First, the Excerpt (and skip below for the review & the giveaway)

“I mean seriously, what the hell are we doing here?” Hansen said. “There’s nothing but fucking rocks and sand that’ll wreck this tin can. I spend hours cleaning the engine every time we get back to base. Why’d they send only one team to check out the area if it’s a danger zone? Isn’t that messed up?”

“You’re a Marine, man. You knew what you signed up for,” Terry teased. “We’re a recon unit, so…”

“Chill. I know what we’re supposed to be doing. But does that mean we have to like being out here all by ourselves with our asses exposed? This is the perfect setup for an ambush.”

“We’re not exactly by ourselves. They’ve assigned us a backup chopper. So shut up. I’m trying to focus. And you two in the back, stay alert.”

Twenty minutes went by with only the steady roar of the Humvee engine and the whir of the helicopter blades.

Too many hiding spots for the enemy, Terry thought as he inspected the dry rolling landscape. They could surge out at any second.

An abrupt swerve threw all four passengers against the side of the Humvee. Hansen slammed on the brakes, inciting a chorus of protests.

“Just a small technical problem! Instead of giving me shit, how about you cover me,” he ordered.

Hansen opened the door and leaped out of the vehicle, followed by his fellow Marines. The newbies stationed themselves on each side of the Humvee. They lowered themselves into firing position, one knee on the ground.

Hansen made his way around the vehicle and opened the hood.

“God dammit! Shit!”

“What’s going on?” Terry barked as he approached his partner, his eyes still fixed on the surroundings.

“Broken drive shaft and an oil leak the size of Niagara Falls, Sergeant,” Hansen said, kicking the bumper. “And the tires are blown.”

“Did you hit any rocks?” Terry asked.

“No, I swear I didn’t!”

“Can you get us out of here?”

“Not in this piece of junk. It’s a good thing our loving commanders provided us with… Hold up, where’d the fucking chopper go?”

Terry looked up and searched the sky. Preoccupied with the vehicle, he hadn’t noticed the disappearance of their aerial support.

“I can’t believe it,” he grumbled as he held down the switch on the transmitter attached to his protective vest. “Vanguard to command, our vehicle is immobilized in the middle of unfriendly territory.”

“Command to vanguard, copy that loud and clear,” a choppy voice confirmed.

“Would you be kind enough to inform us of the whereabouts of our backup chopper?”

“Command to vanguard, we’re checking on that.”

“That’s right. Check on it, asshole. And take your sweet time,” Terry sneered after cutting off the transmission.

Beneath the wrecked Humvee, Hansen was cursing up a storm. When he came out a few seconds later, he was wearing a worried look, one that Terry had never seen on him before.

“Dude, there are shards of metal under there. Something busted up our ride.”

“Are you serious? What? A mine would have vaporized us.”

There was no time to get to the bottom of it. Terry knew they couldn’t stay out in the open.

“Guys, we’ll station ourselves in twos behind the rocks on either side of the hill over there,” he ordered. “Hansen’s with Baker. Charlie’s with me. We’ll cover each other while we wait for the cavalry. Go!”

The men started running toward their posts.

The first shot snagged Charlie in the arm. He fell to the sand with all the weight of his massive body. Seconds later another blast caught Baker and sent him flying through the air. He landed on his back, a hole in his belly.

Cut off before they could reach the hill, Terry and Hansen dashed back to the busted vehicle, their only shelter under what was now heavy fire. They hoped to cut off the invisible assailants’ field of vision.

My Review

I absolutely could not wait to get my hands on this book. I’d already devoured the other two books in the series (The Bleiberg Project & The Shiro Project), and I hoped this one would be just as good.

I was not disappointed. As a reader, we find out yet more about the enigmatic Eytan Morgenstern, and this time accompany him, and Eli and Jeremy & Jackie on a fantastic trip. However, my favourite parts of this book were the historical sections, where Khara has given more background on Eytan once he escaped the clutches of Bleiberg. These pieces fit well into the present narrative, deepening the reader’s understanding of Eytan. And the present narrative itself kept me on the edge of my seat, wondering if Eytan and his friends would escape the American military, and the designs of the Consortium.

This book is a fantastic thriller, and not to be missed. I’d even say that it’d be likely that one could read this as a stand-alone novel, but I’d really recommend starting with The Bleiberg Project first.

The Morgenstern Project

(thriller)

(translated by Sophie Weiner)

Release date: April 9, 2015
at Le French Book

260 pages

ISBN: 978-1939474353

Website | Goodreads

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French author David Khara, a former journalist,
top-level sportsman, and entrepreneur,
is a full-time writer. Khara wrote his first novel–a vampire thriller–in 2010, before starting his Consortium thriller series. The first thriller in the series, The Bleiberg Project, was an instant success in France, catapulting Khara into the ranks of the countryís top thriller writers.

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ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR

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