HYBRID HYSTERIA: A Novel of Corporate Intrigue Both Holy and Diabolical by Charlie Robinson – Crime Thriller, Conspiracy, Suspense

Two professors uncover a conspiracy to sterilize liberal Americans with specially-manufactured electric cars, in Charlie Robinson’s thriller, Hybrid Hysteria.

Dr. Theresa Lauzon, endowed assistant professor at SUNY-Canton’s Department of Automotive Engineering, comes to Charlie “CC” Cavanaugh, university Chaplain and physics PhD, with two troubling revelations.

First, while testing an electric car donated by the Gauss Hybrid Electric Automobile Company (GHEA), she’d discovered troubling spikes in its battery’s electromagnetic field. She connects these spikes to a rash of infertility and miscarriages along the Pacific coast, where GHEA cars have boomed in popularity.

Second, Theresa is pregnant, and the father is GHEA’s technician-on-loan to SUNY-Canton, Jay Fish. And though Fish recently disappeared from campus, Theresa has much more complicated problems.

Theresa reveals to CC that she is likely the daughter of GHEA’s founder, Girard LaCroux, with Theresa’s Akwesasne mother having gone into hiding after she and Girard divorced. She has no idea what Girard’s son and current GHEA president, Claude LaCroux, might do if he discovers her true identity. But she does know that CC has underworld connections, and asks his help in hiding long enough to give her child safely up for adoption.

CC calls upon his uncle Tony, the godfather of the Fiocchi mafia. Tony’s sinister means might concern CC as a priest, but he’ll need secrecy and resources for all the trouble to come.

Sending GHEA’s goons chasing after a decoy, Theresa escapes with help from her Native community. But CC’s work isn’t nearly done– he has to discover whether Theresa’s fears about the GHEA cars are true. Girard LaCroux was an arch-conservative, and Claude follows in his footsteps, but could they really enact such a horrific plan? And what threat might they pose to anyone snooping around?

CC connects with an old mentor, Dr. Toshio Kikuchi, and the two uncover GHEA’s clever system; their battery control modules differ between the Midwest and the Pacific coast, allowing GHEA to specifically target the latter. If not for Theresa’s curiosity, their sterilizing effects would have gone completely under the radar.

Amidst careful investigation and deadly family ties, criminal factions and covert organizations wage war through knowledge and spy-craft.

Gayle Smith, Claude LaCroux’s executive assistant, uses her newfound position as Jay Fish’s bodyguard to do some investigating of her own. As a double agent for a world-spanning secret society, she tricks her way into high-security parts of GHEA’s black-site testing grounds. She delves ever deeper into their work, revealing the depths of LaCroux’s evil scheme.

Meanwhile, CC, Theresa, and Toshio publish a paper on the danger of GHEA batteries, drawing LaCroux’s attention right to them and putting their lives in sudden peril. Even if they save others from GHEA’s plot, who can save them?

Hybrid Hysteria pores over intricate details with every plan, discovery, and question.

The story is full of scientific and mechanical information, ranging from the fundamental measurements of magnetism to the construction of GHEA’s batteries, the methodology of faking a natural mud slide, and even the careful steps a sniper must take to derail half of a train. While this often causes the pacing to drag, many of these details show clear expertise and research on the part of author Robinson. Readers interested in a thriller that goes over its subjects with a fine-toothed comb will certainly be satisfied.

Multiple perspectives reveal new sides of each conspiracy as it begins to unravel.

CC might have moral reservations as he enters this world of secrecy and danger, but he’s far from the only character with difficult tasks before them. Every person he brings into his confidence quickly finds a target painted on their back.

Hybrid Hysteria takes readers on a journey through the corporate offices of Claude LaCroux, the manor of an Italian mob boss, and even an alcove of Vatican-adjacent spies.

Some of these perspectives reveal the conspiracies rather plainly early on, reducing the tension of future investigations. However, when the multiple plotlines converge towards the climax, readers will excitedly follow characters like Gayle and CC as they take a stand in this hidden global battle.

Hybrid Hysteria by Charlie Robinson won Grand Prize in the 2022 CIBA Global Thriller Awards for High Stakes Suspense.