Review: A fun, not-very-deep, conspiracy-laden thriller
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 30, 2013
First in the Consortium thriller series revolving around a secret underground agency set on remaking the world.My TakeThis was good with a cast of characters with whom I empathized and cried for. ...I don't think I'll ever understand evil, other than that it exists.I was conflicted over a "3" or a "4" and chose to rank it up simply because it was a treat to read---no grammatical issues to leap out and trip my eyeballs up and very nicely translated by Simon John.xThe story incorporates flashbacks---and I'm very grateful for the notice at each chapter start that tells me where I am in the story!---that flash over a range of decades from Hitler's imprisonment for the Beer Hall Putsch in 1923 to Jay's memories of his childhood.I thought Khara was reasonably evenhanded in how he treated soldiers in the German army, pointing out that they and the German people didn't have a lot of choice with how the Jews were treated nor did he pull his punches with how most Germans thought of Jews. Yes, it was contradictory, but isn't that human nature?It does make me wonder, if all the Germans who thought the destruction of people who were different was wrong, what if they had risen up together to protest? Instead of huddling alone with their hands over their eyes, ears, and mouths. As disgusting and horrific as it was, we really can't point fingers and say we'd never do that. Because we all have in some way. Today we're making headway on not seeing homosexuality as "catching", accepting them as individuals with the same rights as other individuals. Consider how African Americans were---and still are---treated. How about the current profiling of Arabic-looking people? And that just covers Americans! What about the stupidity in the Middle East? Tribal conflicts in Africa?? Sorry, soapbox, getting off it...Of course, the Nazi leaders quite rightly are portrayed as the monsters they are. Right along with the Consortium agents! I put the "auction" of German scientists at the end of WWII right up there as an evil act. Yeah, I understand the pragmatism, but I don't understand the collusion. How did they sleep at night? Oh, wait, evil. Conscience-less. Politicians.Oh, crack me up! I love Jay's response to Morg wanting to send them home..."...I guess you were right---no boots, no chainsaws, not even a weed-whacker. We are seriously under-equipped!"It's a clichéd story that Khara twists into interesting, but my problem with The Bleiberg Project is its lack of depth, which in turn contributes to a lack of real tension or drama. Yeah, there's lots of action and you'll cheer with Morg as he takes out the bad guys right and left. And you can't help but laugh at? with? Jay as he does his stumbling best through a heartrending trip into the past. But Khara misses so many fabulous opportunities to make me cry, to make me race through the story, flipping pages as fast as I can read. I can't decide if he had a restriction on how many pages he was allowed, or if he simply never got past putting some flesh on his outline.I loved how he told us about Jay---no info dumps here. He provides Jay's background and his current state of mind through his grieving and what he thinks of his life. Colorful, informative, and empathic. Although he could have been just a touch more clear on that pivotal night. I had to work for it. His depiction of Morg is, oddly enough, cheerful, considering that he's a very efficient and practical killing machine! I liked Morg, and by the time I finished the story, I liked him even more. Khara kept up a nice level of tension about where Morg stood with regards to Jay. A little more work would have made it even better. The John Stewart infiltration could use a bit more clarity as well."Enlightened" dictators? A way to reduce an excess of population? Jesus...Khara is amazingly descriptive and he weaves a good ninety percent of it in so very well. I felt the hope and the horror, not enough to make me cry, but still very well. But too many of the events in this are too easy---wait'll you get to the escape just before the end! I'd also like a reason for Jackie's decision at the end... Maybe in Consortium #2?For the conspiracy theorists among us, you'll love Khara's premise for this story. And all too believable...eeek!It's an enjoyable read, especially if you don't like a lot of tension and drama.The StoryA stupid decision resulted in tragedy, one that Jay is attempting to drown. Relief only comes when the people around him start dying and send him off on a retrieval mission.An undertaking that will reveal the truth behind past decisions and even more distant operations.The CharactersJeremy "Jay" Novacek/Corbin is a thirty-one-year-old multimillionaire who does trading on Wall Street. With a tragic childhood, and an even more tragically stupid decision as an adult. His mother, Ann, is in a sad state, living at St. Francis Hospital, and grieving in too many directions to count. A very honorable woman. Lieutenant General Daniel J. Corbin is Jay's absentee father, a man with a mission. One that involves Christopher Durham and Richard Hoffman, fellow fighter pilots who replaced Jake Sokolove and Brian Stabbleford. Ed Jackson is a friend of Daniel's in the military's legal department.Bernard Dean is Jay's boss (president of the board at Eckhart, Dean and Aldrin)---and we eventually find out, his godfather. A man in love with Jay's mother. And Daniel's friend. A man who will look out for his friends' son the best he can. William Pettygrow is a liaison officer at Langley. Jacqueline Walls is a diminutive powerhouse of a CIA agent with her own childhood demons.Eytan Morg is a man driven by his past. He's also a Kidon agent with Metsada inside Mossad, and a man with his own mission. Eli Karman, Morg's boss, is the keeper of Mossad's archives.Reichführer SS Heinrich Himmler who came up with the Jewish Solution and joyfully implemented it. An interesting peek at Rudolf Hess. Hitler has a cameo. John Stewart is a Canadian agent whose interest in this is confusing, and a step along the path. Andrei Kourilyenko was a Russian scientist at the end of World War II; an end run around him changed his life. I have to confess I did laugh, at the time, at what happened. I wasn't laughing at the end...At Stutthof Concentration Camp, 1942SS Horst Geller has joined the SS to protect his family and ensure his survival; now he's a guard in Poland. Herr Doktor Viktor Bleiberg who covered his psychopathic tendencies under his scientific brilliance, is very interested in radiation, nuclear physics, and chemistry. Subject 302 was Bleiberg's breakthrough. And explains that obsession with shaving...makes you want to cry.Dr. Morganstern, his wife, and sons are just a few of the Jews denounced by their fellows and force marched to concentration camps.The ConsortiumChristian Delmar and Adamet Epartxegui make a bargain with Hitler. Bob Delmar is his son and hasn't much good to say about him. Elena is a vicious assassin.Deep Zone--or as Morg calls it, the Temple of the Imbeciles--is a bookstore that sells games, Jay's kind of games, owned by Planic, a retired scientist. Annick is Planic's nurse.Morg's World is another bookstore similar to Deep Zone.The CoverThe cover is a colorful collage of oranges and a slash of bright pink in secret-agency land with the ubiquitous circular chart and gun; I liked the legs(!) and the swastika nested inside the "o".The title is the conflict, the horror the Consortium intends to perpetrate upon the world, The Bleiberg Project.