The Shadow Play Index: An Author's Data-Driven Look at the Modern Political Thriller

By Darius Myers, Author of the Black Camelot Series

 The terrifying truth for any political thriller author today is this: the world is already a conspiracy novel.

For decades, the genre relied on the premise of hidden networks, backroom deals, and elite cabals operating in the shadows.

Today, thanks to massive shifts in public trust, transparency filings, and the rise of organized domestic extremism, those fictional elements are dangerously close to reality. We no longer have to imagine the deep state; according to public polling, a majority of Americans already believe it exists.

I created the Shadow Play Index to quantify the intersection of political fiction and non-fiction. By curating and analyzing data from non-partisan sources, this Index measures the public's acceptance of conspiracy, the scale of political intrigue, and the growing plausibility of the exact scenarios that drive the high-stakes world of the Black Camelot series.

I. The Public Conspiracy Index: When The Deep State Becomes Mainstream 

The most compelling proof that political thrillers have merged with reality is the public’s willingness to believe in institutional cover-ups. The Deep State is no longer a fringe theory—it is a widely accepted narrative.

 Our analysis of recent public polling data from sources like YouGov and Change Research reveals:

  • 64% of Americans believe that there is a “deep state” of career government employees working to undermine elected officials. Source: Ballotpedia]](https://ballotpedia.org/Scott_Rasmussen%27s_Number_of_the_Day_-_Government)

 The Thriller Takeaway: When a majority of the population believes a hidden, powerful, and ruthless entity controls events, the job of the political thriller author isn't to create the paranoia—it’s to show what happens when the righteous fight back.

II. The Political Intrigue Score: The Quantifiable Cost of Shadow Diplomacy

If conspiracy is the plot, then money is the weapon. While fictional thrillers focus on secret transfers, the real money driving Washington's influence is openly disclosed—and the scale is staggering.

Using data from OpenSecrets (Center for Responsive Politics), which tracks campaign finance and lobbying, we quantify the overwhelming scale of professional influence:

  •  Since 1998, organizations have spent over $48 Billion lobbying the U.S. Federal Government. [[Source: OpenSecrets]](https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby)
    • This sum represents the annual, verifiable "budget" for the Political Intrigue Score, providing hard numbers for the transactional corruption that drives the backroom power of figures like those in the Black Camelot network and the enemies they fight.

The sheer volume of this legal influence demonstrates that the power brokers and global elites in fiction are merely reflections of the influential networks that operate in plain sight today.

III. The Extremism Quotient: The Threat of Organized White Supremacy

My latest book, Black Camelot’s Assassins & Conspirators (Book 6), centers on the escalating war against the white supremacist organization, Before Emancipation (BE).

 BE was once led by The General, who was killed by The Voice—the leader of the Society of Protectors, the private army protecting The Guiding Force and, as a result, the Black Camelots—after asserting himself as a head of state. BE is now steered by its ruthless number two, The Confederate. The terrifying core tension is how this extremist group is enabled by powerful, mainstream forces: Detrick Damon Sr.’s ("DD1") powerful religious network has parishioners who are wittingly or unwittingly sympathizers of BE’s white supremacist mission, even at the risk of chaos and civil war.

 This plot is tragically relevant to the Extremism Quotient, a tension that continues to escalate in Book 7, Black Camelot's Choices (set for release December 1):

  • ·       A significant portion of the U.S. population believes a core QAnon tenet: 41% of U.S. adults believe that elites, politicians, and/or celebrities are involved in a global pedophilia ring. [[Source: PRRI/Polaris Project]](https://prri.org/spotlight/qanon-beliefs-have-increased-since-2021-as-americans-are-less-likely-to-reject-conspiracies/)
    • ·       The Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI have stated that domestic, racially motivated violent extremism is a leading national security threat.
    • ·       The political protection and widespread sympathy that groups like BE receive in fiction are mirrored by the influence of far-right media and political figures that fuel the real-world rise in organized hate.

The assassination plots and the high-stakes personal jeopardy are driven by the very real fact that domestic extremism is no longer confined to the shadows; it is actively shaping American political violence.

Conclusion: Fact is the New Fiction

The Shadow Play Index confirms that the most successful political thrillers today are the ones that don't invent new threats, but illuminate the existing ones.

 The world of Black Camelot centers on elite Black leaders who are pushed into their responsibility to be world-changers. This group of power brokers was subsequently christened the "Black Camelots" by the city's top gossip columnist, the Celebrity Hack Patrol. It was this public recognition that instantly marked them for death by white supremacist groups.

The ongoing tension of the entire series—and the core conflict—is the battle to prevent the ending of the Black Camelot era—a fictional fight for survival that mirrors the very real threats quantified by this Index.

 To learn more about The Shadow Play Index and to explore the series it inspired, visit dariusmyers.com