The Morgenstern Project by David Khara (Consortium #3)

The Morgenstern Project is the third novel in the Consortium trilogy by the French author David Khara. I loved the first two books in the series, so when I saw the third book also translated to English, I grabbed a copy from Netgalley right away.

I knew I’d have another winner in my hands with The Morgenstern Project, and I was right.

If you haven’t read the previous books in the series, in a nutshell they all focus on Eytan Morg (Morgenstern), a guy who has one main mission in life: to kill as many Nazi war criminals as he can, including those who tortured him so many years ago, along with unmasking and defeating the big, dangerous and secretive Consortium corporation.

While doing so he also stops to help various people in trouble, which makes him a well loved (and feared) hero.

The first book, The Bleiberg Project was named after the Nazi scientist who loved to experiment with concentration camp victims (Eytan was one of the few survivors of these experiments). The Shiro Project, the second book, refers to a Japanese general, Shiro Ishii, who again loved experimenting with and torturing his subjects.

When I saw the title of the 3rd book, I knew it would be all about Eytan Morg, maybe even more so than before. Now we find Eytan back with some old friends we’ve met in the first book, Jeremy and Jackie, who are now married, all ready for another exciting and dangerous adventure.

I grew quite fond of the couple in the first book, they were great characters and I enjoyed the deep friendship that developed between them and Eytan.

While reading the story I couldn’t stop noticing just how right the title was chosen for it. Indeed this book is all about Eytan. Everyone wants him, wants to dissect and study him. No wonder, since Eytan is the one man who seems to have beaten the odds (due to the Nazi experiments on him) and is still looking young even though he’s over 80 by now.

Sadly being Eytan’s friend these days means being in danger, because all the agencies that want him will stop at nothing – including threatening the lives of his friends – to get him by any means necessary.

So Eytan is back now not only to defeat the bad guys, but also to protect his dear old friends.

We also meet here Avi and Eli, and we get to learn a lot of their past history with Eytan. We meet a very young Eytan having escaped from the Nazis and running until he meets the people who will become his new family and friends.

I had a blast learning so much more about Morg here and enjoyed the transition from the first book, where Eytan was an enigmatic and charismatic disappearing hero – to finally discover all about him, about his history and literally what makes him tick.

If I have to compare the Consortium books, this third one is the best. The writing is much smoother, really polished and engaging. The characters are well fleshed out and we get to see a lot of their development and progression here. The story has just as much fast paced action as before, while also giving us several emotional moments (some that almost got me teared up at times).

Overall I loved The Morgenstern Project and if the series is to end, it stands in a great place right now. And if David Khara chooses to continue the series, the ending leaves an opening for that as well.

A wonderful book and a wonderful series overall.