Disconnected

by Nick M. Lloyd

With his team of devoted disciples, Asha rewires the subconscious thoughts of world leaders so they follow the moral path he sets. All the while, each of these leaders believes their own free will remains intact. Asha is doing it for the good of mankind, but his decisions become harder. And, power corrupts! Prepare to be Rewired./p> Scroll up and grab a copy of DISCONNECTED Today.

450 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 23, 2017

About the author

Nick Lloyd is an independent author living in London. He writes Science Fiction in contemporary Earth settings. His stories are purposefully designed to have moral uncertainty, and mostly deal with the use (or misuse) of power.

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He has four full-length standalone novels.

"The Lay of Sargon"
Published January 2023.
Joy Cooper has created Vince, Earth’s first self-aware Artificial Intelligence.

Recognising that big business or government forces would undoubtedly abuse his abilities, Joy and Vince remain in hiding while together devising a plan for him to be truly safe.

The plan is ruined when the Onari (an alien species of computers) abduct Vince, accusing Joy of enslaving him.

With help from an underclass of biological aliens, Joy chases after Vince and soon becomes enmeshed in a conflict that has spanned millennia.

But the balance of power has changed because something Joy did during Vince’s creation means that he has developed powers unmatched across the galaxy … Biologicals now wonder if they no longer need to be the underclass.

***
***

Immortal (February 2019)
Having had no contact with any alien species before, humanity receives a radio message from approaching aliens ('the Ankor'). They warn Earth that a huge supernova blast is going to hit within a year and this will be an extinction level event. However, the Ankor are prepared to help ... if humanity launches the required materials for a shield into orbit.
Are the Ankor to be trusted?


Emergence (October 2014)
Earth is being scrutinised by an alien civilisation who maintain their dominance across the galaxy through manipulation of probability. Among the aliens, whole religions have sprung up related to interpretation of this apparent control of 'luck'. On Earth, a single human starts the transformation required to exert this control himself ...


Disconnected (April 2017)
Political activist, Asha Kharjal, has mastered the mysterious science of directly manipulating the subconscious. He can literally rewire people. And for the good of mankind, he's going to. Whether they like it, or not ...

Reviews

[Faith Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve read this book without forming a strong opinion one way or another, so haven’t been conclusively won over. Perhaps it’s because I’ve read and reviewed several sci-fi novels in 2017 which hinge on tele-psychic abilities to manipulate others into doing what the control freak wants (Psionik, The Wolfe Experiment, Netwalking Space and The REM Effect) and that could mean I’m a little jaded by this sub-genre and hunting around for something new to say about it.

This story has been set in two parts of the world – (i: Team Sarah) Around the site of a small clump of trees in the Democratic Republic of Congo, near the Rwandan border, where a rare natural chemical compound can be sourced. (ii: Team Asha) Around the political epicentre of a first world city, where a refined version of the drug is being used to manipulate others in power plays. That’s not to say it isn’t being used in Africa too, just that it’s used there for different reasons, e.g. reaching safety.

Skein space, that’s what you get access to after popping one of these tablets. Firstly, psychic awareness, then visualisation of the connections people make to others as they form their networks of subconscious safety nets. Reassurance, work groups, familial affection, love – all of these things become targets because the user of the drug can reach out and rip them away. If someone has very few links remaining, they essentially fall apart and struggle to function, so you’ve beaten them and can step into their shoes. Do you begin to see the attraction?

Where once people had used this brain bending trick for survival, now they see an opportunity to apply it to political lobbying, forcing politicians out of office and networking with others of their kind to bring about global change. It’s difficult to keep balance on your moral soap box when you’re playing nasty tricks like this though. A completely separate team back in Africa, searching for a cure to dementia amongst simian species, can be seen approaching it from a different angle, although that gets messy too.

“My tribe is your tribe”, they pulse into their targets’ heads to gain their cooperation. “I am the Alpha”, they try that as well, although this message isn’t always answered. These two suggestions, more than anything else, bring home the point that humans are simians too and, deep down in the basic programming, we feel comfortable with ape-tribe dynamics. The problem is, “your tribe” hints that others exist outside that demarcation, competitors who probably outnumber you. If the secret gets out and the human race takes notice, so scaling up becomes essential to the cause, how many pills can you get from this small clump of trees that are hard to find?

Primitive dominance thinking is never far away from physical fighting, so we are talking about behaving like like yahoos and these characters should be smart enough to see you can’t live in a world like this. Then again, you can do anything you like in most countries in the interval between invention and when they make legislation to stop it. Legal highs? There’s a lag, isn’t there? Society adapts in response to things which antagonise it and if this dramatic idea were possible, I can see the experiment would indeed be allowed to run for a short time because there’s nothing to stop it in law. We would have trouble even establishing a link between the drug and the effect.

In fiction, a fear of change that upsets everything and make us vulnerable and scared should be as realistically possible as possible. The more real the fear is, the more unsettled the reader becomes and that’s what gives the novel a sense of worth. Jaws felt real because Great White Sharks are real, so only required exaggeration. Telepathic stuff though? I did not feel persuaded that this mind-control system would be possible, so I think that’s why I wasn’t hooked. I can’t say whether my reaction was typical or an outlier, so don’t read that negatively because you might feel a stronger affiliation. “My tribe is your tribe” doesn’t work on everyone all of the time, but might seem more persuasive to you.

Otherwise, the book was a dramatic thriller, well written and the jungle description in particular was vivid and atmospheric. It was alright but didn’t exceed the quality of other books in this category, so gets an average rating.

[Angela Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was definitely an interesting book. It wasn't what I expected by any means. Asha Kharjal is a political advisor who knows how to rewire people's subconscious and he'll stop at nothing to so. He's not the villain in the book. Asha attempts to do good with his skills, but like any decent story, he falls into hot water.

This is a very technical story, much like the writings of Michael Crichton. Since I don't have a technical mind, I couldn't grasp a good deal of it. There wasn't a lot of explanation for the technical terms so it would throw me off. I did reading about enjoy skein space. It kind of reminds me of Assassin's Creed's animus. Skein space is where Asha and his "students" enter to connect to another person's core and tap whatever message they want in order to sway the subjects to do what was needed. I would have enjoyed the skein space even more if the author had included in the beginning of the book what each color meant, whether black is for love or hate and so on. It is briefly mentioned, however, it wouldn't have been easy to find the page to remind ourselves what exactly the colors meant.

Since it wasn't always easy for me to grasp the technicality of the book, I focused more on the characters. They were written extremely well and with, for the most part, enough personality to fly right out of the pages. Polly seemed to have bounced around wildly and could have been toned down just a bit. I enjoyed the conflict with Sarah and Marcus, but Marcus' mother (Polly) made me care less about Sarah and Marcus' past relationship. Polly was too intrusive where they were concerned. It took me away from the actual plot.

The world building was great. Anytime they found themselves in the Congo, I felt I was right there with them. I could hear the sounds, see the sights. I think it was my favorite part of the story. And the Congo pieces were only subplots.

For the most part, Disconnected is a slow read. It's only because of the technical pieces of the story, but it starts running when you're about a quarter of a way through. The danger that danced around in the earlier pages is dialed up.

**For more book reviews, visit https://angelakaysbooks.com/book-revi...**

[Corinthia Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Disconnected” was a fascinating read that I couldn’t put down. Balancing between a Sci-Fi adventure with a dash of the fantastic the story delves deep into human connection and moral obligations. The story is told through two main protagonists, Asha and Sarah, who have very different lives. Asha is the leader of a group like cult who are manipulating the thoughts and emotions of politicians around them to create an utopianesque world, while Sarah is trapped in an underground medical experimentation group that’s trying to discover the cure for dementia. As the plot thickens these two character’s story ultimately end up overlapping and becoming interwoven with each other’s.

I mostly enjoyed “Disconnected” and its two main storylines, but I did find myself more inclined to take the time and invest myself into the lives of Asha and his acolytes. A majority of the characters in that setting seemed more fleshed out and their moral compasses were tested more often. It was fascinating to read and be a part of their lives as I saw some characters push the boundaries of their morals until they caved while others overcame their challenges, no matter how difficult, to stay true to what they believed. In contrast this made Sarah’s conflicts and storyline seem dull and underwhelming to read. However, this could be due to the fact that the amount of world building and explanation for the mind manipulation for Asha’s storyline was more refined than Sarah’s moral struggles and the Bio-medical portions.

Overall, I would recommend this book to those who love long stories that are mainly character centric with a great sense of world building. Nick Lloyd will deliver a writing style that is smooth and an experience that will rewire how you feel about the bio-thriller genre!

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for writing a review. I was not obligated to give a positive review, and all thoughts are my own.

[Jessica Bucci · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. The synopsis drew me into reading the novel, but unfortunately I couldn’t stay hooked. I got about a third of the way through and couldn’t continue (and it’s rare for me to give up on a book, especially when doing a review of one). I didn’t understand the plot fully or how Asha could manipulate one’s subconscious. I didn’t grasp all the rules or techniques Asha used in his manipulation and training of others to aid him.

There were two separate plotlines occurring throughout the book that I assume would intertwine at some point, but I never made it there. Also, there were a decent amount of characters that I couldn’t keep straight because of the lack of traits unique to them. It was hard to connect to any of the characters because I didn’t feel I knew enough about them to establish a connection to root for one over the other.

I think this book has a lot of potential and will be the right fit for certain audiences. Unfortunately, I didn’t connect with the writing style and therefore wasn’t engaged enough with the plot or characters to continue reading. Perhaps one day, with a different mindset, I will return to Disconnected and form a different opinion!

DISCLAIMER: I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for writing a review. I was not obligated to give a positive review, and all thoughts are my own.

[Anonymous · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars. This is a really interesting book. It’s very technical and because of that it is somewhat dry unless you have a deep love of the genre and can fathom half of what the author is talking about. Not much of the terms are explained and the reader is supposed to keep reading to make sense of whatever is confusing to you in the greater scheme of things. New characters are treated much the same. It’s not really a bad thing, don’t get me wrong, but it makes it difficult to stay engaged. The plot of the story’s very interesting and on some level enjoyable; I kind of wish one plot line had been picked over the other instead of tossing the reader back and forth. I felt they warred with each other a bit, but I think it’s a common practice with the genre type and since I don’t read these types of books that much, it could just be me.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for writing a review. I was not obligated to give a positive review, and all thoughts are my own.

[Otto Benz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhat disturbing story encompassing England and Africa, about a drug that enables mind control, and the nature of free choice. Includes love, hate, loyalty, death, Alzheimer's, and betrayal. Definitely worth reading. This is Nick Lloyd's second book - write some more!

[John Wills · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lloyd clearly isn't a lucky man. After loving his first book, I dove into the second but expected to be less impressed. I wasn't. He isn't lucky, he is good!
Once again Lloyd takes you on a journey challenging morals and exploring the what if's of science, while keeping the reader grounded in an intriguing plot with charismatic characters.
A must read.

[L. S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disconnected reads like a Michael Crichton novel. In fact, it opens in a very similar manner to some of his books. A scientific expedition works their way through a jungle to investigate a troop of “rabid” bonobos. As readers, we can only assume that a curse or some violent disease follows.

Not exactly.

Straying from the beaten path, Disconnected approaches scientific drama in more Eastern way. A sci-fi Eastern way. A man named Asha can see into people, see the way their connections line up, and manipulate them as he must. Not only him, either. There are many people who can see these kinds of connections. Through such manipulation, Asha seeks to further his own agenda. Centering on the cure for dementia, Disconnected brings political drama into the folds.

The story gets a little convoluted in areas. There are a few characters to keep track of, each one with intersecting story lines. Much like the Da Vinci Code. While the writing is very technical and dry, it still maintains a Dan Brown atmosphere. Since it is so technical, description of things is something the book is lacking. I still don’t have a good grasp on what anyone looks like beyond “he’s Asian.” Describing what’s going on in the scenes gets a little long-winded. It’s great that there’s so much exposition, but sometimes it went overboard. There were a few super-repetitive chapters as the author focused on Asha. Which was a little more often than needed.

Characters were dynamic. They each had their own narrative that contributing to the overarching plot. Each had their own agenda that was a wrench in the plans of someone else. Manipulation runs rampant, and not only the telepathic kind. Those mundane humans have their own tricks as well.

It not only passes the Bechdel test, but also puts women in positions of power. They have drive and motivation beyond marriage and kids. They’re alright in how they're rounded out—like the rest of the characters. Some were more fleshed out than others. At least, enough to not consider them flat. We receive more information on the scene than everyone in the scene, and that was sometimes frustrating. It certainly told more than it showed.

Disconnected it contained interesting elements not usually associated with this kind of story. The writing was solid, albeit a bit long and dry. Characters held my attention. It was worth reading once.

[Dave Farmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having thoroughly enjoyed the author’s first novel, Emergence, I had high hopes for Disconnected. Nick doesn’t disappoint in his scope of the “what-if” genre. Whilst tales of telepathy are nothing new, the idea of connecting, communicating, even manipulating people via emotional pathways is pretty damn good. I don’t recall coming across a book with the same approach.

Similar to the plot of Emergence, this new emotional telepathy subject requires considerable explanation. A good platform to build on in other words. Skein space, connections of certain colours, the ability to follow an emotional path and enter someone else’s emotional core – that all made instant sense to me. I didn’t need to re-read or pause to take it in. Even the number of connections being no more than 256 in humans made sense, and I have no idea why because that’s never actually explained!

I loved how people with fewer connections could be classified, like those with 100 or less means that person could be a sociopath and to be avoided. Once the premise of emotional telepathy (not quite the right term but it’s easy to refer to it as that) is cemented as reality in the reader’s mind, the fantastic elements can be explored. And Nick does indeed explore them well.

So, the good and the bad. I didn’t find any ugly so we’re already winning.

The core characters were gifted with enough personality, enabling the reader to love or hate them. I thought it odd that some of the Initiates were given little more than a title, the Ashvin twins for example, and were seemingly there for no other reason but to make up the numbers and lend a trickle of credibility to Asha’s club, more people = proper thing. They added little to the plot. If you remove a character will the story still work? If yes then that character is irrelevant and an author is wasting words.

The political approach worked well and I agreed with Asha’s reasoning, at first at least. I had hoped this would form the backbone of the entire book, similar to Emergence, and I found myself willing the plot to veer away from the action set pieces and continue the political/telepathic coercion route. The scope for this application is breath-taking, and I felt the author missed a trick there to create a more solid political, sci-fi, bio-tech thriller.

On a side note, it would be cool to have a sort of alternative sequel where the bad guys had won, things had changed a lot and the new plot follows renegade Initiates working to overthrow a new government, remove a dictatorship and bring peace back to the country. Hey, sometimes bad guys win and I like plots that explore that.

The parallel stories work, to a degree. The Congo plot could have been reduced to a basic subplot, with the political angle brought to the forefront to form a more fulfilling read that expanded from the opening few chapters in London. Aside from the first Congo exploration, the majority of the action scenes felt forced. At times it seemed like the author was stuck between writing a gripping sci-fi what-if thriller, clichéd jungle gun action and a bio-science will they, won't they romance. Both stories didn’t work as intended in one book. However, had the plot been split into 2 books or parts, told entirely from one angle and then the other, keeping both plots separate but with references back and forth. . .that would have made for better reading.

That being said, I found the jungle descriptions well written. I could relate to the humid claustrophobic nature of the green all around, flies, animals calls, tents, guns, running, shouting, bullets, the lot. That alone was good gravy.

Character arcs worked well in some cases, with the journey being worthwhile for most. Polly was overwritten, overly theatrical and would have worked better if dialled down a little. She needed more restraint, more subtleties around her anxieties – wanting to cure dementia (including her own) versus acting the wild and impulsive wealthy Lady. Her flippant nature and comments often didn’t work as intended because there were too many of them to take seriously. With fewer embarrassing and heartbreaking scenes, the reader would still have understood that people with dementia often do and say things very much out of character, just not all the time to such a theatrical degree. I would have been more sympathetic to Polly’s problems and desires had she have been written with more reserve, less brash poshness and a more thoughtful possibly introspective nature. As it stands I question how she came to run vast international company at all given her existing personality, regardless of any mental health issues.

I want to say there was just the right balance of threat, peril and conflict. It’s there in places, though it doesn’t work as well as it could have. For example, the inexplicably forced issue between Sarah and Marcus, established in the past but with little quality reason given, or a reason why the reader should care about their conflict. The story would have worked with zero conflict between Sarah and Marcus.

Threat and peril is evident, though hammed up in the last half dozen chapters. Asha’s actions, though somewhat understandable, aren’t given enough of a reason to be fully believable. I tried to imagine he was suffering from dementia, brought on fast from too much mental/emotional stress. That would have made sense, had his reasons been better explored, but instead it gave way to action, and guns. Though the rupture and tear of skein space was a cool idea, and why not? If you’re going to place a great deal of stress on any network – IT, mental, emotional – then it makes sense that might break at some point.

After all the hard work the author did to establish the rules, Asha often performed like a puppet dancing to the authors beat, and shifting his stance whenever the plot gears ground. Though no short story, it felt like the start of a two-part effort, where the sequel will see a return to the story proper. Disconnected abandoned the political aspect midway through to pursue action and guns and fighting in the form of overused emotional kung-fu.

The reader is shown how exhausting it is for Initiates to control or coerce another person via emotional connections, often with them collapsing after the effort. However, it seems that for the sake of ramping up the tension Asha can push himself way beyond even his own clearly stated limits – “I’m working hard, the best, but damn. . .oh no, I’m going to relapse, no I can’t go on, I’m done for, but wait, I can go on because of reasons, and I will keep going, but oh. . .no, I’m stuck again, knocked back, no more, I’m exhausted, no way will I finish my task now, all is lost. . .well, just maybe one more push for the win with this sudden rush of energy.”

That’s pushing the sarcasm a little far, but regardless of how Asha keeps going, that scene felt like I was being mocked for believing in a set of rules established to ground the story in reality so the fantastic can be awesome. Instead that scene is dumb Hollywood finale stuff and deserves to be better. To keep things balanced – everyone likes a good chunk of suspense with good v evil, and it is indeed entertaining.

All that aside, what I enjoyed most was the exploration of skein space, and how it’s possible to view and manipulate the vast web of emotional connections. Despite the emotional and mental subject matter, this is a very visual story. I pictured this on the big screen, plenty of CGI, possible borrowing elements from the Matrix or Lucy. It would make a great screenplay. Also, like Emergence, the author has created a world that has plenty of scope for further stories, even spin-offs exploring the same worlds but with different characters and agendas.

Without a doubt Disconnected is worthy of your time if you like something to think about once you’re done reading. I’m still mulling over the possibilities.

[Elrik · Rating 2 out of 5]

interesting idea, badly executed.
moral issues are talked and talked about, and the dialogues sometimes feel like a "why things are this way but we know better" story.
the paranormal part is... blunt and simplistic.

did finish it because I was interested if there might be some saving grace towards the end - there wasn't.

don't spens money for this

[J.L. Dobias · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disconnected by Nick M. LLoyd might be considered a bio-thriller, though it falls more into the fantasy science fiction realm, but if one were more generous to stories about telepathy and mind control then we could call it science fiction; however that's putting the term loosely and overlooking the prejudice of some against Teeps in general. I picked this book because I'd already read the author's book Emergence, which I thoroughly enjoyed and it is closer to science fiction. Since it was LLoyd's writing that I enjoyed I thought this would be a fair bet even though it almost meandered outside my usual read. So as the story opened I thought bio-thriller. Not far into the story we are introduced to Asha and the mind control squad, which somehow simultaneously brought to mind AE Van Vogt's Slan and Greg Bear's Darwin's Radio. Though the mind control was tied closely with an herbal source of sorts it still almost portended some advancement in human evolution. The description of how the practitioners observed the world around them and the natural connection that all beings have seemed new to me so it added a bit of freshness to the story as I read along. However that also contributed with the one thing that began to drag the story down for me. The good news is that the drag is associated with my own preferences and I think people interested in like fiction should warm up to this story quickly.

The story begins with Sarah out in the steaming hot jungle searching for bonobos who may or may not be suffering from some sort of virus. The plot behind the virus is rather convoluted at first, though not hard to follow. Boiled down they are looking for a cure for dementia and hoping to find something that correlates within the bonobo population. However Sarah's boss Polly Wolfson will go to any lengths to procure test animals straight down to injecting them with a virus if she needs to. Sarah doesn't agree with this, however her relationship to Polly's son Marcus has momentarily trapped her into a moral dilemma that she has to unravel. And that is probably too much to say about the plot.

Asha and his acolytes are interested in politics and manipulating the local politicians. Using the magic pill made from a bark from trees that grow exclusively in one place in the jungle they are able to enter and manipulate the connections that all people have subconsciously developed between each other. The connection to Sarah and Polly is through the jungle because the place that Sarah is hunting is the same where the trees are and there is more depth to that portion of the plot that I shouldn't tell.

Politics and medical science are on the verge of colliding when all appearances indicate that these two organizations might have enough in common to attempt to help each other. The question is, when you have two high powered manipulators working end to end, who is working whom.

Now onto a few troubles I had that really boil down to my own preferences and I'm certain that there will be other readers who will find the work entirely satisfying. I love stories that focus on a character and I can live with shared focus up to a point. This story seems to hover about Sarah and Asha alternately until the two story-lines collide. However I felt the focus more on Asha than Sarah and yet when I reached the end I felt the story belonged mostly to Sarah and that confused me a bit.

When I look back I realize that part of that confusion lie in that the story spends a large amount of time explaining both the Bio-medical portions and the nature of the mind manipulations. It might be that my mind glazed over during the bio-medical parts while it focused better on the mind manipulation world building. Still there is a large portion of both, which again may suit a lot of other readers and it does help get a full sense of what is going on in the background of both worlds before they collide. However there is so much that it almost begs a sequel to the story (why spend that much resource on explaining so much otherwise).

Still overall for those who like the Bio-thrillers and books on mind control and all the secrets behind how they work in this world this book has a lot to offer and it's well written with some interesting and somewhat complex characters.

Overall a great read despite my own moments in trying to keep focused.

J.L. Dobias