Review: The Athena Project by Brad Thor

From the inside cover: “When a terrorist attack in Rome kills more than twenty Americans, Athena Team members Gretchen Casey, Julie Ericsson, Megan Rhodes, and Alex cooper are tasked with hunting down the Venetian arms dealer responsible for providing the explosives. But there is more to the story than anyone knows.”

                                

The Athena Project is an interesting mix of science fiction, thriller, mystery and historical fiction. What I liked most about this book was the WWII back story of Nazi experiments which resurface in a horrifying way. The all-girl Delta Force team kicks butt all over Europe as they parachute, karate chop, BASE jump, kidnap and breach and clear bad guy hide outs… all while dressed to kill, in both senses of the phrase.  

The characters could have used a lot more development. Most of the time, the girls were little more than stereotypes. I felt this book might have been called “Bond Girls Strike Back.” The Athena team reminded me of Bond girls but with more brains. Do you remember Bambi and Thumper from Diamonds are Forever? The girl body guards whoop 007 up pretty good before Bond regains the upper hand…anyways! The Athena girls are about as shallow as the Bond girls but they get the job done for King and Country…except they’re not British but American. The slim character development was the only major problem I had with the book. I found the story interesting and exciting and there was plenty of action. Do be aware that this is the first of a trilogy; however, I think The Athena Project has good closure and works well as a standalone novel.

Some may recall that I’m not normally a mystery/thriller type of reader. In an earlier post I talked about how the covers don’t usually draw me in. I’ve only had fair success with the genre, generally feeling unaffected to mildly entertained when finished reading. So, I’m not the target audience. Nonetheless, I had fun reading this book. I can envision The Athena Project becoming a movie and won’t be surprised if it does become one someday.

Publisher: Atria Books, 2010      Pages: 324

Rating: 3 Stars                                Source: As a Shelf Awareness subscriber I received The Athena Project for free from the publisher. Thanks, Atria!