Up for Review: The SHIVA Syndrome by Alan Joshua
Title: The SHIVA Syndrome
Author: Alan Joshua
Genre: Science Fiction, Paranormal, Thriller
Published: April 6th, 2015
Publisher: BURST/Champagne Book Group
Content Warning: Graphic Violence
Age Recommendation: 18+
Formats Available: Mobi
~ Synopsis ~
Power from the past; danger in the future.
Science opens the door for humans to reach God-like powers of creation and destruction.
A secret Russian mind research laboratory erupts, annihilating thousands and leaving a monstrous, one-mile deep crater in its wake.
Beau Walker, a psychologist and reluctant empath, is coerced to join a research project, code-named SHIVA, to investigate the catastrophe. An ordinary scientific investigation leads Walker and the research team into alternate realities and dangers beyond comprehension.
Walker struggles against political and military deceptions, deadly superhuman adversaries, and personal demons to unlock the riddle of the SHIVA syndrome, risking his life and the very existence of humanity.
The SHIVA Syndrome offers a dizzying ride into extraordinary human abilities. Prepare to alter what you believed was reality.
“5 Stars–Any attempt to describe the book in a single statement is difficult, but the book mixes uncommon palettes and manages a masterpiece with it. It is a surprising, suspenseful, and utterly superb read from start to end. The pay-off is fantastic. The greater the reader becomes invested in the various concepts of the book, the greater the intrigue becomes as the laws explained earlier are twisted into new and wonderful ideas.” – Self-Publishing Review
~ About the Author ~
Alan Joshua (pen name) is a Clinical Psychologist who has has authored many nonfiction journal articles and chapters in Parapsychology.
The SHIVA syndrome, his debut fiction novel, is a science fiction/paranormal mystery and thriller.
Always curious about the unknowns of human experience, he is fascinated with creativity and paranormal abilities. This led to his involvement with Psychology and research into Parapsychology.
The Shiva Syndrome incorporates his knowledge of Parapsychology and experiences with healers, intuitives, psychic “sensitives” etc.
Unsurprisingly, he is a science fiction fan and has been influenced by such writers as Asimov, Bradbury, Crichton, Heinlein, Serling, and others. Aspects of The SHIVA Syndrome have been likened to Isaac Asimov: “Most authors have tended to avoid mixing mysticism with their science fiction, much less adding in the Clancyesque thriller elements that Alan Joshua includes.”
According to The Midwest Book Review, Joshua write in multigenre style: “At first glance one would think this to be either a sci-fi saga or perhaps a thriller: technically, that’s correct; but it’s so much more. Its focus on untapped human potential gone awry in a deadly experiment also lends to its enjoyment by new age readers or any interested in the paranormal – and let’s not forget the reader who enjoys political intrigue and a bit of spiritual reflection in their reading.”
An avid Star Trek fan, he is fond of contradicting Gene Roddenberry, believing that human consciousness and its potentials, not space, are “the final frontier.”
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One Comment
Gustavo Campanelli
I really liked this book. We are thrown into the action of a shady investigation only to later land into a rabit hole full of conspiracies. I like the character arcs, the way they get fleshed out little by little, revealing more and more to the reader, the little twists, the reveals. I also like the way characters talk between them, not only doing a little exposition now and then, but by exposing opinions and confronting belief systems.And I specially love how those belief systems play such an importan role later on the novel.
The only thing sort of bad I can say is that I find the ending weaker than the rest of the book. I understand it gives a sense of future, but I did not really need that to enjoy the book. But it isn’t a bad ending, in fact it’s a good ending, it’s the fact that the rest of the book is excelent that makes it seem weaker.