I was hooked on this prize-winning, sci-fi, paranormal adventure from the first paragraph . If you are not afraid of the unknown and willing to become part of this suspenseful page-turner, I strongly recommend this book.

The SHIVA Syndrome Trilogy begins in the basement of a Russian brain research institute. If you’ve ever wondered if humans are being used in mind control experiments hidden in the underbelly of governments as scientific research, this realistic, fictional account will make the hair stand up on the back of your neck and pulse pound. Full of astonishing, filmic detail, it reads like a handbook for psychic development: “Stefan Dürr’s wiry frame hovered in a transparent, liquid-filled, vertical sensory deprivation tank. Naked, with the exception of a soft weight belt, straps battened down a round, silver helmet covering his head and shoulders. When he exhaled, a plastic umbilical line at the top released a stream of bubbles that crept through the viscous solution toward the surface.”

In a time where understanding and controlling horrific catastrophes far beyond the threat of climate change ending human life, researchers conclude that the evolution of the human mind and physiology might be our only salvation. For those of you who have seen or read Paddy Chayefsky’s Altered States, this is similar but Altered States on speed, reaching far beyond. It is a leap from the simple classical to quantum physics.

This is storytelling at its best and striking in its visualizations. Its dialog will hold your interest as well as three-dimensional characters, like disgraced research professor Dr. Beau Walker. For example, in Philadelphia, Walker resigns himself to a weekend of scoring his students’ booklets on basic psychology. But the weekend is not what he imagined. As he naps, the Russian city of Podol’sk is inexplicably vaporized in deadly silence. Unaware of his paranormal bond with the event, Walker “clawed at the sweat-saturated shirt, now tinged pink with oozing blood, rolling his head back and forth on a damp pillow.” What puzzling link connected him with an event 5,000 miles away?

Walker’s nightmare continues when he is snatched by the government and coerced to join a U.S./Russian multidisciplinary scientific team, searching for the cause of the disasters. Their descent into a Russian crater will grab you by the gut and have you on the edge of your seat.

This trilogy is for any sci-fi, paranormal, or action-adventure fan. Certainly, worthy of a movie, it is full of surprises and twists and turns. I urge you to step into a reality where science, the paranormal and human consciousness meet with unexpected and devastating results. Be prepared for the “after sense” as I call it, the disturbing, lingering thoughts after you close the book. I recommend that you buy the combined version of the trilogy.

The SHIVA Syndrome Trilogy is not limited only to sci-fi fans. It is for thinking people seeking stories of some complexity that can be intriguing and mentally stimulating. If you love science fiction and are tired of the lack of imagination found in many books and movies today, this psychological thriller should be your next read.

More than a scientist, more than the offspring of a Mohawk–African American marriage–and far more than human, Beau Walker holds the key to human evolution…and its annihilation. A disgraced researcher, Walker is snatched by the military and forced to join a U.S./Russian scientific team, searching for the cause of the disaster. Beginning with a terrifying descent into the mile-deep Russian crater where he finds an American astronaut’s arm, he is hurled into the worlds of advanced biotechnology, biowarfare, paranormal research, and military intrigue.
The stakes are unimaginable: Find and control the cause of the events or face planet-wide obliteration.
—————————————————————————————————
Dr. Stanley Krippner, internationally known parapsychologist, writes: 
5.0 out of 5 stars
A remarkable book!
After a Russian mind-research project opens a black hole in a Moscow suburb, researcher Beau Walker is coerced into joining the ensuing investigation. He soon realizes that anomalies worldwide–including the loss of an American space shuttle and a bizarre personal experience–coincided with the Podol’sk singularity. As events escalate, Walker embarks on an epic journey to come to terms with his personal demons, even as he struggles to save humanity from itself.

In The SHIVA Syndrome Trilogy (by Alan Joshua), the author (a clinical psychologist) skillfully and ingeniously interweaves altered states of consciousness and parapsychology with genetics, paleontology, mythology, and religion to produce a frightening, brisk, and film-worthy story building to an intense climax. The story challenges conventional notions of reality, ultimately concluding that human consciousness extends well beyond the flesh–and offers enormous potential for both creation and destruction.
————————————————————————————————-
Amazon:
Feb 27, 2019 Sherry rated it it was amazing
The Shiva Syndrome Trilogy is destined to become a sci-fi classic. The excitement never lets up and it would take years to fact check all of the information it contains. The scope of the story reveals a lifetime of research and deep thought. It spans almost every hard scientific field and delves into psychology, anthropology, religion and the paranormal. Alan Joshua’s rich and grounded imagination manages to connect all of these seemingly disparate systems into a thought provoking unity of human experience. The writing is totally engaging and the sustained intensity makes it hard to put down, except to catch your breath.
—————————————————————————————————
KIRKUS REVIEW: “Deft dialogue, crisp plotting, and a likable central figure make this multidisciplinary scientific adventure an exuberant and involving read.”

PORTLAND BOOK REVIEW: “Having the right amount of adventure and romance, this crisscrossing genre tale isn’t just a good read, but may also look great on a big screen.”

MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW: “Highly recommended, indeed; especially for thriller and sci-fi readers who have become deluged with too much predictability and who seek cutting-edge action, believable protagonists, and action that is solidly intense throughout.”

IND’TALE MAGAZINE: “a riveting, page-turner, right from the start!”

PHENOMENA MAGAZINE: “Well plotted and written, this is an absolute thrill ride of a book that is almost impossible to put down: it might also cause the reader to wonder what really does go on (MK-Ultra for example) in some of the secret government laboratories dotted around the world.”

Amazon and Goodreads Readers:
“The Shiva Syndrome is in the top 10 books of the best sci-fi/fantasy books I have read in over 40 years and I read over 200 books a year!”

“Let’s get straight to the point: The SHIVA Syndrome Trilogy is one of the best-written stories I’ve read in years.”

“I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a science fiction journey that is so well researched that it truly could be happening right now! This was one book that caused me to rethink what happens behind closed doors.”

The complete SHIVA Syndrome Trilogy

Available at Amazon

EDITORIAL  REVIEWS

• SCIENCE FICTION OR SOMETHING ELSE? BRIAN ALLEN, EDITOR OF PHENOMENA MAGAZINE (UK)
  If ever there was a book that richly deserved to be made into a film it is this one. It starts off at full tilt in a secret mind research lab in Russia where experiment goes horrifically wrong, creating a black hole that devastates the city, leaving a mile-deep anomalous crater.
  The hero of the piece, Beau Walker, is a research psychologist who, along with other experts, is coerced into helping the US government work with the Russian authorities to uncover what happened to prevent such an event recurring.
  One gets the feeling from the subjects mentioned in the book, shamanism, The Stargate Project, the frequently strange goings on at Ft Meade, Jim Channon’s First Earth Battalion, hemi-synch technology and experiments at the outer edges of consciousness, that this might also be a handbook describing what could actually happen should science and technology succeed in extending the limits of what is possible in terms of consciousness and how this might intersect with our perceived ideas about reality.
  Anyone who has seen the film ‘Lucy’ will get the idea, but more so. Well plotted and written, this is an absolute thrill ride of a book that is almost impossible to put down: it might also cause the reader to wonder what really does go on (MK-Ultra for example) in some of the secret government laboratories dotted around the world.
• Kirkus Review  “A professor and parapsychology researcher discovers a key to mankind’s evolution or destruction in this debut thriller.Beau Walker is a man without a field. Teaching at a backwater university after being dismissed from a government project because of his ethical concerns and bureaucratic maneuvers on the part of a one-time friend, Walker is an academic pariah until two soldiers appear one day. His former friend needs Walker’s expertise, and the professor—who is haunted by both his empathic abilities and the memory of the one time they failed him—has little choice but to cooperate. In the Russian city of Podol’sk, a project partially based on Walker’s work has gone horribly awry, killing thousands and leaving traces of mysteries that threaten humanity’s scientific understanding. Discovering what occurred, and how to prevent it from happening again, falls on Walker and his new friends…But as secrets and revelations accumulate, the team’s combined knowledge and abilities may be inadequate to stop what’s coming…Joshua has crafted an appealing protagonist in Walker. Short-tempered, kind, thoughtful yet impulsive, he is a flawed but ultimately heroic character, and serves as a narrative linchpin throughout this absorbing story.Deft dialogue, crisp plotting, and a likable central figure make this multidisciplinary scientific adventure an exuberant and involving read.”
•  New Consciousness Review “A thrilling read”
• Portland Book Review “Having the right amount of adventure and romance, this crisscrossing genre tale isn’t just a good read, but may also look great on a big screen.”
• Self-Publishing Review “…the book mixes uncommon palettes and manages a masterpiece with it. It is a surprising, suspenseful, and utterly superb read from start to end.”
• Midwest Book Review “…highly recommended, indeed; especially for thriller and sci-fi readers who have become deluged with too much predictability and who seek cutting-edge action, believable protagonists, and action that is solidly intense throughout.”

READERS’  REVIEWS

A mind bending, philosophical, science fiction thriller, The SHIVA Syndrome Trilogy is the debut release from author Alan Joshua and it’s sure to grab your attention. Books like this don’t find their way onto the shelves very often and when they do they tend to stand out because they don’t fit the usual genre paradigms and people take notice. Joshua’s release is certainly in that vein. With rich narrative threads that he exploits to the fullest it’s riveting from the start, whilst Beau Walker is one of those eclectic protagonists who readily resonates with the reader. Pace and plot feel exactly right, which given the scope of his theme is quite an achievement, and when the last page is turned it’s likely to leave you deep in thought. More importantly there’s a wholly pervading sense of authenticity which in the main comes from Joshua’s exacting eye for detail. He revels in the complexity of his tale as he weaves converging plot lines together, but every piece of information is there and flawlessly meshes together as he leads us toward a powerful and well-crafted denouement that will linger in the memory for days to come.