By Claudia (VA, USA) on Amazon.com:

This is that rare piece of fiction based on fact in such a way as to make the lines between the two seem to blur. Mindbenders is built on the work done by both the US and Soviet governments as they attempted to harness the most powerful instrument on the face of the earth – the human mind – as yet another weapon in their massive arsenals. More experimentation has been done in this area than most people realize, and Ted Krever obviously did his research very thoroughly before writing this book. In this novel, he deals with remote viewing, telepathy, and other things that some consider ‘tricks’ of the mind, but which many believe are far closer to reality than myth.

The novel is well written and well edited, with a storyline that takes hold in the first few pages and doesn’t let go until the plot has unwound in ways one would not expect. The characters are well developed, ‘warts and all’, as the saying goes. The story takes the reader from the swamps of Florida to the catacombs of Rome while dealing with life and death, and war and peace.

These are not, for the most part, ‘nice’ people, as their actions demonstrate, and they each have their inner struggles, their secret demons. When reading this book, I couldn’t escape the feeling that the potential reality lies close to the surface. Perhaps because it’s a subject in which I’ve long been interested, but I couldn’t read it without knowing that while it is fiction, and a fascinating story, the underlying dynamics are all too possible.

Rome

This is a novel, a story that came forth from the mind of the author and found its way to the pages of a fascinating book; however, one of the most interesting aspects of the story is that it is not so far from reality that something very much like it could not happen. The story shows how powerful forces of the mind could be used for overwhelming evil or redemptive good, and we can but hope that the latter would triumph in any battle between the two.

The ending certainly is an ‘ending’, but I see plenty of room for a sequel one of these days, if the spirit moves Mr. Krever, and we are fortunate enough to have him write it. I was sorry when it ended, which I think is the way I want to feel when I’ve been fortunate enough to stumble on a really good book.

Mindbenders ebook: on Amazon and on Smashwords

Mindbenders in trade paperback