The Company

A Novel of the CIA

By: Robert Littell

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 41 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

Crisis constantly lurks around the corner, monitored by spies who are always with us. In his career-capping thirteenth novel, master of the espionage thriller Robert Littell has crafted a breathtaking story of the legendary CIA - "The Company" to insiders.

At its heart lies a spectacular mole hunt involving the CIA, MI6, KGB and Mossad - a stunningly conceived trip down the rabbit hole to the labyrinthine Alice-in-Wonderland world of espionage, "a wood where things have no names."

Racing across a landscape spanning the legendary Berlin Base of the 1950s - the front line of the simmering Cold War - the Soviet invasion of Hungary, the Bay of Pigs, Afghanistan, and the Gorbachev putsch, The Company tells the thrilling story of agents imprisoned in double lives, fighting an enemy that is amoral, elusive, and formidable. It also lays bare the internecine warfare within the company itself, adding another dimension to the spy vs. spy game.

©2013 Robert Littell (P)2013 Phoenix Audio

Critic reviews

"If Robert Littell didn't invent the American spy novel, he should have." (Tom Clancy, author of Patriot Games) "If le Carre is the Joyce of spy novelists, Littell is the Dickens." (Booklist, starred review). "An epic tale...peopled by heroes and villains who seem almost mythological in retrospect...Keeps you riveted." (Nelson DeMille, author of Up Country)
"Destined to become the definitive novel about the CIA." (Amazon.com)

Excellent & boring...

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Maybe - but be prepared to skip chunks of it

Any additional comments?

Wow, look at all the 5 star reviews! It was an interesting read (listen) but I completely agree with the reviewer that say it's too long. Many times during this one I kept shouting "get on with it!". When it does get going again it's great, and it's fun how the author wove actual events into the tale, but man it does drag one endlessly over details we don't really need to know...

Spellbinding! Masterful! Preposterous!

This is a soap-opera-like dramatization of modern history, rather like the television series "Mad Men," with particular attention paid to clothing details and social markers. Anachronisms abound, but they are inevitable in this sort of historical fiction. The story arc is vast and impressive, embracing multiple plotlines and a Dickensian cast of characters who vanish and reappear twenty years later. Littell keeps a pretty firm hand on the narrative, but sometimes the hand is just too firm, twisting the characters this way and that with shallow motives and forced dialogue.

Managing this sprawling narrative is an awesome task, and Littell does it as well as can be expected. Pure history and pure fiction are so much simpler. Espionage journalists like Rupert Allason and Philip Knightley have a much easier time with this sort of material, because they don't have to construct little scene-studies where the characters self-analyze and emote. And fiction writers like LeCarré, Condon and Ludlam have it relatively easy too, because they don't have to drag in real-life characters to prance about and shout at the fictional key players.

Significantly, one of most convincing scenes is toward the end, when an aged Soviet spy inadvertently finds himself put on guard patrol at the Kremlin during the abortive coup of 1991. Littell got to invent most of this out his head.

I thought the geopolitical angle presented in the book was simplistic and smarmy, but it would take too long to go into that.

Performance: Scott Brick is a good reader, with just enough voice artistry to make the characters distinct but not caricatures. Nevertheless his JFK has a trace of Vaughn Meader.

Very major annoyance: the reader pronounces the middle name of James Jesus Angleton as "Hay-soos." It's "Jeeziz," as in Jesus College.

Great Listen!!

I LOVED this book. It is a great CIA "historical" novel. It is a very enjoyable listen, even though it is very long. Scott Brick is a wonderful narrator and I can always count him to deliver the best regardless of who is the author. Definitely well worth the time and $$.

The Company (Unabridged)

Long but worth the read! (I mean listen)

Great!

The first hour was tough; left me thinking I made a mistake in choosing this book. However, that immediately changed and I found myself unable to turn it off. It just got better and better. Everything about it was good -- plot, character development, etc. It may be one of the best novels I have ever read.

Really good!

I really enjoyed this book. I love a book where you feel you get your money's worth too. I also felt as though I got a real inside look at the CIA.

Long but worth the Listen

I found the book very entertaining. I would like to think the book is based on real facts, because then the listen would provide important insight into a largely hidden US institution. But it was worth the 30 or so hours in any event in my view.

Riveting, Sometimes Plodding

Certainly held my attention, but there were times the author's dislike for certain historical figures resulted in trite words being forced into characters' mouths.

Awesome narration keeps a complex plot on track

Would you consider the audio edition of The Company to be better than the print version?

The way the narrator uses accents to distinguish the different characters is amazing.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Classic cold war spy intrigue and plot twists

Any additional comments?

Long book but worth every second

Sorry it's over!

As I'm listening to the final couple hours, I'm bummed that this amazing story is coming to an end. While long, it's worth every minute. If you like the genre, you'll love this book.

Highly recommended!