PSI/Net [Hardcover]

Billy Dee Williams (Author), Rob MacGregor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2, 1999

On November 12, 1995 the CIA issued a report admitting that military and intelligence services had used psychics for spying or "remote viewing". Project Stargate, as it was called, is the premise of this nerve-jangling thriller.

Former Air Force Major Trent Calloway just wants to forget about his past, especially the tragedy that changed his life when he was involved in a government remote viewing project. With his marriage ruined in the aftermath of his psychic spying, he wanders the Southwest, occasionally guiding river rafting tours. And then suddenly his painful past returns and threatens to damage him again.

He finds out that he had been drugged during his remote viewing sessions and that the drug, now years later, is causing ever increasing side-effects in himself and the other government psychic spies he worked with - and that their psychic abilities are still expanding at frightening rates.

He realizes that the unknown drug he and the other psychic spies unwillingly took has bound them all together in a deadly psychic nexus, a "PSI net", that has trapped Callaway, who must now fight for his life and his sanity as he struggles for the security of the United States and its people.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Billy Dee Williams is a modern Renaissance man. An accomplished stage, television, and screen actor, he's best known to science fiction fans as Lando Calrissian of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. He's also a painter whose works have been shown across the U.S. and are part of the National Gallery's permanent collection. Now he has teamed up with Edgar award winner Rob MacGregor (Prophecy Rock and many others) to write PSI/Net, an account of psychic warfare set against the background of an America facing a possible schism.

In reality, the CIA revealed in 1995 that it performed experiments in "remote viewing"--psychic spying. This is the jumping-off point for the novel. Trent Calloway is a (fictional) retired member of the project whose quiet life as a river-rafting tour guide is disrupted by a vision of Washington D.C. destroyed by a nuclear bomb. Soon he's swept into a secret war against the Freedom Nation--separatists tied to the militia movement who want to carve their own country out of the western United States. Calloway labors to psychically observe Freedom Nation's operatives and try to learn their plans, but Freedom Nation retains its own psychics--also former CIA operatives--whose job is to conceal their campaign and disrupt Calloway's efforts. He and his enemies play a mental game of cat and mouse using remote viewing, precognition, and mind control that becomes more deadly with each chapter.

A tightly focused novel that spans just five days, PSI/Net is firmly grounded in real-world issues such as race relations and federalism. Because the settings and conflicts are so realistic and familiar, the ESP elements become entirely believable--they slide right in like puzzle pieces that complete the whole, no more outlandish than helicopters or Secret Service agents. Anyone looking for page-turning suspense with a subtle science fiction twist will definitely enjoy this energetic story. --J.B. Peck

From Publishers Weekly

Slim but briskly paced, this near-future thriller launches a new and promising collaboration between actorAand debut novelistAWilliams (best known for his role as Lando Calrissian in Return of the Jedi) and novelist MacGregor (Prophecy Rock, etc.). Their protagonist is Trent Calloway, a retired African-American Air Force major who is a survivor of a secret project to turn people capable of "remote-viewing" (i.e., psychics) into a military asset. Suspicious psychic phenomena make Calloway wonder if a new remote-viewing plan is in the worksAand indeed it is. His old project director, Gordon Maxwell, has entered into an alliance with a right-wing former general and his militia followers, and is trying to use remote viewing as a weapon to overthrow the U.S. government. They intend to plant a Russian-built suitcase-nuke in Washington, D.C., and to convince American president David Dustin that he has been contacted by UFOs. Calloway, his ex-wife and several other retired psychics (all bearing psychological scars from the first project) desperately race against time and terrorism to save the country. The story plays out tightly, with high excitement, and the authors do an excellent job not only in generating convincing characters but in making their bizarre scenario appear plausible. It hardly matters which author contributed what to the novel, as it should garner more than enough praise to spread around. (Aug.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (July 2, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312867662
• ISBN-13: 978-0312867669
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,184,282 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Award Winning Writing!, July 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: PSI/Net (Hardcover)

This book has now become my favorite book out of everything I have read. The book has tons of thrills and foreshadowing in it to make it so you never want to put it down. The worst thing about this book was finishing it, it was such a good book I was sad when I finished it. I hope another book with the same characters or plotline comes out soon!

If your interested in Psionics, Psychics, or are just looking for a great book to read, this is the one for you!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a wonderful and fresh read, September 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: PSI/Net (Hardcover)

i am not a believer of remoteviewing. however, the authorswere able to make the subjectmatter believable. the characers were truly believable. i found myself becoming more invovled as the plot thickened. this novel has truly hightened my curiousity on the matter. the only thing i could find wrong was whentrent and ritter come to blowsit could have been juicier

3.0 out of 5 stars Slow but involving., July 15, 2000

By 

Cary L. Baker (louisville, kentucky USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: PSI/Net (Paperback)

If anyone remembers the movie "Scanners" you can get into the story of Psi/Net. The story is kind of slow moving but I was always wondering how the story would turn out. No major action happens until near the end of the book. This reads more like a PG rated movie. Jedi mind tricks Mr. Williams? I'll buy the sequel to Psi/Net.