Almost nothing in my novel “Eye of the Diamond-T” is historically accurate. But the one thing that is absolutely truthful might still astound some of the innocent among us.

To observe the effects of the drug on unwitting subjects, they secretly administered LSD to hundreds of mental patients, prisoners, foreign nationals and private American citizens without their consent. — From History Channel

My protagonist Nick Pente is the classic subject for CIA mind control: A decorated WW2 veteran with severe PTSD who wandered aimlessly until happening upon a psychologist who “cured” him using what he only thought were cognitive methods: psychotherapy and long talks in a darkened office. The hypnosis and strange substances he just explained away. He didn’t want to make waves.

But these secret therapies succeeded in turning Nick into the perfect foil–and the ideal driver of a truck carrying a secret and sinister cargo. The book is about Nick’s journey back to sanity and his psychic and spiritual redemption despite the government and society that betrayed him. His combination of basic good nature, patriotism, and psychological disturbance would have made him the ideal “mark” for MKULTRA, and followers of the program will find plenty of hints at what’s really going on even at the beginning of the story.

I’d also point out that Americans are big thinkers and the ultimate popularizers. We’re really egalitarian that way. What worked on a small cadre of the disturbed would have likely been used on the populace at large, and likely was tried — under one name or another. That’s regardless of what the CIA testified during the Church Committee hearings in the 1970’s. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

Anyway, Diamond-T is only partially an indictment of mind-control. It doesn’t really fit into the genre of “conspiracy lit.” My use of MKULTRA can be seen to represent all of mankind’s desire to just fit in and just let things slide, and how curiosity and critical thinking are rarely valued as highly as just going with the flow.

Pick up a copy of Eye of the Diamond-T today. I think you’ll enjoy the ride.

Excerpts, reviews and purchase links at www.diamondtbook.com