You are on the run, pursued by a powerful conspiracy with tendrils everywhere, including the government and law enforcement. Who do you turn to for help? They can be from literature, film, or real life.
Bonus question: how would you expose the conspiracy?
Good morning, Dale. You don’t mention what the objective of the consipiracy is, but it must be dark and authoritarian if its tendrils are everywhere and I’m on the run. Whatever its purpose, if I’m on the run, others must be, right? I’m not that special. There is strength in numbers, even if the numbered are regular people — teachers, plumbers, insurance salesmen, farmworkers, and nurses. We have agency, and urgency. We don’t have the luxury of waiting for Tony Stark and the Marvel crew to emerge from the page or celluloid. So, I’ll start with my wife and other family members. And friends and acquaintances. We don’t agree on everything or even much at all. But we can agree on one thing — we don’t want this conspiracy with its tendrils, corruption, and malevolence. We must band together and outnumber these bad actors even if even if it has the guns and shamelessness. So, piss off, conspiracy! You are a blight, and we are the light!
Love your reasoning, Lou! Connecting with others on the run from the conspiracy and organizing to defeat it is brilliant.
A team that to the best of my knowledge only met on the silver screen. Will Graham, real life thriller writer, Sherlock Holmes fan, and computer forensic expert. Cancer took him while he still had stories to tell. Harry Caul, surveillance expert from San Francisco. In the movie “The Conversation” (1974) he becomes obsesed with the subject he is following. Joe Turner a/k/a Condor. An analyst for the CIA. He reads books and asks questions.
While I am building a team, I might need two hot shot reporters to keep following the money. Woodard and Bernstein, time to follow the money again.
That should do me.
What a great duo, Alan! Terrific idea to combine them with those two “hot shot” reporters to unmask the Conspiracy.
I’d choose Mel Gibson from Conspiracy Theory. What a great premise: a conspiracy theory “nut” with a printed newsletter (with 7 subscribers) actually hits on a real conspiracy, which the bad guys pick up on and immediately set out to kill him. But he’s got his apartment rigged for just such an occasion and…well, you have to watch the movie.
Love this premise, Jim. I’ll need to check out that movie.
Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon knows how to solve mysteries that involve codes and patterns, getting away from law enforcement and other hired killers while doing it. So yes, Langdon is my guy.
Great choice, Stephen. Langdon has a sixth sense for getting to the bottom of every conspiracy he encounters.
I’ve been reviewing some of the Endeavour series episodes. I’d turn to Detective Inspector Endeavour Morse. He can figure out anything.
How to expose the conspiracy? Through The Kill Zone blog, of course!
Working with a world-class detective is an excellent idea, Kay. And I agree about KZB, too 🙂
Ethan Hunt! AKA, Tom Cruise…he’s got brains, muscle, and cool weapons.
Great question, Dale.
Happy Friday! 🙂
Ethan Hunt and the IMF team are a terrific choice to deal with a conspiracy, Deb. Happy Friday to you as well!
I’m going with Lincoln Rhymes, Amelia Sachs, Lon Sellito, and their team. I’ve been reading some of the earlier novels and find Rhymes to be a fascinating, brilliant protagonist. He’s handled more than one government conspiracy with aplomb over the years.
Sounds like the perfect team, Kelly. I need to check these books out, too.
Small town conspiracies. Reacher. He can beat up the bad guys and keep me safe while I use Tag, the computer savant from SURREALESTATE, to figure out who is up to what.
I wanted to use another character as my researcher, but I couldn’t find his name, but I did find an article in PSYCHOLOGY TODAY about how the brains of people who are into conspiracies including the supernatural are different.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/finding-purpose/202209/spirituality-wellness-and-conspiracy-beliefs
A great duo, Marilynn.
And thanks for the link to the Psychology Today article. Fascinating and potential story fuel .