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CONSPIRACY: A Picaresque Historical Thriller Set in the French Revolution
To cheat poverty, he joined a conspiracy. To survive it, well…
Paris, 1791. The Revolution is in full swing, and powdered wigs shall roll as easily as dice.
Enter Jonas: a Swiss peasant with empty pockets and a burning ambition to improve his lot in life. He’s just triumphed at the gaming table and clutches half an invitation into a powerful cabal of kingmakers who promise a new world order where merit trumps birthright.
Alas, there is a catch: a slow-acting poison ensures loyalty, and only his masters hold the cure.
Now the syndicate’s favoured courier, Jonas plunges into the smoky, blood-soaked corners of a city upended, where he soon discovers the society’s aim is not noble liberation after all — ‘tis a plot to overthrow his homeland, and he is the pawn delivering the weapons!
And so, with venom coursing through his veins, he recruits a ragtag crew of outcasts: a crime lord, a clockmaker, a pickpocket, and sundry other mischief-makers. Together, they must pull off an impossible heist, save the captives, secure the antidotes, and burn the conspiracy to the ground — or be consumed by it.
‘Tis picaresque. ‘Tis poisoned. ‘Tis Conspiracy.
A compass, not a comparison; perfect for readers who relish: the lovable rogues and swashbuckling escapades of Dumas, Dickens, and Fielding mixed with the high-stakes, atmospheric suspense of modern-day historical thriller authors such as Arturo Pérez-Reverte, Robert Harris, and Caleb Carr.
Tropes in this book:
The Picaresque Underdog
The Deadly Leash / Ticking Clock
Found Family / Ragtag Crew
Secret Societies & Shadowy Conspiracies
The Impossible Heist
Paris, 1791. The Revolution is in full swing, and powdered wigs shall roll as easily as dice.
Enter Jonas: a Swiss peasant with empty pockets and a burning ambition to improve his lot in life. He’s just triumphed at the gaming table and clutches half an invitation into a powerful cabal of kingmakers who promise a new world order where merit trumps birthright.
Alas, there is a catch: a slow-acting poison ensures loyalty, and only his masters hold the cure.
Now the syndicate’s favoured courier, Jonas plunges into the smoky, blood-soaked corners of a city upended, where he soon discovers the society’s aim is not noble liberation after all — ‘tis a plot to overthrow his homeland, and he is the pawn delivering the weapons!
And so, with venom coursing through his veins, he recruits a ragtag crew of outcasts: a crime lord, a clockmaker, a pickpocket, and sundry other mischief-makers. Together, they must pull off an impossible heist, save the captives, secure the antidotes, and burn the conspiracy to the ground — or be consumed by it.
‘Tis picaresque. ‘Tis poisoned. ‘Tis Conspiracy.
A compass, not a comparison; perfect for readers who relish: the lovable rogues and swashbuckling escapades of Dumas, Dickens, and Fielding mixed with the high-stakes, atmospheric suspense of modern-day historical thriller authors such as Arturo Pérez-Reverte, Robert Harris, and Caleb Carr.
Tropes in this book:
The Picaresque Underdog
The Deadly Leash / Ticking Clock
Found Family / Ragtag Crew
Secret Societies & Shadowy Conspiracies
The Impossible Heist
236 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 26, 2026
About the author
Justan Autor
21 books4 followersA partisan to the picaresque and pastiche. Not for fans of simple sentences.
Justan Autor came late to the wicked joy of novels, having first tried his hand at most of the civilised arts: he painted pictures, trimmed hedgerows into obedience, stitched respectable garments, and wooed a pianoforte into confessing melodies. Only thereafter did he discover that narrative mischief suited him best.
A devotee of the 18th and 19th‑century masters, he writes in a classical key with a modern tempo—history that crackles, characters with inconvenient desires, and a burlesque glint when daggers flash. His first novel ushers readers into 1790s Switzerland: mountains, intrigue, and a hero who frequently collides with his own better judgement.
If you fancy Dumas for the dash, Fielding for the grin, Austen for the bite, and Dickens for the sweep—served with present‑day verve—do make his acquaintance.
Pray, if any of this author's works have earned your good opinion, a kind word on GoodReads (even Amazon) would be a most welcome reward. Should this author's works have failed to please, pray, let your judgement be rendered with mercy!
Justan Autor came late to the wicked joy of novels, having first tried his hand at most of the civilised arts: he painted pictures, trimmed hedgerows into obedience, stitched respectable garments, and wooed a pianoforte into confessing melodies. Only thereafter did he discover that narrative mischief suited him best.
A devotee of the 18th and 19th‑century masters, he writes in a classical key with a modern tempo—history that crackles, characters with inconvenient desires, and a burlesque glint when daggers flash. His first novel ushers readers into 1790s Switzerland: mountains, intrigue, and a hero who frequently collides with his own better judgement.
If you fancy Dumas for the dash, Fielding for the grin, Austen for the bite, and Dickens for the sweep—served with present‑day verve—do make his acquaintance.
Pray, if any of this author's works have earned your good opinion, a kind word on GoodReads (even Amazon) would be a most welcome reward. Should this author's works have failed to please, pray, let your judgement be rendered with mercy!
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 19, 2026
This story kept me reading!
I enjoyed this perspective on history and I "got into" the characters. And Mr Autor has a fun way of telling a story and showing how spying works.
I also enjoyed how the author would leave telling the story and speak directly to the reader.
The reason I cannot give five stars is, the way Mr Autor uses the english language to depict an earlier time - during the French revolution - both keeps the story from flowing freely and uses a fair amount of extra energy to follow what's happening.
I enjoyed this perspective on history and I "got into" the characters. And Mr Autor has a fun way of telling a story and showing how spying works.
I also enjoyed how the author would leave telling the story and speak directly to the reader.
The reason I cannot give five stars is, the way Mr Autor uses the english language to depict an earlier time - during the French revolution - both keeps the story from flowing freely and uses a fair amount of extra energy to follow what's happening.
August 5, 2026
Sparkling wit, dark conspiracies
In Conspiracy, we are swept back to the times of the French Revolution which serves as a vibrant historical backdrop. Our hero is Jonas, a poor Swiss peasant boy whose parents face a three-month eviction notice due to their debts. The lad’s determination to save them leads him into the web of a French secret society that promises its recruits glory, wealth, and power. Instead, Jonas becomes trapped in a dark conspiracy and a dangerous adventure begins…
The author’s sparkling wit enlivens a narrative that never lets the reader hesitate to turn the page.
In Conspiracy, we are swept back to the times of the French Revolution which serves as a vibrant historical backdrop. Our hero is Jonas, a poor Swiss peasant boy whose parents face a three-month eviction notice due to their debts. The lad’s determination to save them leads him into the web of a French secret society that promises its recruits glory, wealth, and power. Instead, Jonas becomes trapped in a dark conspiracy and a dangerous adventure begins…
The author’s sparkling wit enlivens a narrative that never lets the reader hesitate to turn the page.
March 28, 2026
Jonas had never felt more alive than when he was risking everything on a single throw of the dice. Fortune, he believed, was not granted—it was taken. When the sealed envelope passed into his hands that night in Geneva, he allowed himself to believe—without hesitation—that the life he had always imagined was finally within reach.
For a fleeting, electric moment, it was.
From the smoke-choked gambling den to the frozen streets beyond, the world seemed to open before him with dangerous promise. Here was a chance to escape hunger, obscurity, and the slow suffocation of a life already decided. Yet what begins as opportunity is revealed, with chilling precision, to be something far more deliberate. Little, it seems, is left entirely to chance, and even what appears freely given carries a hidden cost.
As Jonas is drawn into a clandestine order that speaks of merit and rewards ambition, the illusion begins to fracture. Selection is not about talent alone, but about obedience, and advancement is not simply earned, but carefully managed. The trials that promise elevation instead demand something far more unsettling: the quiet surrender of conscience. Violence is not merely a by-product of the system—it is woven into its very fabric. Even the body is not spared, as recruits are bound by a subtler and more insidious tether: a poison administered and held at bay only by an antidote the organisation controls, rendering survival itself conditional.
Set against the volatile backdrop of revolutionary Europe, the novel unfolds with a growing sense of inevitability. Geneva burns not only through unrest, but through design, while Paris pulses with upheaval that feels at once spontaneous and subtly guided. Beneath these events runs a hidden network that turns chaos into currency, reducing lives to entries in a ledger where “assets” are counted, moved, and, when no longer useful, erased without hesitation.
At the centre of the narrative stands Jonas, a protagonist who is as compelling as he is flawed. Determined, impulsive, and painfully human, his journey is not one of ascent, but of entanglement. The deeper he ventures into this world, the less control he truly possesses. What he believes to be choice becomes increasingly shaped by forces beyond his sight, binding him ever more tightly to a system that begins to anticipate his movements, even if it cannot wholly contain them.
The novel’s voice enhances this descent with a blend of irony and dark humour, exposing the absurdities of power even as it reveals its brutality. Moments of levity appear throughout, often sharp and uncomfortable, serving only to deepen the unease rather than relieve it. Beneath the wit lies something far colder: a world in which systems endure not because they are just, but because they are efficient.
As the story moves towards its conclusion, the tension gives way to a quiet but devastating unravelling. What should have been a moment of reckoning—a chance to expose the truth—collapses under the weight of manipulation. Evidence is replaced, narratives are rewritten, and the very tools meant to reveal the conspiracy are turned against those who attempt to resist it. Jonas is not defeated in a grand confrontation, but instead quietly dismantled—discredited, isolated, and left to bear the consequences of a system that no longer has any use for him.
There is no triumph here, no last-minute salvation, only the stark recognition that in a world governed by hidden structures of power, truth can be altered, justice redirected, and individuals erased without ceremony.
Justan Autor’s Conspiracy: A “Vain & Valour” Story is not merely a historical thriller, but a striking exploration of ambition, control, and the machinery of power. Rich in atmosphere and sharp in its observations, it draws the reader into a world of shadows and leaves them there long after the final page is turned.
Review by Mary Anne Yarde
The Coffee Pot Book Club
For a fleeting, electric moment, it was.
From the smoke-choked gambling den to the frozen streets beyond, the world seemed to open before him with dangerous promise. Here was a chance to escape hunger, obscurity, and the slow suffocation of a life already decided. Yet what begins as opportunity is revealed, with chilling precision, to be something far more deliberate. Little, it seems, is left entirely to chance, and even what appears freely given carries a hidden cost.
As Jonas is drawn into a clandestine order that speaks of merit and rewards ambition, the illusion begins to fracture. Selection is not about talent alone, but about obedience, and advancement is not simply earned, but carefully managed. The trials that promise elevation instead demand something far more unsettling: the quiet surrender of conscience. Violence is not merely a by-product of the system—it is woven into its very fabric. Even the body is not spared, as recruits are bound by a subtler and more insidious tether: a poison administered and held at bay only by an antidote the organisation controls, rendering survival itself conditional.
Set against the volatile backdrop of revolutionary Europe, the novel unfolds with a growing sense of inevitability. Geneva burns not only through unrest, but through design, while Paris pulses with upheaval that feels at once spontaneous and subtly guided. Beneath these events runs a hidden network that turns chaos into currency, reducing lives to entries in a ledger where “assets” are counted, moved, and, when no longer useful, erased without hesitation.
At the centre of the narrative stands Jonas, a protagonist who is as compelling as he is flawed. Determined, impulsive, and painfully human, his journey is not one of ascent, but of entanglement. The deeper he ventures into this world, the less control he truly possesses. What he believes to be choice becomes increasingly shaped by forces beyond his sight, binding him ever more tightly to a system that begins to anticipate his movements, even if it cannot wholly contain them.
The novel’s voice enhances this descent with a blend of irony and dark humour, exposing the absurdities of power even as it reveals its brutality. Moments of levity appear throughout, often sharp and uncomfortable, serving only to deepen the unease rather than relieve it. Beneath the wit lies something far colder: a world in which systems endure not because they are just, but because they are efficient.
As the story moves towards its conclusion, the tension gives way to a quiet but devastating unravelling. What should have been a moment of reckoning—a chance to expose the truth—collapses under the weight of manipulation. Evidence is replaced, narratives are rewritten, and the very tools meant to reveal the conspiracy are turned against those who attempt to resist it. Jonas is not defeated in a grand confrontation, but instead quietly dismantled—discredited, isolated, and left to bear the consequences of a system that no longer has any use for him.
There is no triumph here, no last-minute salvation, only the stark recognition that in a world governed by hidden structures of power, truth can be altered, justice redirected, and individuals erased without ceremony.
Justan Autor’s Conspiracy: A “Vain & Valour” Story is not merely a historical thriller, but a striking exploration of ambition, control, and the machinery of power. Rich in atmosphere and sharp in its observations, it draws the reader into a world of shadows and leaves them there long after the final page is turned.
Review by Mary Anne Yarde
The Coffee Pot Book Club
October 18, 2026
‘Tonight, we steal the future.’
Jonas leaves the Swiss mountainside with one goal: earn enough gold to save the family farm. What follows is an extraordinary quest that takes him into the heart of Revolutionary Paris where he encounters a ruthless secret society, falls for a fair maiden and encounters the hangman’s noose. He and his ragtag group of mischief makers take us on a fast paced, sometimes humorous, and often times, dark, journey that keeps you turning the pages. While the end seemed inevitable, I was surprised how attached I’d gotten to Jonas, Luc and even Roche. Now that’s great storytelling.
Jonas leaves the Swiss mountainside with one goal: earn enough gold to save the family farm. What follows is an extraordinary quest that takes him into the heart of Revolutionary Paris where he encounters a ruthless secret society, falls for a fair maiden and encounters the hangman’s noose. He and his ragtag group of mischief makers take us on a fast paced, sometimes humorous, and often times, dark, journey that keeps you turning the pages. While the end seemed inevitable, I was surprised how attached I’d gotten to Jonas, Luc and even Roche. Now that’s great storytelling.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews