In politics and big business, truth is a matter of opinion. Straddling the storyworlds of Panama, Washington and London, The Expansion follows British-born geomatic engineer Max Burns, whose revolutionary water-saving system wins him the esteemed position of head engineer for one of the 21st century’s most politically contested megaprojects: the expansion of the Panama Canal. For Max it is a … dream come true: not only is he able to work closely with construction giant and old high-school friend Godfredo Roco in one of the most beautiful tropical environments, but it’s the kind of job Max has been working toward his entire career. Yet in the arena of global trade and diplomacy, stakes are high, and when a senior official of the Panama Canal Administration is found dead, Max finds himself in the frame for sabotage and murder, and at the center of a web of political intrigue and betrayal that reaches far beyond the idyllic shores of Central America. The only person Max can trust is his new-found love, Karis Deen, a scientist with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Except Karis herself holds a secret that could not only destroy Max, but could change the entire balance of world power.
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Crisp, fast paced plot and good character development. Look forward to reading Martin’s next novel.
A fast-paced thriller set in the world of international politics and big business, this book stands out from its peers for two reasons. One, its complex characters and their choices. Two, its fascinating setting – the eponymous expansion refers to the Panama Canal.
Max Burns, geomatic engineer, gets the opportunity of a lifetime when an old schoolfriend asks him to head a bid for the hugely competitive project of expanding the canal. He’s got his work cut out, not just in outperforming the other countries in the running, but dealing with his employers’ unusual managerial style. With arties, prostitutes and politics, he’s out of his depth.
When he meets Karis Deen, Smithsonian researcher, his feet touch bottom. She’s different, someone he can trust. But Karis is not exactly who she seems.
A crackling global adventure which dives into the murky waters of geopolitics, the business of construction, environmental effects, human greed and weakness. Add to this a colourful supporting cast of not-all-good-or-bad guys who alternately exasperate and delight, and you are onto a winner. This demands to be read in one heart-thumping go.
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“A non-natural disaster is never an isolated event. It is the result of a long story: a series of bad decisions leading up to that point. Each and every decision matters. Each and every moment.”
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This was a surprising story – it went in more directions than I anticipated, it taught me a handful of things and led me to do follow-up research on a handful more, and it twisted and turned in ways that I found delightfully engaging. I must admit, I did not know much about the Panama Canal going into this one. I knew the basics – that its development was full of tragedy and drama, that it changed the nature of sea travel, that the US played a major role then surprised many by willingly stepping back – but somehow missed the whole expansion thing (I know, I know – lame, but true). I was fascinated by the tidbits of history the book provided, so much so that I went on a bit of a Google-quest to find out more. I’ve now seen the locks work via video and read some fascinating statistics and stories – it’s truly an engineering marvel! So those parts of the story were extremely interesting to me. But they are merely the underpinning – the true magic in this one is the intrigue and drama Martin paints around the expansion teams…
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“I’m not wise. I simply have the view from the shore.”
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This is a great geopolitical mystery-drama – I don’t know how else to categorize it! – full of unbelievable characters, convoluted relationships, and more lies and secrets than one isthmus should be able to hold… The characters are well developed and appropriately quirky; the politics are dense and play out in deliciously intertwined plot bits that are well paced and utterly engaging. I definitely recommend this one!
The Expansion by Christoph Martin Is a fast paced story which includes thought provoking scenes of financial greed, deceit, and political maneuvering centered around the Panama Canal. Once I started reading I was hooked. The characters are well written and the situations are believable.
The book opens with a horribly calculated murder-suicide by our main characters mother and father in Surrey, England. Their teenaged son, Max is away with his best friend Godfredo in the Swiss Alps. Later, an adult Max has decided to leave his career as a university professor and contract as a geomatic engineer for private companies. Soon he is asked by his best friend Godfredo from school to join in with his fathers competing team for the new Panama Canal expansion design project.
Now the author begins to layer into the story levels of intrigue, deceit, and political chess games to control which country wins the contract to implement this huge project. There are political reasons for the United States, China, Japan, Germany and Britain to want to control this expansion. But what about the silence from China?
We will meet Karis Deen, a Smithsonian environmental researcher at the Tropical Institute in Panama. She has secrets the reader will learn a bit later in the book.
It is a varied cast of characters with secret agendas and lots of political power to pull strings and influence the outcome of who wins not only the design but can bring the project to completion at the lowest cost. And about China….there is a twist written in this story which is very clever!
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.
The Panama Canal is undergoing an expansion, which is big business. And with big business comes politics, greed and deception. Max Burns is the geomatic engineer on the winning team, and the likely pawn to be used by all the big players.
The characters are well-developed, although I didn’t see how Max’s extremely wealthy family and his engagement added to the story. I suppose it was to be able to put Max at a boarding school with the wealthy, thereby giving him connections, but the same could have been true if he had been given a scholarship. So much time was spent on his past that I thought it would figure into the book later. The story is paced well, dialog is believable, there just wasn’t enough intrigue. It was predictable. As well, I really had hoped for more historical background on the building of the canal, beyond a cursory information I might find on Wikipedia.
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