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The Doomsday Conspiracy

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When a mysterious weather balloon crashes to earth in the Swiss Alps, the head of the NSA handpicks Robert Bellamy to track down and identify the ten known witnesses to the event. A man whose obsession with his covert assignments has cost him the only woman he can ever love, Bellamy now faces the impossible. But as he searches for clues from Rome to Budapest to Texas, this mission blows up in his face -- and rips the lid off an incredible conspiracy that stretches around the globe and even into space...

Alone and betrayed on every side, Bellamy must run for his life -- holding an astonishing secret and the key to the planet's very survival.

401 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

625 people are currently reading
7334 people want to read

About the author

Sidney Sheldon

401 books8,551 followers
Sidney Sheldon (1917-2007) was an American writer who won awards in three careers—a Broadway playwright, a Hollywood TV and movie screenwriter, and a best-selling novelist.

His TV works spanned a twenty-year period during which he created I Dream of Jeannie (1965-70), Hart to Hart (1979-84), and The Patty Duke Show (1963-66), but it was not until after he turned 50 and began writing best-selling novels such as Master of the Game (1982), The Other Side of Midnight (1973) and Rage of Angels (1980) that he became most famous.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 973 reviews
Profile Image for Sumit RK.
1,279 reviews552 followers
May 24, 2018
The Doomsday Conspiracy is very different from Sheldon’s other works. Sheldon’s stories usually feature a strong female protagonist, with a rags to riches story and twists & turns on every page. This one however, is a thriller with shades of science fiction (sort of) with the CIA, spies & UFOs all thrown in the mix.

The story concerns an American naval officer Commander, Robert Bellamy of the US Naval Intelligence, dispatched on a top secret mission. A weather balloon carrying sensitive military information has crashed in Switzerland & Bellamy is assigned by the NSA to locate the 10 people on a tourist bus who saw the crash. But as Robert tries to complete his mission, he discovers that there is lot more to the mission than he is told and a deadly chase begins.

The book can be divided into 2 halves, One with Bellamy tracking down each of the passengers (one at a time, thanks to convenient hints). It’s repetitive but quite enjoyable. The other half deals with unraveling of the mystery and Bellamy criss-crossing entire Europe & more, that carries the reader to Washington, Zurich, Bern, Geneva, London, Munich, Rome, Brussels, Ottawa, Kiev, Bucharest, Naples, and other interesting places ( it really feels like a luxury tour at this point). It’s as if, Bellamy & the readers are running around circles till they reach the eventual climax.
The Climax is quite unbelievable. After reading 400+ pages, you are expecting some answers but the climax feels so abrupt & inane, you feel as if the writer ran out of ideas to finish this book. There are just 5 main characters in this book. So, you can guess the ‘evil villain’ even before the second half begins.

The Doomsday Conspiracy is not very original either in theme or characterization; however, it is a thoroughly slick job of fiction writing. Last but not the least, Dan Brown , the author of The Da Vinci Code, named The Doomsday Conspiracy as the book that inspired him to write thriller fiction, citing its "simplicity of the prose and efficiency of the storyline". So, this may not be one of the best works of Sheldon, but in the end it lead to lot of good things.
Profile Image for Mansuriah Hassan.
92 reviews72 followers
June 16, 2023
I started reading Sidney Sheldon’s books since I was a teenager. He is a talented writer, and the plot twists in his books are many and dramatic. I remember staying up all night reading his books obsessively because the stories would be very addictive (Just one more chapter…). In fact, I have read most of his books more than once.

I was obsessed back then reading The Doomsday Conspiracy because it has this sci-fi and “X-files” kind of vibes. And then what prompted me to reread this book was, I've read Dan Brown’s interview in which he says that The Doomsday Conspiracy is the book which inspired him to write thrillers. So I decided it's about time to reread this book this time to see if I have any change of thoughts because sometimes things change, your perspective changes, and sometimes a couple of years are enough for you to change your taste in books completely...

Overall, I feel the plot unfolded in a decent manner accompanied by suspense and thrill. Reading this book, you will have a feel of something of a James Bond movie because of the spy thriller suspense and running around the world in a global conspiracy. The leading character travels to multiple countries to locate witnesses of a weather balloon crash (which was actually a UFO). Each chapter ends with a cliffhanger, which makes this book a real page turner.

But in my opinion the ending was not quite up to the mark. Moreover, the ending seemed very abrupt. Some of the coincidences are unbelievably ridiculous as well. If you’re sci-fi fan, I am sure you would enjoy this book :)
Profile Image for Karen.
2,629 reviews1,296 followers
December 30, 2024
Catching up...

Do you remember this author and his incredible resume of hit television shows? - i.e., I Dream of Jeannie, Hart to Hart and the Patty Duke Show. He has also written several books, as well. When this one was donated to my Little Free Library Shed, I was ready to donate it to my local library…

But…I thought, why not read it first? My hesitancy about reading it...

I was concerned that sometimes “popular” authors books that are written in the 1990’s seem dated, and thus may not translate well reading now.

So…I didn’t have any expectations.

And…Maybe that was a good thing.

Because…What I ended up reading, left me a bit stunned.

At first, I thought I was reading a mystery thriller with government intrigue with a seemingly brilliant main character thrust into an undercover assignment.

But…When things turned in the strange way it did, I was beside myself wondering…

What happened?

And…For such a brilliant person (main character) why was it taking him so long to understand the truth behind his assignment?

With twists and turns, the story finally came to its pivotal ending. Revealing so much more to the conspiracy.

With… A strong message for what we as citizens of this earth must do to protect her.

My head was spinning. Thank goodness for short chapters.

Last thoughts…The author’s note at the end was quite fascinating, and gave his motivation for writing this story.
Profile Image for Russell.
140 reviews7 followers
November 29, 2007
Several years before the X-files movie, Sidney Sheldon (writer of "I Dream of Jeannie") wrote this thriller about aliens and government cover ups.

It's pretty silly over all. What was weird, though, is that Sheldon includes a bunch of real evidence of a government conspiracy in the book's postscript (dozens of scientists who worked on Reagan's Star Wars who mysteriously died).

Moral of the story: Don't read books off of your mom's bookshelf even if you're really bored.
Profile Image for Laura.
854 reviews208 followers
December 16, 2021
I've had this book on a tbr shelf for a long time. If you like international intrigue, especially when the government screws over a top agent just before retirement. Oh and add in UFOs and aliens. It was a good read though, as I miss Sheldon's writing and reading a story written before we had the "politically correct" constrains in language.
Profile Image for Sully (sully.reads).
388 reviews137 followers
October 26, 2013
The Doomsday Conspiracy is another thriller novel by my favorite author, Sidney Sheldon. The story concerns an American naval officer, Commander Robert Bellamy who was mysteriously recruited in the NSA to investigate a balloon crash accident in the Swiss Alps where it said that there were seven (7) witnesses. He was tasked to search for the said witnesses and report it to the authorities immediately. I know I shall not go into the story in detail as it will contain spoilers but, personally I kind-of dislike this novel because this is a Sci-Fi and unfortunately I am not a fan of that kind of genre (especially those that contains aliens and zombies).

Despite the fact that I was quite irked with the novel’s sci-fi twist, luckily, this novel involves illegal and barbaric ways of the government in covering up a situation that will cause public panic. In a wider sense, Sheldon exposes the failure of the military and other governmental organizations to tell the truth about certain events that they would prefer not to explain. The rationale was: Why alarm the public unnecessarily about phenomena they cannot understand? Since the authorities themselves are basically ignorant about extraterrestrial beings, they, rather than making any attempt to meet them and learn their purposes, automatically classify their appearances as enemy action. In other words, "dehumanization" is the price paid by the government to protect our national security. I mean, would that be possible in the near future? That specific question disturbed my mind for quite some time now.

Just a surprise fact: I randomly learned that Dan Brown, the author of popular thriller novel, The Da Vinci Code, named The Doomsday Conspiracy as the book that inspired him to write thriller fiction, citing its "simplicity of the prose and efficiency of the storyline.
Profile Image for Zahra Rhm.
131 reviews95 followers
December 24, 2016
عده ای جهانگرد به طور اتفاقی شاهد ماجرایی میشن. اما طبق توافق کشورهای جهان کسی از مردم نباید از اون موضوع آگاه بشه. بنابراین یک جاسوس خبره فرستاده میشه تا تک تک شاهدان رو پیدا کنه. طبیعتا خود جاسوس به عنوان آخرین شاهد باید حذف بشه.
Profile Image for Space.
224 reviews26 followers
March 18, 2013
I got to 23% before I gave up. That's 66 pages I read today. I could probably have finished it by tonight. However, I just couldn't force myself to do so. Let me tell you why.

Spoiler Alert. Don't read if you plan to read this book.

The characters were thinner than the electronic pages I was reading from. They are so unbelievably wispy and ridiculous that I couldn't even move past them to forgive the low-hanging fruit of a story line. For instance: a man is driving to work when he sees a woman on the side of the road waving. Now we as readers know she's going to kill the man. "My you sure are handsome [even though you're an elderly man] and I get turned on by being pushed out of a moving car by my boyfriend, so will you have sex with me?" Just... No. Just no.

It was terrible. He could have at least made these necessary interactions more believable. I know people who know too much need to be taken care of. It's necessary to any conspiracy story. But give it more than three sentences. It's like Mr. Sheldon didn't want to waste time on these lower bits of the story that aren't as important. Ahem. Yes. They are.

And the whole introduction of the fact that we're dealing with a UFO and not a weather balloon? Sigh. Of course there were aliens on board. Of course their hands regenerate with green slime when they're chopped off. No. Seriously. That really happens, green goo and all. Fine. If that's how it happens, so be it. It just seemed to me to be that Mr. Sheldon wanted to rush through all of it. Like he's hurried to get to some good part of the book. Well, I'm sorry, but I'm not sticking around to see what it is. Because this is just some of the worst story telling I've ever seen.

Baaad. Stay away from this hogwash.
Profile Image for Versha.
294 reviews283 followers
July 20, 2021
The Doomsday Conspiracy by Sidney Sheldon was a real entertainer! The author’s style of writing is what I enjoyed the most, it was simple, clear, witty at times and fast-paced too! One could easily relate to all of his characters, especially the protagonist Commander Robert Bellamy, the portrayal of that character was very real and convincing, thank god he was not one of those pictures perfect superheroes who knew everything! Other than that the plot was very gripping with enough twists and turns and mystery to keep the readers engrossed. I am glad I read a Sidney Sheldon book at last it was a treat for a first-time reader like me and I will definitely be reading more of his books!

https://varshasbookshelf.blogspot.com/
Profile Image for Oleksiy Kononov.
Author 2 books11 followers
April 10, 2011
The plot is indeed captivating. But Mr. Sheldon didn't do his homework on the USSR. The book swarms with American stereotypes about the Soviets. Bad Russian sweets, he says - bullshit, you should have tasted some before making statements like that. I don't want to list all those errors and provocative paragraphs in The Doomsday Conspiracy, yet the book had been written long after the end of the Cold War. Well, it's a work of fiction rather than a documentary, but still it looks like a cheap propaganda piece.
Profile Image for Parva Chhantyal.
60 reviews46 followers
January 16, 2016
The Aliens are invading! The world is dying! They are killing us!
World's industrialization is the problem for Aliens. They think people are destroying the earth due to all chemicals released from the industry. So, Aliens have demanded the nuclear and manufacturing industries to be stopped. They have warned that unless people agree to do so, they will invade the earth. Now, the secret agency from the strongest countries of the world have come together and formed the secret organisation 'Operation Doomsday' to fight against the Aliens. The operation is hidden from the world in order to avoid public panic.

One day, while making a trip to the earth, UFO consisting of 3 aliens crashes in the Alps of Switzerland. 2 out of 3 aliens die and one gets lost. The incident is witnessed by 10 people. Now, the Operation Doomsday is eager to find those 10 witnesses and stop them from spreading the news. Commander Robert Bellamy of US Naval Intelligence is temporarily recruited by NSA for this assignment. His job is to find those 10 witnesses without consulting with anyone. Dutifully, Robert innocently finds those witnesses one by one but after each time Robert locates, the witness is mysteriously killed. Robert is unknown about this fact until he hands them the final witness and his own life gets in danger.

Now, Robert is trying to save his own life. His own friends have become enemies. There is no place to go to and no person to trust to but the only thing he has is the skills and intelligence. Robert once had training in US Naval Intelligence to avoid the circumstance like this. Now, whatever he learnt from them, he tends to use on them.

I felt deep pain for Robert when he unfolds the story of the only woman he ever loved and will ever love. He had her but because of too much of work away from home, she slowly slips out of his hands and ends up marrying someone else. The annoying thing is, she comes back to him at the end. Robert should have found someone else. She should have suffered as much as Robert had. Oh well, it feels nice to read about happy ending though.

After reading almost all of Sidney's book. I kind of knew beforehand that this books consists of suspense with many twist and turns but never ever expected Aliens, UFOS and scientific fiction from him. It totally blew my mind! Without a doubt, he did a great job.

ps. Do you know what inspired Dan Brown to write thriller fiction? The Doomsday Conspiracy. Just wondering if Dan Brown named his character Robert Landon because of Robert here. Sidney is getting another point for this.
Profile Image for Bren fall in love with the sea..
1,955 reviews474 followers
February 21, 2020
“The line came from a legend about a hunter who was relating an experience he had on safari. “This huge lion was racing toward me, and all my gun bearers had fled. I had no gun, and there was nowhere to hide. Not a bush or a tree in sight. And the beast was charging straight at me, coming closer and closer.”

The Doomsday Conspiracy by Sidney Sheldon


3.5 stars.

It wasn't bad. I happen to be a long time fan of Sheldon and this book reminded me greatly od one of his others, "Are you afraid of the dark". Both t hose books are fast paced, have many twists and turns and feature Politics/Spies as main characters.

This was better then Are you Afraid of the Dark but I did not love it simply because I prefer some of Sheldon's other books more. I am not really into international conspiracy books or spy books but I have tried to read everything Sheldon has written and am almost done.

The writing i s good so if you are a fan of this genre you may want to read this. I prefer "Bloodline" and "The other side of midnight" which I count as my favorite of his books.
Profile Image for Gamar ❤ .
140 reviews228 followers
March 12, 2022
First of all I’m one to talk with a not so common name like mine but boy! This authors name was suggestive ! I’ve only just come to accept that this was written by a man .

The book: hmmmmm . weeeellll … generally it isn’t boring or anything , I was pretty into his hunting down witnesses , particularly the ways in which they were being ‘sworn to secrecy’ and I enjoyed the chase but I did feel it was a tiny bit too convenient , too easy you know ?

About Robert himself -I really didn’t care about his life . It was boring and just unpleasant . Once again enough with the sex , not only that but he and Susan suffered from insta-love . A glance and bam 💥 . There go the fireworks . Nowhere did I see any development between the two or anything to show their so called love and growth . Any time they were together it was just sex , barely a single dialogue or conversation between the two . It’s cheating to describe their marriage as perfect or whatever and not show how . Sorry I was not convinced .

From the climax onward it felt a littttle rushed . I don’t feel like I know Robert well enough when almost the whole book is written in his perspective.( Also is there a thing with Robert’s and thrillers ?) He wasn’t a bad author but I was kinda irked by the Sci-Fi , I don’t hate it but the way he did it in this book came out real silly . I’m also not in to the stereotypical way . Maybe sci-fi or conspiracy is just not his thing .

I saw that some of this authors fans didn’t really like this book in particular so … not judging the author quite yet but I think it says something . I don’t want to write this guy off so soon , so I’m not completely opposed to him but I certainly wouldn’t go out of my way to buy a book of his or keep it somewhere higher up in my TBR . If you have limited options like I did then I guess this would do . I did expect worse though .

Turns out Dan Brown got inspiration from this here book . That’s a topic for another day . It was an interesting experience , full and rich due to the copy I was lent . The book had LITERAL bullet holes and maybe two or so missing pages 😂 . A real thriller huh!

Excerpts :

Olga: “Her tast for chocolate was to cost Olga her life” .
ACTUALLYYY. Death by chocolate ? Hmmm I might just sign up. Plus she’s a reader . My kinda girl

“It’s being run by a bunch of bleeding hearts who are giving the store away . This country needs nuclear power , but the damned politicians are stopping us from building new plants . We depend on the damn Arabs for oil”
Yeaaaahhh . Honorable mention! Seriously , thank you very much , I’m flattered . Has stop changed in meaning or is it just me ? It’s iron isn’t it ? Look where our oil has gotten us due to men like these .

Note: excuse the rushed and poor writing , i had no timeee
Edit: you were worrying about the wrong review
Profile Image for JG.
426 reviews
December 12, 2012
Here i am thinking i can't get anymore surprise from Sydney...then this book hit's me with a BAM!

Dont get me wrong, i know Syd is full of twists and turn so i know, before even oppening this book that it is going to be a WOW. BUt i neve expect it to blow my mind!

I was reading the first few chapters and i keep turning the cover, making sure it was Sydney's work because this one was totally different! It has ALIENS! I mean can you believe it! I have read about yakuza'a, mobbs, lawyer, but never did i expect from Sydney ALIENS and UFOS!

Sydney has an amazing writing! I dont even know why im saying this, knowing im sure EVERYONE already knows that. It's like saying the heart is red or the sky is blue. It is THAT obvious.

I have read pretty much all of he's book and never have i been disappointed! (i mean, i did get disappointed...once but blame it on the ebook!)

Chapter one, yup just on chapter one, i felt the depth of the characters pain. I felt he's love and felt sorry for him, just by reading a 3-page chapter I already felt connected. I understood he yearned for he's ex-wife..Just by a single phone-communication that lasted for a what? a minute??

THAT IS HOW GOOD SYDNEY IS!!! HE IS LIKE THE BEST WRITER THAT HAS EVER DAMN LIVED!!!!!!!!


Damn all those people who gave this book 3-below star. That's just STUPID (SORRY! i dont like it if people hates my favorite writer!)

Anyway. I have never, and I mean ever LIKED books that which revolves around male POV before, but becuase of this book, i changed my mind. Actually i started hating mystery books, but reading this has turned me around.


Uh-OH! MAJOR VENTING COMING UP!

My only complaint, being a hopeless romantic that i am is how the Alien woman didn't end up with the Robert! Why can't Sydney be more romantic! Why didn't he broke Robert's ex-wife's heart like she broke he's! I wanted to make he's ex-wife suffer and I MEAN SUFFER REAL REAL BAD! she sounds like a nice gal but still she broke his heart! That evil evil SWINE!!! UGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!


I hated it when they got up together!!!!! She does not deserve Robert! I want her to realize she lover Robert, leave her present husband (SHE BROKE UP WITH ROBERT BECAUSE OF FREAKING HIM!!!!!!), tries to go back with Robert but he already met that beutiful alien lady and during their escapes and adventures trying not to get killed, they fell in love, and so Robert tells her 'goodbye, but im in love with her' and then she's like 'I shoudn't have ever left you go' and then theirs me 'YOUR FAULT B*TCH!'

I swear i never use the B word but gosh that woman pushed my buttons!

enough with that... anyway. READ THE FREAKING BOOK!
Profile Image for Donna.
1,626 reviews33 followers
March 5, 2020
I have been a huge fan for years. I was saddened when he passed away as he is definitely one of my favorites. I haven't read any of his work for a few years and I was really in the mood for it today. I love how his books just draw me in and don't let go. This book was constant action. The reader is brought along on a thrilling political adventure. Poor guy doesn't know who to trust and how far these people are willing to go to keep the status quo. I would have loved if there had been a sequel to this but alas that is not to be.
Profile Image for Cyn.
288 reviews11 followers
January 9, 2024
dnf at page 116

I don't like aliens-UFO-and-other-space-thingy and I don't care whether they are real or just a CONSPIRACY. I don't know and I don't wanna know 🤷🏻‍♀️

btw, this is the only book Sheldon failed me.
Profile Image for Fernando Paladini.
Author 4 books12 followers
November 7, 2016
"Juízo Final" tem todo aquele clima já saturado do cinema moderno que envolve espionagem e contra-espionagem, muita ação, reviravoltas inesperadas e missões "top-secret". Mesmo que estejamos vivendo em uma época que já está saturada com filmes dessa temática, Sheldon (que provavelmente foi um dos responsáveis por criar esse estilo de filme) consegue criar uma história extremamente envolvente e diria mesmo brilhante para a época em que foi escrita.

As aventuras são protagonizadas pelo ex-marinheiro, comandante e espião Robert Bellamy, então um dos agentes mais bem sucedidos dos órgãos de inteligência dos EUA. Bellamy é convidado para participar de uma missão importantíssima na Europa, que era a última antes de se aposentar da sua conturbada e longa carreira. Sem mais nada a perder na vida pessoal, Bellamy aceita a missão, algo que ele provavelmente se arrepenedria amargamente depois. Estranhas coincidências começam a acontecer e só depois de muito tempo que Robert percebe que a missão para o qual estava destinado não era a que lhe haviam informado. A trama segue a partir daí.

O personagem principal, bem como os coadjuvantes, tem uma ótima descrição e profundidade adequada. Não chega a ser uma descrição extremamente profunda e comovente como dos personagens de Dostoiévski e Tolstói, mas é muito adequada para a trama: o livro não fica cansativo nem mal descrito.

A minha única crítica está relacionado ao posfácio, onde Sidney Sheldon fala um pouco sobre a criação do livro e se mostra ser adepto da ufologia, além de crente em vida inteligente fora da Terra. Utiliza como argumentos alguns apelos à autoridade e diversas outras falácias, o que me deixou bem triste.

Resumindo: esse livro é um ótimo passatempo caso você saiba distinguir a realidade da ficção, mas pode ser tão perigoso e nocivo quanto os livros de Dan Brown se lido por pessoas suscetíveis à teorias da conspiração.
Profile Image for Sandy.
565 reviews23 followers
December 28, 2021
As much as I like Sidney Sheldon's books, this didn't live up to expectation. Out of everything I've read this is the only book that didn't manage to give me goosebumps. I think this government conspiracy shit is just not for him.
Profile Image for Gowtham Sidharth.
111 reviews6 followers
August 29, 2017
wow, even Sidney Sheldon can write shitty novels. if you love Sidney Sheldon don't read this book.
Profile Image for Karina.
169 reviews32 followers
June 5, 2020
Synopsis
This book follows the story of Commander Robert Bellamy of US Naval Intelligence who is suddenly asked to handle a very secret mission with the help of no one. The only thing Robert knows about this mission is that there's an accident with a crashing weather balloon that carries sensitive military information in Switzerland. Therefore, Robert needs to find all the witnesses so that they can all be sworn to secrecy. However, things start to get weird since then. All the witnesses admit that they see a UFO instead of a weather balloon. After finding out that each of them dies suspiciously, Robert realizes that he is now the last target of this whole operation.

Review
Well, the synopsis, along with my mom's recommendation, was the reason why I was intrigued in the first place. I wasn't lying when admitting that I wasn't a big fan of mystery books (I mean, I still give some a try now and then, but that's that). So when I started picking up this book, no matter how promising the blurb might sound, I set my expectations low. And much to my surprise, I ended up enjoying it quite much. I binge-read 80% of this book in a day because I was very hooked.

This book was divided into two parts: the one where Robert tried to locate all the witnesses and the other one where Robert became the target. It was fast-paced, yet honestly, I was a little bored at first. Fortunately, things started to get more captivating when the 'hunt' began. But you see, Robert didn't know anything about where to begin or the number of the witnesses. Either he was too lucky or too clever, I couldn't decide. He seemed to get all the right hints and clues, none of them was misleading. Was it good fortune or intelligence? I really couldn't say.

Some of the twists in this book were unexpected, while some weren't. I liked the fact that Robert had to go (almost) around the world to complete this mission. A short explanation about each of the witnesses was also told here and there, which made them more memorable and interesting. On the other hand, Robert's backstory was another favorite part of mine, especially when his ex-wife, Susan, was mentioned. It was unfolded in the form of flashbacks and I felt truly sad for both of them.

Regardless of how easy the hunting might seem, the first part of this book was still enjoyable. I also liked the fact that Robert could take advantage of all the sources around him to indirectly help him in this mission. He was actually a good spy. A very good one, to be exact. He proved himself a lot in the second part of this book where instead of being the hunter, he was the prey. So yes, this part was absolutely my favorite. It was very thrilling that my heart raced faster and faster every time he was almost discovered.

In conclusion, the plot of this book was actually very intriguing. The storyline was also written cleverly with a touch of sci-fi and true facts. There weren't too many main characters though, so we could spot the bad guys pretty easily. However, I was a little bit disappointed by how the ending turned out. It seemed to bring the conflict to an abrupt end, and I still had a lot of unanswered questions about Susan, Monte Bank, and... some other things (I can't say too much without giving away some spoilers). One thing you should know, though: I was pretty confused about how did some of them fit in this whole plot.

Overall, I found this book enjoyable with its thrilling mystery and unexpected thriller. I really like the premise of it, even though I still think that the ending could've been so much more than that. I also recently found out that The Doomsday Conspiracy was the original inspiration behind Dan Brown's thriller fiction works — wow, right?

For more reviews, visit my blog talenthusiast.blogspot.com
Profile Image for itchy.
2,939 reviews33 followers
January 13, 2021
titular-ish sentence:
p8: Subject: Operation Doomsday

construction:
p45: He could see no bell, and knocked.

I've upgraded my rating from 3 stars to 4 (my initial rating could've been biased, haha).

Sidney's take on The Bourne Identity. I'm not convinced that his tradecraft is up to par, but this is much better than the last two (for me, at least). The veggie aspect comes across as a bit from left field, but this may very well be a forerunner to the subject.

Overall, it was a good decision to reread this after reading everything of his that was released prior (this was my second Sidney title, after Tell Me Your Dreams; I wouldn't have appreciated his growth otherwise).
Profile Image for Carrot :3 (on a hiatus).
333 reviews119 followers
November 25, 2025
3.5 stars.

Just a light and entertaining read. Wouldn’t look too deep into it. The ending could’ve been better.
Profile Image for Shikha.
31 reviews12 followers
March 15, 2016
"Trust was the sine qua non." - Good story; awry end!

The Doomsday Conspiracy, a thriller novel by (one of my favorite writers) Sidney Sheldon inspired Dan Brown to write thrillers - The reason that compelled me to read this book all the more!

The protagonist Commander Robert Bellamy of US Naval Intelligence is chosen by the NSA to carry out a secret operation. A weather balloon carrying sensitive military equipment has crashed in Switzerland. Turns out, it's a UFO! A tour bus carrying tourists of different nationalities witnessed the crash, and the aliens. The government doesn't want anyone to know about it. Bellamy's job is to find out who they were, and report the status to the NSA.

Little did he know that after locating witnesses, each one of them starts to die mysteriously. There's a whole lot to the story than it looked to him - Operation Doomsday!

The novel is fast paced and gripping, but the end lay flat. It was almost as if he crafted a good thriller, but wrapped it up quickly. It was absurd.
38 reviews3 followers
June 5, 2014
The first thing that struck me while I started to read this book is that this book has inspired an Indian Tamil language film named 'Thegidi' which I watched recently before reading this book. As I had watched the movie everything in this book was familiar and I was able to guess who was the antagonist (even if I hadn't watched the movie).
Yet this book was the best thriller book I have ever read because I get bored in every thriller book at some point. This was the only book that didn't bore me even in a single page. I loved both the protagonist and the antagonist also some other characters. The writing style was obviously good and the character development was amazing. Clearly I wanted to read Mr. Sheldon's other books after reading this one. The only thing I hated in this book was the track involving Dustin Thronton and Willard Stone was left abrupt and cut short. A must-read, page-turner and rip-roaring contemporary book.
Profile Image for Swamy Gorrela.
9 reviews5 followers
February 14, 2013
Giving 5 stars for every book i've read is not
my style! But this book is just awesome! I just can't put down untill i finish reading !
The story starts like normal sci-fi novel, but it is a complete mystery novel. Robert bellemy, the main character, a spy(and a navy commander) given a mission to identify some eye-witnesses to a UFO crash. He dont have their names/adress or something, just the number of people present at the time of UFO crash!
He starts finding every single witness and reports the same to the head quarters. What he didn't know was that, every witness he identified will be assassinated!! After the death of all the witnesses, those people try to kill Robert too. But he escape very cleverly from there! The rest is a marvel narration by sydney sheldon!
Overall its a good read!!! :)
Profile Image for Kathae.
34 reviews
November 29, 2015
5/18

Sidney Sheldon's macho side. He is known for having female protagonists in his novels but this one is, as far as I know, the only exception, and it's not even a bad one for he did a good job. I thought this was going to be all sci-fi and boring but he sure proved me wrong. It was indeed very informative and I just couldn't put it down. I still can't touch a plant now without the scare that I might be hurting it. It had been an interesting journey, reading this book, and I sure will be doing a little more research on the facts. The ending, though, could have been better, in my opinion. This is my fifth.
Profile Image for Sana'a Abdul latheef.
24 reviews
April 27, 2013
When I was reading the critical parts of this book, I was like, "Oh please no....don't suggest that.....no...no....don't end it with aliens"...and then he did exactly that! Why does it always end up with aliens? Aliens are so...very, very boring. I think bringing up aliens in any story is like a last resort of writers, like 'when in doubt, put aliens there'. I bought this book without realizing it was sci-fi. That was foolish on my part. The reason I bought this was because of the author's fame in the international level. I might read his books again, if he has written any non sci-fi that is, but I certainly wont be buying any without assurance.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Nazmi Yaakub.
Author 10 books277 followers
February 3, 2016
Antara novel dalam bahasa Inggeris yang awal dinikmati. Membantu dalam membuka koridor pengalaman membaca. Seingatnya jalan cerita yang rancak dengan espianoge (dicampur dengan Extraterrestrial?). Kini hanya beberapa adegan yang diingati termasuk assassination watak jurugambar dengan berpura-pura mahu mengambil gambar pasport. Apabila difikirkan balik terasa kurang masuk akal sebenarnya.
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