4 out of 4 stars
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What are you willing to do to get what you want? What are you willing to do when you're about to lose everything? Christoph Martin's thriller, The Expansion, is all about the power of greed and desperation. The book is full of betrayal, revenge, espionage, and power struggles.
The story follows Max Burns, a geomatic engineer, who has been offered the job of a lifetime by his childhood friend, Godfredo. Max has a chance to work on the expansion of the Panama Canal. His team (the British team put together by a company called CISCO) must beat out the other countries' teams by having the best plan and budget. Max has issues with his own group, including Godfredo and Godfredo's temperamental father, Paca, the owner of CISCO. Meanwhile, information starts getting leaked from different teams leading to an unforeseeable conclusion. The task has turned into more than he could have ever anticipated. The competition is more than just about expanding the canal. It's about more than prestige. It's a global play for power.
This was a really entertaining read. In the beginning, I was worried the parts about engineering were going to be very technical and detailed. That didn't happen at all. Martin does a great job of being informative without being tedious. The story is told from the point of view of a few different characters. Personally, I'm not always a fan of this, but it's done really well. It adds a lot to the story by allowing the reader to see different sides of the political plots and intrigues.
All of the characters in this book are pushed to their limits. You get to see how far characters are willing to go to get what they want. Their desperation oozes from the page. Really, everything about these characters makes them jump off the page. They're all very real, nuanced and have secrets the reader slowly learns about throughout the novel. Materialism, and the downfalls of those who subscribe to it,is a major theme in this book. It shows what greed and a need for a certain image can do to a person. The author also makes a point of how people who dedicate themselves solely to their work lose part, if not all, of their compassion. Instead of people, they see dollar signs or scapegoats.
I rate this book four out of four stars. I immensely enjoyed reading it. It had me going from start to finish. It's an easy read with a complicated plot. That's right up my alley. I recommend this book to people who like political intrigues, power plays, and dynamic characters who are wounded in one way or another. I would give it four stars for the characters alone. I loved them that much. A word of warning: this book contains strong language, prostitutes, and domestic violence.
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The Expansion
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