3 out of 4 stars
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The Expansion by Christoph Martin
Published by Clink Street Publishing (London)
Christoph Martin’s The Expansion is meant to be a thriller surrounding a current-day addition to the Panama Canal. Martin hopes to integrate the same kinds of political posturing and international intrigue that transpired during the construction of the Panama Canal in the early 20th century. The result is a promising story, but it’s one that feels unbalanced and disjointed. The book begins in 1993, with the deaths of Max Burn’s parents, and moves through the end of 2011, jumping from one pivotal event to the next.
Years after the death of his parents, Max has become a geomatic engineer who intends to leave teaching to pursue a career with his future father-in-law; however, when Godfredo Roco, a friend from Max’s boarding-school days, contacts him about an opportunity of a lifetime, Max has to decide what he wants to do. Does he stay in London to get married and work for his fiancé’s father, or does he fly to Panama to work with Godfredo on a bid for the new expansion of the Panama Canal?
In hopes of winning the project and working on the expansion, Max plays the renegade and decides to leave his home and move to Panama. The move fits him. He is the head engineer behind the innovative design that will hopefully win his team the bid. But unbeknown to Max, other expansion players are scheming to win the bid. Because the potential gains and losses have remarkable implications, there are no limits to what some will do to guarantee victory. After Max becomes the prime suspect in a high-profile murder, he is forced to fight for his future.
Upon finishing The Expansion, I find myself wondering how well do I really know any of the characters. After Max loses his parents, his uncle takes him in - and there is no doubt his uncle cares deeply for him – and that’s the end of it. The author skips ahead by more than a decade. The next time we meet Max, it’s fifteen years later, and he is a teaching professor who is engaged to a woman we know little about (other than she doesn’t want him to go to Panama). Presumably, Max must not truly love her, or it wouldn’t be so easy for him to leave her. True, the expansion project isn’t an opportunity that’s likely to come up more than once in a person’s lifetime, but there was no conflict between Max and his fiancé (Did they discover they never loved each other? Did he ask her to move with him?). I expect more when an engaged couple breaks up. In fact, the only person Max seems genuinely upset about leaving is his uncle.
It happens again after the bid submission in Panama. A year-and-a-half passes with no primary updates about Max, Godfredo or the others still in Panama. If this anomaly only occurred a time or two, I would think it was simply a way to allow the story to move forward without weighing it down; however, it happens so often that it hinders character development.
I gave The Expansion 3 out of 4 stars. I didn’t find it to be a thrilling page turner. When a chapter ended, I had no problem putting it down and coming back to it later. The Expansion does have an impressive display of personalities, and the head butting between the characters is entertaining. It’s hard to say how some readers will react to the ending. It is most likely a cliffhanger that is setting up a sequel; conversely, the ending could be intentionally non-committal, allowing the reader to make up his/her own mind as to the fate of the main characters (like The Magus by John Fowles).
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The Expansion
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