Conspiracies are nothing new. They’ve existed for centuries. Some are harmless, like the tale of Big Foot. Others, however, can do more damage.

At the Speed of Lies is a fictional book about a conspiracy that grips an entire community, turning people against each other in an angry frenzy of lies and deceit.

Conspiracies often start with a grain of truth coupled with good intentions; in this case, missing children. Child trafficking is a real crime that happens all over the world. It is an injustice that anyone would stand against. So, when a story of two young children abducted from their own backyard hits social media, everyone wants to help bring them home.

Quinn, a high school student and wheelchair user, uses her Instagram platform as a rallying cry. After she posts about the missing children, her subscriber count explodes. She continues to post updates about the children from a national group called Defend Kids, who focus on highlighting the growing number of missing children across the country. As time goes on, some facts about the story don’t add up. The parents of the children have never spoken publicly. No major media outlets are reporting the story. The police are not pursuing the case. These questions are twisted by social media as evidence of a darker crime – a plot by the police and the government to sell children into a trafficking ring.

As the belief in a conspiracy grows bigger, Quinn investigates Defend Kids and learns the group isn’t at all what she assumed. She posts the truth on her social media page, only to receive an avalanche of hate. People attack her disability and accuse her of being corrupted by the authorities. What started with a search for missing children blows up into an angry mob of people who see themselves at war with the government.

Author Cindy L. Otis is a former CIA officer who based the plot on her experience tracking disinformation and how it spreads. She explains in her author’s note that conspiracy theories are becoming mainstream now thanks to social media. We all inherently believe that we are good people and that our beliefs are the correct ones. We seek out others who share our beliefs. We look for examples to prove our beliefs are the correct ones. With social media, no matter what you believe, you can find others who share those viewpoints with a simple click. These like-minded groups then form their own online communities. They serve to validate one another in those beliefs. At this point it doesn’t matter that evidence exists that may contradict those views. In fact, the more we are told we are ‘wrong,’ the more likely we are to double down on what we believe.

As the story progresses and the conspiracy grows into hysteria, one wonders how anyone could be so blind to the obvious deceit. The author illustrates how people lose the ability to think critically. She explains most people cannot identify a fact from an opinion. If we agree with something, we see it as a fact, regardless of if it is true. The same goes for credible sources. Most people cannot determine a credible source from a likeable source. If the source has information we agree with, we see it as credible, whether it is or not. Although this is a fictional story, it is a fascinating insight into the human mind and how we are influenced in ways we might not notice. Critical thinking skills are essential to protect us from getting caught up in misinformation. Too often we focus what to think and therefore forget how to think. For more detail on how misinformation spreads, check out Cindy L. Otis’s non-fiction book: True or False: A CIA Analysis Guide to Spotting Fake News.