Saturday, October 10, 2015

Review of Rick Barry's 'The Methuselah Project'

I recently finished reading The Methuselah Project by Rick Barry, and I enjoyed it! It is a great combination of historical fiction and science fiction. I'm not typically a science fiction reader, but our family loves the storylines found in Marvel comics; from the description of the novel, it looked like The Methuselah Project would have a Captain America feel to the plot and dialogue. Thankfully, the novel remained very original even though the hero Roger underwent experiments during WWII and cannot age--which is very similar to the experience of Captain America in the Marvel Comics.

The chapters within the novel jump back and forth between two story lines; the first is Roger Greene's, which begins in 1943 as he flies a fighter plane over Hitler's Germany. His plane is shot down, and Roger becomes a POW. As this storyline progresses, Roger discovers he isn't a 'regular' POW and is part of a secretive experiment & plan of Hitler's and Roger is now a key component of the Methuselah Project. The second storyline belongs to Katherine Mueller, a young woman living in Georgia in 2014. She is receiving military-type training from her Uncle Kurt and they are both part of the Heritage Organization--Kurt having been part of the organization for a very long time, and Katherine still in the early stages of her training and knowledge. While you know there must be something that will connect the Heritage Organization back to Roger's imprisonment, you are left wondering throughout most of the novel exactly how they connect and if your various guesses will be correct. The anticipation made it hard to put the novel down to do other things!

Ingrained within both storylines you will find strong character development & mystery, experience empathy, and anxiously await the collision of the two storylines. When is does occur--in March 2015--you get drawn into a whole new level of action & suspense.

The Methuselah Project ended in the best way I can convey as possible--my desire for Rick Barry to write a sequel! I really don't want to give any other details about this novel, because it's so much more fun to read a book and discover things for yourself.

* I received a complimentary copy of The Methuselah Project in exchange for my honest review*
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Book info

About the book: The Methuselah Project (Kregel, September 2015)

Nazi scientists started many experiments. One never ended.

Roger Greene is a war hero. Raised in an orphanage, the only birthright he knows is the feeling that he was born to fly. Flying against the Axis Powers in World War II is everything he always dreamed---until the day he's shot down and lands in the hands of the enemy.

When Allied bombs destroy both his prison and the mad genius experimenting on POWs, Roger survives. Within hours, his wounds miraculously heal, thanks to those experiments. The Methuselah Project is a success---but this ace is still not free. Seventy years later, Roger hasn't aged a day, but he has nearly gone insane. This isn't Captain America---just a lousy existence only made passable by a newfound faith. The Bible provides the only reliable anchor for Roger's sanity and his soul. When he finally escapes, there's no angelic promise or personal prophecy of deliverance, just confusion. It's 2015---and the world has become an unrecognizable place.
Katherine Mueller---crack shot, genius, and real Southern Belle---offers to help him find his way home. Can he convince her of the truth of his crazy story? Can he continue to trust her when he finds out she works for the very organization he's trying to flee?

Thrown right into pulse-pounding action from the first page, readers will find themselves transported back in time to a believable, full-colored past, and then catapulted into the present once more. The historical back-and-forth adds a constantly moving element of suspense to keep readers on the edge of their seats.

Purchase a copy: 
http://bit.ly/1GcsGbS
About the author:
  
Rick Barry is the author of Gunner's Run, another World War II novel, Kiriath's Quest, and over 200 articles and fiction stories. In addition to being a World War II buff, he is the director of church planting ministries at BIEM, a Christian ministry operating in Eastern Europe. He holds a degree in foreign languages, speaks Russian, and has visited Europe more than fifty times. Rick lives in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Connect with Rick online: 
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