A great story idea

An excellent story idea but the narration and story lets it down in the end. I did not finish this book wanting more, its almost like the author ran out of time and finished it of in a hurry. The characters are not completely believable or likeable.
I am unlikely to read any more in this series.

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Narrator needs a new career

Gerlis is is a top writer. The story is involved, detailed and gripping. The narrator however, isn’t. He lacks any nuance and does not seem to think about the words he is reading. Any accent he attempts is at best half-hearted. I struggle with why the publisher persists with Bush. Critchlow brings The Best of Spies and The Swiss Spy to life but this book was almost killed by the poor narrator.

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A very enjoyable listen.

Set at the end of WWII this is a spy story to keep you fascinated. The characters are well rounded and believable as are their adventures. Not as wildly elaborate as a James Bond story, but very worth the listen. I’m about to move on to the next book. So it must be good!

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5 people found this helpful

A good yarn badly read.

A good story spoiled by poor narration.
it sounded like the recording was made on the narrator's first read through. This was very disappointing as a result.

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1 person found this helpful

Great Book

Thanks a really good listen, interesting well paced plot with lots of twists and unexpected turns. Unfortunately let down with some dreadful German pronunciation!

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Excellent historical fiction

Very good audio book highly recommendable. You almost feel like walking through war-thorn Vienna.

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an interesting read

period details add to the atmosphere in war torn Europe in this fine book, well narrated and written.

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Another very interesting book in the series with good narration.

I enjoyed the previous two books and also this book. The story is engaging and interesting and I look forward to reading the next book in this series. Thank you for the epilogue which was really helpful for future research.

A word on the narrator as I was nearly put off listening to this from other reviews. The first two books had an amazing narrator and must have been hard to follow. This narrator does a good job and is easy to listen to. I had no problem at all with his narration. Overall a fantastic set of books which are well researched.

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Awful Narrator

I listened to the first two books and thought they were great stories with superb narration.

I didn’t realise they had changed narrators and the new one was awful. Completely ruined the book. I note that he also narrates the next one. I won’t be buying it.

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Gentle style but tense thriller!

What I found very interesting and unusual is that such a tense thriller could have a gentle writing style and a story that was not action-packed. Rather, the details and pace seemed realistic (so not like Kiefer Sutherland's 24). Historically the description of the period and wartime Vienna was incredibly interesting and thought-provoking - as a reader I really felt I understood it and could almost experience it.

Very happy to have listened to this!

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1 person found this helpful