Body of Lies

A Novel

By: David Ignatius

Narrated by: Dick Hill

Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Roger Ferris is one of the CIA's soldiers in the war on terrorism. He has come out of Iraq with a shattered leg and an intense mission: to penetrate the network of a master terrorist known only as "Suleiman". Ferris' plan for getting inside Suleiman's tent is inspired by a masterpiece of British intelligence during World War II: he prepares a body of lies, literally the corpse of an imaginary CIA officer who appears to have accomplished the impossible by recruiting an agent within the enemy's ranks.

This scheme binds friend and foe in a web of extraordinary subtlety and complexity, and when it begins to unravel, Ferris finds himself flying blind into a hurricane. His only hope is the urbane head of Jordan's intelligence service - a man who might be an Arab version of John le Carre's celebrated spy, George Smiley. But can Ferris trust him?

©2007 David Ignatius (P)2007 Tantor Media Inc.

Critic reviews

"Vividly rendered locales, clever plotting, some compelling characters, and a discomforting verisimilitude." (Booklist)
"Displaying his trademark expertise and writing skill, Washington Post columnist Ignatius...has crafted one of the best post-9/11 spy thrillers yet." (Publishers Weekly)

Very enjoyable

There were about 5 parts that seems like they were added as an afterthought. Otherwise, I enjoyed the story and the performance. Get the book, you won't be disappointed.

Excellent Stuff

Really enjoyed this book... Espionage is my favorite genre. This did not disappoint! The characters and plot were believable, the performance did the job.

Realistic and believable. I don't this is fiction.

Love Dick Hill. This book has me listening into midnite. Could hardly put it down.

What is the Truth

This is very confusing at the start. As I get into it, more confusion. Too many characters. Things got better at the end.

Intense storyline ~ audio drawbacks

The story was intriguing and admittedly a bit over my head being in the Near East. I love Dick Hill as a narrator. However, whoever edited the narration did a bad job. The transition from the end of one chapter to the next was more like a run on sentence. Literally went from the last sentence to saying "Chapter X" without even a pause. This was distracting and happened throughout, not just s few times. Plot had great spy twists, just not my favorite.

Interesting technical spy craft details help keep the story moving forward.

Narrator has an irritating way of emphasizing too many words that don’t need emphasizing. It’s as if he thinks the listener will miss the author’s meaning unless he, the narrator, adds his overly dramatic emphasis.

great read!

didn't see the movie, loved the book!

all lies

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

the reader having a better style of reading very boring droning voice

What do you think your next listen will be?

d.e.d anything read by peter hoskings or david treddink

Would you be willing to try another one of Dick Hill’s performances?

no

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

don,t know could not get passed first 20 minutes and that was a struggle

A for idea, F for execution

As a journanist the author is familiar with the Middle-East and his insight is informative. Unfortunately his prose is second-rate. His characters are not believeable. No right-minded CIA boss would leave Ferris in the field; he's a jerk.

The reader's notion of the female voice is pathetic.

I recommend your avoid the author and the reader.

Body of Lies Unabridged

Each day of listening to this book I kept waiting for it to get better. It lacks a human connection to the main character. Try as I might, I just couldn't get into it. Finally I gave up. This happens rarely for me. How can you not enjoy a book being read to you? But, I did not enjoy this one.