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  • An Officer and a Spy

  • By: Robert Harris
  • Narrated by: David Rintoul
  • Length: 16 hrs and 4 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (2,394 ratings)

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An Officer and a Spy

By: Robert Harris
Narrated by: David Rintoul
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Summary

They lied to protect their country. He told the truth to save it. A gripping historical thriller from the best-selling author of Fatherland.

January 1895: On a freezing morning in the heart of Paris, an army officer, Georges Picquart, witnesses a convicted spy, Captain Alfred Dreyfus, being publicly humiliated in front of 20,000 spectators baying ‘Death to the Jew!’ The officer is rewarded with promotion: Picquart is made the French army’s youngest colonel and put in command of ‘the Statistical Section’ - the shadowy intelligence unit that tracked down Dreyfus.

The spy, meanwhile, is given a punishment of medieval cruelty: Dreyfus is shipped off to a lifetime of solitary confinement on Devil’s Island - unable to speak to anyone, not even his guards, his case seems closed forever. But gradually Picquart comes to believe there is something rotten at the heart of the Statistical Section. When he discovers another German spy operating on French soil, his superiors are oddly reluctant to pursue it. Despite official warnings, Picquart persists, and soon the officer and the spy are in the same predicament....

Narrated by Picquart, An Officer and a Spy is a compelling recreation of a scandal that became the most famous miscarriage of justice in history. Compelling, too, are the echoes for our modern world: an intelligence agency gone rogue, justice corrupted in the name of national security, a newspaper witch hunt of a persecuted minority, and the age-old instinct of those in power to cover-up their crimes.

©2013 Robert Harris (P)2013 Random House Audiobooks
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What listeners say about An Officer and a Spy

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Enjoyable for every moment

A fantastic combination of great story, great writing and great narration. A must have ! One of the few books I have read and listened to, and one I'll listen to again and again

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Dreyfus revisited- and well done

I've studied the Dreyfus affair in detail in all its crazy injustice, and particularly enjoyed Harris's credible reconstruction.
David Rintoul was a good choice for first-person narrator, the Alsatian Georges Picquart, and pronounces French well generally.
Dreyfus himself is a supporting actor in his own drama, of necessity, as he's chained up in horrid isolation in an uninhabited and unpleasant island at the other end of the Atlantic for much of the time, while others campaign for, or conspire against him.
An important episode in French history which remains significant today.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

very interesting

What made the experience of listening to An Officer and a Spy the most enjoyable?

An excellent perspective on a very complex bit of history

What did you like best about this story?

Learning about a famous event I knew very little about before

What about David Rintoul’s performance did you like?

Even tone, good at different voices

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

A whole army against one man

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic story extremely well read.

I really enjoyed this. It was so well written and historically well researched. The detail was perfect and the style of writing puts the reader or listener right there. Even if you know the basic story, there are many bits I bet you weren't aware of. Congratulations also to David Rintoul who reader this with passion, professionalism and well, just perfectly.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Superb compelling true story

What made the experience of listening to An Officer and a Spy the most enjoyable?

Knowing this is a true story and being swept along by the brilliant reading of the narrator.

What other book might you compare An Officer and a Spy to, and why?

This book has the same taut style as other books by Robert Harries.

Have you listened to any of David Rintoul’s other performances? How does this one compare?

I haven't heard any other books read by David Rintoul but I would be very interested to hear them as I think his ability to give each character his or her own voice is excellent.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Miscarriage of justice and integrity come face to face.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Hard to believe it's based on a true story ..


Gripping story of a tragic case, well narrated
But a little bit hard to pay attention at points due to the sheer volume of detail!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

An extraordinary story, fantastically written and expertly narrated. The tension builds consistently from the first chapter to the last. Absolutely riveting.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Inspiring and yet unbelievable true story

Great narration by Rintoul and a sad but deeply moving true story. Now where can I see the film!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A Gripping Thriller

A gripping thriller with many modern equivalents, set in a meticulously researched historical background.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great story

Really enjoyed the story, but was a little frustrated by the narrator repeatedly mis-pronuncing some French words, e.g Saying Monsieur so that it sounds like Mercier.

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