The Athena Project

A Thriller

By: Brad Thor

Narrated by: Elizabeth Marvel

From #1 New York Times and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author Brad Thor, four deadly women from the top-secret Athena Project join Delta Force as they undertake one of the nation’s most dangerous assignments.

The world’s most elite counterterrorism unit has just taken its game to an entirely new level. And not a moment too soon...

From behind the rows of razor wire, a new breed of counterterrorism operator has emerged.

Just as skilled, just as fearsome, and just as deadly as their colleagues, Delta Force’s newest members have only one thing setting them apart—their gender. Part of a top-secret, all-female program codenamed The Athena Project, four of Delta’s best and brightest women are about to undertake one of the nation’s deadliest assignments.

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.

In the jungles of South America, a young US intelligence officer has made a grisly discovery. Surrounded by monoliths covered with Runic symbols, one of America’s greatest fears appears to have come true. Simultaneously in Colorado, a foreign spy is close to penetrating the mysterious secret the US government has hidden beneath Denver International Airport.

As Casey, Ericsson, Rhodes, and Cooper close in on their target, they will soon learn that another attack—one of unimaginable proportions—has already been set in motion, and the greatest threat they face may be the secrets kept by their own government.

Great Concept Not Fully Developed

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I enjoyed the book, but it was a spin-off that did not stand on its own. If this had been the first Brad Thor book I had read/listened to I would not have looked for more of his work.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

The ending was fine.

What three words best describe Elizabeth Marvel’s voice?

Great voice/voices

Was The Athena Project worth the listening time?

It was worth listening to but raw.

Any additional comments?

Brad Thor does a great job writing about a hero with a supporting cast. The Athena project had a team of heroines without a central heroine. There just was not enough depth to warrant a team. The conflict situations moved too quickly for team action. The characters were not developed well enough to hold your attention in team action.. The dialogue between team members was minimal.

With a team I think every character must has a singular awesome purpose. While some characters on the team are said to do this or be better at that, none really demonstrated their hero status in any situation. I actually found this better demonstrated in the Athenas in another Brad Thor book with Scott Harvath as the protagonist.

When I first started listening to the book there is a very kick-butt scene, and I thought Brad Thor had nailed it, but other than that one scene there really was nothing else.

All of Brad Thor books that I have read/listened too have been popcorn and peanuts hero, action, intrigue. This book is no different, and it is fun from that stand point, but none of the characters were as well developed as Harvath or Nicholas. This means that they were not as interesting.

OVERRATED

The story of 4 female super US agents that are in the role of black op agents. They make more mistakes and still tell how great they are. The narrator with her diff. voices does an ok job, but the plot is thin and the girls sound like a bunch of Class B actors. A book I for sure would had never bought if I had known the story line and players. I hope all of Thors books are not like this, although I think I had bought another one his books and it was just as bad.

BRAD is the auTHORity

A great story. Intriguing and very entertaining. Everything you'd expect in a Scot Harvath novel.

Not your typical Scott Harvath

The narrator was not as good as I had expected made it hard to tell when what character was speaking in extended dialogues. There was a lot more joking and poking at character jest fully which was a change of pace. Over all a decent read but a different narrator would have made a world of difference.

Not a Scott Harvath story

I got the book because it was part of the Scott Harvath series. He made a cameo in the story, but it was really about the female Delta team from the last book.