• Body of Lies

  • A Novel
  • By: David Ignatius
  • Narrated by: Dick Hill
  • Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
  • 3.8 out of 5 stars (551 ratings)

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Body of Lies  By  cover art

Body of Lies

By: David Ignatius
Narrated by: Dick Hill
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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)

What listeners say about Body of Lies

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

A Matter of Perspective

I have been reading many negative comments about Dick Hill as a narrator and one reviewer even said that if the book had been read by Scott Brick it would have been better. Personally I avoid books read by Scott Brick. To me he is to audible books what William Shatner is to acting. On the contrary, Dick Hill is one of my favorite readers. I became accustom to his voice with many of the Harry Bosch novels by Michael Conneley. In my opinion he was a definite plus for this book.

That said, I also rate the book four stars on it's own merits. It was interesting, believable and action packed. A good spy novel if you like that genre. I highly recommend it

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28 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Body of Lies

The narrator is difficult to understand. He has a tendency to make the first letter of some words silent. Ferris becomes 'erris, etc. This also happens frequently to the second syllables to words that the narrator is trying to emphasize, but is actually obscuring them. I wish I had known how difficult it would be to listen to this book with this narrator before I bought the audio. Offering this for future listeners - maybe this is a book that needs to be read.

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18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Body of Lies

This book takes some time to get into, but once it gets going the suspense is like an avalanche. As the main character develops he becomes a very human CIA agent, with real emotions and failings, not the fictional superspy who never makes mistakes. But he grows quickly and at the end becomes fully mature and very wise. This is about an effort by the CIA to uncover a terrorist cell that is operating throughout Europe and the Middle East and also involves a high level Jordanian agent who helps bring the story together. I couldn't put the book down toward the end and the climax was extraordinary and quite unexpected. All-in-all a very intelligently written story. I don't agree with the criticism of the narrator by other reviewers. He was not the best I've heard but he was good, the middle-eastern accents of those characters very well done and he kept the story going for me. I give this one four stars.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

good story but poor narration

the story was ok but the narration terrible. i gave up after about 4 hours. in the hands of someone like scott brick this would have been great. avoid Dick Hill at all costs!!!!

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

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.



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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Baahhh...wasted time

Narration was about a 2/5. Not the best. Accents change and you can't tell which Arab character he's referring to at times. The story was about a 1.5/5. Politically motivated (which has nothing to do with the plot), unbelievable and predictable at times. There's one real sappy, whiny, dull CIA protagonist and he should have died at the end assuring us of no more from this man. I hope the terrorists are as dumb as the book portrays.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

I really enjoyed this book, I walked my self to exhaustion around Chicago rather then return to my hotel just to finish it. None finer in this genre. More please.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Artificial, unrealistic story

The plot of this novel has as a hero a totally self-centered, egotistical idiot. His acceptance at face value by every other character is completely unbelievable. It is really not worth the time it takes to listen to it.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Very Good

if you like CIA fiction, you will like this. Like Clancy

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

not that good

a fairly complex set of plot twists i felt were maybe disguised to fix continiuity flaws, as with any spy novel surprise and previously un mentioned characters or events can save the author from inconsistencies

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4 people found this helpful