Memories of MK-ULTRA is about three children forced to take part in a life-altering experience. The CIA places them in a covert operation, experimenting with psychoactive drugs, electroshock, and other techniques to mold the human mind. The experience dramatically impacts their lives, but they don’t remember any of it—at least not right away.
What kinds of individuals will such an experience produce? How will it shape their personalities, their relationships, their performance in school, and ultimately, their career choices? And how will their lives change if, suddenly, as young adults, they begin to remember their traumatic background?
Several major themes that run through the novel, including coming of age, psychological thriller, historical, and metaphysical aspects.
The reader can witness the enormous influence of the unconscious mind through the story’s two interwoven narratives. One follows Dr. Rudolf Holtzmann, an MK-ULTRA psychiatrist, with a secret agenda to create future political leaders. The other tracks the quirky developments of Beth, Tommy, and Curtis Matthews as they come of age through the turbulence of the 60s and 70s into their early adulthoods in the 80s.
Invisible strings pull them toward their preordained destinies, but their puppet master’s plans are complicated by Holtzmann’s rash and dangerous CIA assistant and by one of the program’s subjects, a 14-year-old indigenous boy with shamanic gifts. Besides mind control, MK-ULTRA delved into the metaphysical, which drove its interest in psychedelic drugs, such as the magic mushrooms of Mexican shamans.
It takes Curtis’s psychotic breakdown and Beth’s startling vision to open up the pathways to the sibling’s buried past. These developments lead to the detective work of Lynn Snyder, a diligent therapist—but will it be enough to unravel the tapestry of deception?
Memories of MK-ULTRA is grounded in historical events. There have been many nonfiction MK-ULTRA books, including Stephen Kinzer’s Poisoner in Chief, which documented MK-ULTRA’s widespread deployment of mind-control experiments, its recruitment of former Nazi SS officers, and its use of psychedelic drugs on adults, college students, and children. The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and NPR’s Fresh Air all favorably reviewed the book.
As much as the story is about the appalling things powerful people sometimes do—it’s ultimately about healing and transformation. The first book of a trilogy, Memories of MK-ULTRA, opens a window into the multiple dimensions of the human mind and soul and forces us to question memory, identity, and the fragile concept of truth.
As a result of his traumatic childhood, Bill engaged in an extensive healing journey during which he employed a wide range of traditional and innovative techniques. He is currently working on a sequel to his first novel. Bill lives with his informal editor and wife, Inge, in Northern California. Besides embracing the joys of becoming a dad for three kids approaching their teenage years when he married, he served in the financial industry and was board president for two non-profits.
You can get the book on Amazon
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