The Expansion by Christoph Martin Is a intriguing story. I didn't expect this much of adrenaline from reading a book but it does keep a good story with a good fast paced development. The conflict is centered around the Panama Canal, a very interesting point to the plot. Along with the different characters,
The expansions builds a story with strong points in the narrative. The descriptions are almost minimal, due the genre it centers more on the action side.
In conclusion: a very nicely written thriller, i'll be keeping tabs on the author and his work.

Greed, deceit, and corruption at the Panama Canal. It's a twisty tale that will keep you turning the pages.

Mild political thriller without a lot of tension. Well written and I enjoyed reading it, but it didn’t light any fires.

The story took a long time to get to the point and then the issue was resolved very quickly and without a lot of trouble. I felt this part could really have been expanded upon (did you see what I did there?) and a little more drama created.

Obviously set up for a sequel.

I received a free copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an impartial review.

This book started out very slowly but once initial story line and characters were known it became a cant put down story!!!

This book is everything a psychological thriller/mystery should be! The author created characters that are well developed and a plot that moves along quickly! I found myself completely immersed in this one! Highly recommend!

<http://freshfiction.com/review.php?id=65632>

Espionage and engineering in this thriller set
around the Panama Canal.

I found "The Expansion" to be an okay read but not quite as good as I expected. I enjoy political thrillers but I found the book hard to get into at first. It does pick up but then I found myself putting it down to read other books and reluctant to read again. I am sure some other people will enjoy the book much more than I did. The style of writing was not for me.

A interesting first novel, something of a slow start, but improves after a few chapters. Not your usual thriller, with good character development.
A author to follow!

The Expansion is a slow burn of a crime mystery. Set in Panama it focuses on a group of scientists and financiers bidding for the expansion of the Panama Canal, the Expansion of the title. Whilst the characters and the premise of the novel were interesting, the author focussed too much on the backstory of the protagonist to make the story a fast paced and exciting story, and the ending was somewhat abrupt.

I couldn't finish this one. I got about a quarter through and realized I didn't care about any of it.

Thriller
Adult
Putting in a bid to engineer the expansion of the Panama Canal is an opportunity hydrogeologist and engineer Max Burns simply cannot pass up. If they win, it will be an amazing career achievement. Even the bid is a lengthy commitment, so when Max jumps on board, his fiancée calls off the engagement. But there’s plenty of positives for the good-looking engineer, including catch-up time with his boarding school buddy Godfredo Roco, who, along with his father Paco Roco, is heading the bid submission. Fredo hasn’t changed much – sure, he’s a smart-ass womanizer who lives the high life, but he is fiercely loyal, including to the father whom he hates. Paco is an astute and unscrupulous businessman, determined to beat the competition at any cost. But Paco has his own plans for the project, and Max is poised to become a useful scapegoat. He teams up with biologist Karis Deen, only to find she has some big secrets of her own. The book opens with the unexpected murder/suicide of Max’s parents, setting the stage for Max and Fredo’s unlikely friendship. The pacing then eases to a slow burn, but the last quarter of the book takes off with surprising reveals and twists. Toss in some political backstabbing, double-crossing, and Machiavellian manoeuvres, and you have an impressive plot with a generally well-resolved ending, though one question remains, setting up the reader for a sequel. The characters are quite well-developed, complicated and torn, though I must address what I feel is a deeply sexist slant to the book. The women in the novel are all strong, independent, and smart. But nearly every man treats them as sexual toys, or at best is distracted by their beauty. This pissed me off more than once, but I persisted because overall the plotting and pacing are quite good. Given the recent news around women’s mistreatment in various workplaces, this element cannot be overlooked. It’s Martin’s first book, written with an uncredited co-author Libby O’Loghlin. As this is the first of an intended four titles in the series, I hope they are paying attention and adjust the sexist tone in the sequel. I don’t care if “that’s how business works” – in this book it’s so pervasive it’s deeply offensive. Stop it.
My thanks to the author for the advance reading copy provided through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
The Expansion hasn’t attracted a lot of attention on Goodreads, but you can find a couple of reviews. It did get from nice nod from Kirkus through its Indie program.

The Expansion has a great deal of promise to deal with a number of weighty topics -- political corruption, secret agencies, engineering feats, diplomacy, social class changes, rekindles relationships, etc. It concerns a project to expand the Panama canal to accommodate larger ships and greater volume. Father-son European industrialists the Rocos recruit a former schoolmate of the son's, Max. Max fell from elite prep school echelons to a lowly existence when his parents squandered their fortune. He built himself into a renowned expert, and assembles a team to complete an innovative bid on the expansion; impressive given that they are sequestered on a party resort island.
Of course, the US is intent on winning the bid, given their role in the original canal build and massive interest in foreign trade. Diplomats attempt to engineer the deal; and figure out what is going on with the Chinese.
Fast forward several years, and Max is trying to make the bid work at the lowball budget that won the bid while also golfing with his new buddy, the Chinese ambassador to Panama. Add in some more intrigue, murder, etc., and an shifting allegiances.

This is a terrific first novel about the intrigue of bidding for a contract to expand the Panama Canal and what happens after. The Panama, U.S, Chinese and British governments all play major roles and none are what you might call ethical. If you are a big fan of non-stop shootemups, you may find this book slow, but if you enjoy a plausible, labyrinthine story where none of the characters are lily white, you will devour this book. Thanks to NetGalley for a copy to review.

This was a quick read but very much to the point.. Some great character descriptions and An exciting, fast moving storyline.. Lots of twists and turns and an interesting ending. May be more to follow!

A great start but then slow for a while, which meant it missed the 5th star for me. I persevered because I had been given a review copy, and was please I did as it became really interesting later.

One wouldn't necessarily think of the Panama Canal as being the height of international intrigue but The Expansion brings it to you! The title characters are incredibly likable though they seem somewhat less surprised than you might think they would be to find out that one of them is actually a deep undercover agent for the US. But the premise......the idea of international competition and rivalry for expansion of the Canal as ultimately a cover up for an entire Chinese military operation is surprisingly realistic and beyond interesting. My hope is that Mr. Martin will follow up this work so that we learn just how close we may come to impending doom and a promising new romance? Great work, great read!
This title has been reviewed on the blog listed below, twitter, Facebook, Amazon and Goodreads on 10/26/17.

The competition to win the contracts for the design and construction of the expansion of the Panama Canal provides the background for this novel based on history, albeit very recent history. The CISCO group is a British-based consortium preparing a bid for the multi-billion contract to add a third lane to the canal. Led by Paco Roco and his son Godfredo, the bidding process is arduous and long. They have retained geomatic engineer Max Burns (who went to school with Godfredo until his parents died) and considered to be one of the best in the world to lead their technical effort. And they win the bid. But what did it take to win the bid? And how did the American representatives lose this opportunity to maintain their historical edge in the region? Eventually, (and I really mean eventually) the head of the Panama Canal Administration is murdered (not a spoiler alert as this fact is disclosed in the book summary), and it is then that all the plots and rivalries and underhanded dealings exposed. I have been fascinated by the Panama Canal since we traversed it on a cruise in 2013. So when I had to opportunity to review this book, I jumped at it. Should not have jumped quite so quickly.

The novel caught one's attention from the start although it is necessary to ignore the implausibility of the suicide/murder of the Prologue. The basic idea of the plot surrounding the fictional tender for the expansion of the Panama Canal is good and there is plenty of relevant history and local atmosphere. The twist at the end was well done and not signalled too much in advance - it will be interesting to see hope the writer develops the characters in the next novel - which seems likely to happen. The writer is sometimes slightly uncomfortable in language and I have the impression that English is not the native language. On a small point (which might irritate UK readers, in English football (soccer) as opposed to American football, one refers to "extra time" and not "overtime".

First your hooked, then it slows down, and slows down, and like someone not good a marathon, it just kinda died. I was left going, wait, what? The ending was abrupt and I dislike that a great deal. It makes me feel like something happened and the author just had to sign off and so they closed it out as fast as possible and left.

My copy came from Net Galley. My thoughts and opinions are my own. This review is left of my own free volition.

Whew glad to be out of the tropics. Panama heat shone through the pages. An interesting subject for your classic story of power and corruption. I enjoyed it very much , even down to the not quite love story. I liked the cover too, that is what would make me pick it off the shelf for a closer look.