Istanbul Passage

A Novel

By: Joseph Kanon

Narrated by: Jefferson Mays

Length: 14 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

From the acclaimed, best-selling author of Stardust, The Good German, and Los Alamos - a gripping tale of an American undercover agent in 1945 Istanbul who descends into the murky cat-and-mouse world of compromise and betrayal that will come to define the entire postwar era.

A neutral capital straddling Europe and Asia, Istanbul has spent the war as a magnet for refugees and spies. Even American businessman Leon Bauer has been drawn into this shadow world, doing undercover odd jobs and courier runs for the Allied war effort. Now, as the espionage community begins to pack up and an apprehensive city prepares for the grim realities of postwar life, he is given one more assignment, a routine job that goes fatally wrong, plunging him into a tangle of intrigue and moral confusion.

Played out against the bazaars and mosques and faded mansions of this knowing, ancient Ottoman city, Leon's attempt to save one life leads to a desperate manhunt and a maze of shifting loyalties that threatens his own. How do you do the right thing when there are only bad choices to make? Istanbul Passage is the story of a man swept up in the aftermath of war, an unexpected love affair, and a city as deceptive as the calm surface waters of the Bosphorus that divides it.

Rich with atmosphere and period detail, Joseph Kanon's latest novel flawlessly blends fact and fiction into a haunting thriller about the dawn of the Cold War, once again proving why Kanon has been hailed as the "heir apparent to Graham Greene" (The Boston Globe).

©2012 Simon & Schuster; 2012 Joseph Kanon

Critic reviews

" Istanbul Passage bristles with authenticity. Joseph Kanon has a unique and admirable talent: He brilliantly marries suspense and historical fact, wrapping them around a core of pure human drama, while making it seem effortless. This isn't just talent; it's magic." (Olen Steinhauer, New York Times best-selling author of The Tourist)

"Istanbul Passage is a first-rate espionage novel, filled with complexity and thrills, but its greatest success may be in this much more universal literary exploration: how an ordinary man is transformed by extraordinary circumstances." ( Publishers Weekly)

"With dialogue that can go off like gunfire and a streak of nostalgia that feels timeless, this book takes its place among espionage novels as an instant classic." ( Kirkus Reviews)

Perfect escapist story

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Well crafted story in an unusual setting, with plenty of twists and turns. I could see Istanbul in my mind's eye, and it made me want to visit there.

Old fashion WWII spy novel

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The story was too plotting.

Any additional comments?

The story moved slowly. It reads like a 1950's WWII spy novel. Just so-so.

Great atmosphere and set in unusual time and place

I have read and listened to several of Joseph Kanon's books and they have all been excellent. This one is different than the usual WWII spy thriller but fascinating none the less. Set in Istanbul just after WWII has ended and full of interesting characters and intrigue. Highly recommended!

enjoyable story.

I like the Intrigue and political maneuvering. the description of the environment was enjoyable, some of the scenes or a bit graphic for my taste.

Well crafted, immersive story with a weak ending

I just returned from Istanbul before reading this novel and it absolutely transported me back to the Bosporus. The attention to detail and atmospheric writing are wonderful. I very much enjoyed the book, but I have a few issues.

The plot has lots of twists and turns, as you would expect. Unfortunately, many of the twists are treated as "the big reveal" where the character spends pages and pages assigning blame and motive to various characters. Only the, there is another twist which undoes most, but not all, of the previous revelations. This gets confusing after the third or fourth, "so he was or wasn't a Russian spy...?"

The main character is a novice in the spy world which makes him relatable, but implausible as someone the higher-ups would give increasing responsibility to. It gets less convincing as the novel goes on.

Further, I never understood the main character's motivation for risking everything when there were easy solutions dangled before him at every turn. Maybe I missed it, but I didn't think the author demonstrated what pushed him to make the choices he did.

Overall, a very good book that I thoroughly enjoyed. Not perfect, but worth the time if you enjoy thrillers that immerse you in a place and time.

Post-WWII atmospheric spy v spy

Any additional comments?

Warning: there is a description of a Holocaust atrocity in this book. Personally I tend to avoid books with details on atrocities. If you can get past that the book is strong on atmosphere replicating in print and in Istanbul the ambiance of the movie Casablanca. It’s post WWII and spy vs. spy is undergoing changing allegiances. Leone, an occasional hired hand of the US consulate conducts clandestine operations. He is asked to pick up and deliver freight.” The freight is a Nazi with information of interest to the US. The intrigue begins and gets complicated but easy to follow. The writing style is a few notches below literary and is at times melodramatic. Occasionally it skirts the edge of pulp fiction before scampering back to first rate descriptions of Istanbul. The ending is a bit drawn out with a surprise that many readers will surmise prior to its revelation. All in all the book is not a bad rendering of the first freeze of the cold war in a colorful setting.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Bazaar Trader

I've never been to Istanbul but after this book I'm intrigued to do so. It sound like a fascinating place. The different neighbourhoods sound most interesting and the history wonderful.

However, this is no travelogue its a spy story set in immediately post war Turkey. Spy novels are not normally my thing but I needed something lightish to listen to on holiday and in particular a long flight. This met those needs perfectly. Its not literature and doesn't pretend to be but it is a good story and well told. There were times when the action was as slow as treacle but that was just building up the suspense for there were times the action moved so fast I was out of breath!

It was a good holiday listen and Jefferson Mays did a good job of narrating and getting his tongue round some of those Turkish names.

Boring and Tedious

This has to be one of the most boring and tedious espionage books I have listened to. Only the narrator saves it. The plot sounds fairly exciting. The main character, Leon, acts as a part time courier for am official, Tommy, at the British Embassy. The opening scene is exciting. Leon is at the docks awaiting a boat which is brining a Romanian defector with USSR/KGB secrets for the Americans. Gun fire erupts and Leon kills his assailant only to discover that he has killed the Brit from whom he has worked as an occasional courier. Obviously Tommy was a double agent.

The balance of the books deals with Leon trying to discover who Tommy really worked for, and trying to see that the Romanian is delivered to the American. Unfortunately this exciting sounding plot is revealed not by action, but by long and often boring conversation with a large number of people Leon meets at parties, at the Embassy, etc.

Combined with this story are the flashbacks about Leon’s life and marriage in pre-war Berlin to Anna, who as the result of traumatic accident now lies in a coma in a nursing home. Leon faithfully goes to see here and hold long conversations with here about what he is doing and what his plans are.

For a little spice, he has an affair with Kay Bishop, an embassy wife, whose husband is murdered. Suspicion falls on Leon. Again most of this is revealed through long conversation. I skipped a lot of the part about his relationship with Kay – he spent one night with here in a hotel room and the conversations they had goes on for several hours on the audio book. I skipped it. There is just too much tedious conversation like that to make the book an entertaining read.

Although it has an exciting plot on paper, the author’s method of development may have a limited appeal. The author know Turkey and Istanbul very well, but even when he goes to a location we get a description of the location not in a word picture, bur rather with a long drawn-out conversation or worse monologues with flash backs about going to the location with Anna.

If you can tolerate a book whose plot development is done mostly with long conversations with a variety of characters and very little action, you may like this book.. But the author is no Eric Ambler or Alan Furst.

slowly

Is there anything you would change about this book?

THe story line was very slow to develop and even though it is spies etc.... it seemed dark and depressing. The references to Istanbul are very accurate and the Turkish words are used well.

Would you ever listen to anything by Joseph Kanon again?

Possibly

How could the performance have been better?

more dramatic less monotone.

A twisty espionage tale of shifting allegiances.

What made the experience of listening to Istanbul Passage the most enjoyable?

Narrators various voices and accents. An atmosphere of postwar Turkey.

If you’ve listened to books by Joseph Kanon before, how does this one compare?

My favorite was Los Alamos, less favorite was The Good German. This book was perhaps the second best, although it was often painstakingly slow and drawn out.

What does Jefferson Mays bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

His characterizations made the story come alive. I might not have finished the book if I was reading it.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Not possible.