At the end of World War II, a French female agent (gender consistent with book's premise) parachutes from a plane with secret Nazi documents known as the Kammler dossiers. These documents contain some of the most promising scientific and military projects of that era. One of these experiments, known as Angel's Gate or the Kammler Device, could literally fax people and objects thru space and time.

The device was kept at a facility in the Czech Republic but was allegedly destroyed at the end of the war. Operation Paperclip, the American project at that time which gathered as many German scientists as possible, corroborated that this technology existed. Fast forward to the present: Leslie Paxton, the head of the technological branch of the Department of Defense, has reason to believe that a discovery in the jungles of South America points to its current existence.

The Athena Project is sent to discover if the research complex 550 feet below a castle in the Czech Republic where the Nazis were doing research on "miraculous minerals" which could bend or absorb radar waves is still operative. If this is indeed the case, this could mean the quantum teleportation of a bomb device.

Along the way, they deliver an Italian arms dealer to Scot Horvath and battle with members of the Russian mafia who are sponsoring a scientist in Croatia intent on updating this World War II technology. Simultaneously in Denver, Colorado, a foreign spy is trying to gather information about a secret project under Denver International Airport.

The female protagonists of The Athena Project certainly resemble Charlie's Angels. They are beautiful, strong and engaging, if not particularly well developed by Thor. Their banter is much lighter and obviously more feminine than we would expect from Scot, et. al. The Athena Project is thankfully missing the extensive political discussion in other Thor novels. Overall, The Athena Project is a much more lighthearted thriller, easy to read, and hopefully the start of another Brad Thor series.

--Jerry Solot