Like his character Tom Godot in the novel Conspiracy, Harley L. Sachs has a background in technical writing. Sachs, however, taught the art at Michigan Technological University and took early retirement when he discovered he'd rather be writing novels. In twenty years, he's produced as many books. Conspiracy is about Godot, who writes for a communications tech firm in California, and has penned a novel—or rather co-written one with a reclusive author named Harold Stevenson, whom Godot has never seen or talked to, having collaborated on the book entirely by email. The book, entitled "Conspiracy!," is about a plot by subversives to blackmail the U.S. government by threatening to destroy communication satellites circling the globe. Now on a cross-country book tour, Godot is shaken by the fact that many of the people who are coming to his book signings in the Upper Midwest actually believe that his book isn't a work of fiction but a manifesto for revolution. Godot is soon being pursued by skinheads and lunatic fringe groups, Homeland Security agents, the FBI, and shy Sylvia Hanson, his boss' niece. And much of the pursuit isn't pleasant, often finding Godot at the end of someone's fist. His encounters with Sylvia, on the other hand, are most healing.

I enjoyed Conspiracy. It was an entertaining (and very unglamorous) look at marketing a book, something all writers dream about and dread at the same time. I enjoyed the characters even though they didn't have a lot of depth, which was mostly intentional because this book was plot-driven. The plot was exciting and kept me guessing, but it was also tinged with the absurd. Even in the middle of a riot, Godot just seemed to be more of a bumbling character who's caught up in a world out of his depth. Though there is danger present all around Godot, there isn't a sense of doom, and he manages to save his butt in spite of himself. Perhaps the sense of absurdity comes from the fact that this character is named Godot, a reference to Samuel Beckett's play, Waiting for Godot, except here the modern day Godot actually shows up.

Though I enjoyed Conspiracy, I had to take issue with a couple of things in the book. Trouble for Godot starts in Minneapolis with a hostile interview on Minnesota Public Radio. "Minnesota nice" is a real phenomenon, so that just wouldn't have happened, but I let it pass as creative license. But when Godot gets into Fargo, I realize that Harley L. Sachs is in trouble. One of the biggest mistakes in the book is his references to the University of North Dakota in Fargo. That university is in Grand Forks where I live, and Fargo has the North Dakota State University. Sachs puts Godot into a B. Dalton on 42nd Street in Fargo. That bookstore is in a nearby mall, but Barnes & Noble is on that street. Godot also watches the local news at 11 pm. Sachs has the right station, Channel 6, but the wrong time. Here in the Northern Plains, late night news comes on at 10 pm. Finally, when Godot gets to Bismarck, he's interviewed by someone from the Bismarck Daily Gazette. That should be the Bismarck Tribune.

Most people who read Conspiracy also might think we're rife with neo-Nazis and Minutemen here in the Northern Plains. That's always a danger when creating a setting for a story. But we're no more infested than any other state in the country where you can also find some sort of far right group. We do have our share of liberals and granola crunchers, too, just like everybody else.

Still, I'd recommend giving Conspiracy a read. It's an interesting concept of life imitating fiction.