Felix, Isabella, Ralph and even the Assassin were my favorite characters. I got a kick out of the college students and cop were able to outsmart the villain, sort of like how the culprits in Scooby Doo always say, “I could’ve gotten away with it, if it wasn’t for those meddling kids.” I loved when the story was inside the Assassin’s head; his point-of-view was entertaining. Are they able to stop the horrible incident about to destroy millions of people? You’ll have to read to find out the outcome. I would totally spoil the ending if I could…

• The suspense was awesome. I loved that Dean and Felix’s college assignment was the cause of putting their lives in danger. Since they hacked into a website in order to gain information for their research paper, it caught the attention of the shady company responsible for killing millions of people throughout history. For example, Hitler and diseases from the past were apart of the conspiracy in this fictional novel. Beware where you hack into! The bad guys were relentless in protecting their secrets, so they did everything possible to try and stop Dean, Felix, Isabella, and Ralph. The author was great with plot and setting up dangerous situations for the characters, so I really worried about them. I sat on the edge of my seat, anticipating the villain’s next move.

My favorite scenes: 1) Isabella’s cop partner being stalked by the Assassin in Florida, then she got framed for his murder 2) the library scene 3) when they break into the company’s headquarters 4) when Ralph, a.k.a. brains of the operation, comes into the picture to help them

My favorite lines: 1) No matter what they had gone through they were still the same people. 2) “I wonder what kind of recruitment process he had to go through to become part of this craziness,” commented Dean. 3) He couldn’t believe the rookie mistake. He hoped it wouldn’t be the last mistake he ever made.

This story definitely plays with your mind, especially if you’re a conspiracy theorist. In the back of the book, the author provided information from sources to show Reverend Malthus’s theory. I know this was fiction, but what if it’s real?

I RECOMMEND this book to read.

Keep smiling,

Yawatta Hosby