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)

Addicting, engaging, and wonderfully read.

An epic adventure that will have you speaking in Russian accents to your friends and wondering if the pizza delivery guy works for the KGB. Expect tears and laughter, angst and rage, pity, admiration, and disgust. Scott Brick, the narrator, demonstrates that a great story can be made even better by his flawless and inspired performance. 40 hours and 43 min flew by in the wink of an eye.

One of the Best

This is one of the best books Audible has to offer. This book made me a believer in audio books. I've always been a reader and I scoffed at "listening to a book" This book converted me. I felt all the emotions and imaginations that a paper book gives while listening to this book. If you like Clancy or Spy Novels this is the book to get. The Reader is awesome.

Makes you wish it would keep going.

I can honestly say that this is DEFINATELY one of the best audiobooks that I've ever listened to. Scott Brick (Narrator) did an absolutely fabulous job of putting you in the charachter's shoes. Although this book is long, you find yourself sitting anxiously through every second of it.

a decent book

As always Scott Brick kept the story moving in the few spots where it seemed to drag. all in all book was pretty good, was enjoyable.

Interesting Novel based on the History of the CIA

A very fun and interesting Book based on the History of the CIA. I really enjoyed matching up my own timeline with the timeline of the book as historical events unfolded. It's a very long book but I do highly recommend it.

A page turner, from beginning to end.

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

I haven't read the print version. I have ordered it, because I'd like to read it also.

What other book might you compare The Company to and why?

I think it could only be compared to other books which tell the story of a war from both sides.

Have you listened to any of Scott Brick’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I've listened to no others.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

An exciting story of the CIA's victories and defeats, from its inception till the present.

Truly a masterpiece!

This is absolutely the best audiobook I have ever listened. I was at first a little doubtful about the length of the book but man do I now wish there'd be another 40+ hours of it. I definitely recommend this book not only to espionage-genre fans but also to those interested in history and great storytelling. Also additional 5* for the narrator.

41+ hours long, kept me engaged the whole time

I was surprised that a book so long managed to hold my attention and yet it did so with Ease. built around actual events there were limits to what the author could do but working within those limitations he managed to pull off a good story.

Fictional? History

I'm of an age that a lot of what happens in this book is in my memory files...The Bay of Pigs, Kruschev, Sam Gianacana, and more recently, Gorbachev's Russia.

There were long hours of this book when I couldn't put it down and stayed awake into the night just to hear what happened. There were a few slow passages, but in a 40 hr. book, what can one expect? Generally the characters felt like friends and I did like how he made some of the Russians into likable, real people, even if they were on the other side. Except one, Starek.

Starek's pedophilia was all the more creepy and disgusting because Littell didn't make it mean and sordid, but almost used a jovial and endearing tone when writing those parts of the book. "Come here my girlies." After listening to those parts, I felt like I wanted to wash my hands. I wonder after what real person was he patterned?

The one and only failing I have with this book is that the narrator made everyone with an accent (even Cubans and Guatemalans) sound like NYC Russian Jews. And after about 30 hours, that got to be a little grating. But the story eventually would pull me back in and I would listen with my own accents as filters.

I won't say what character dies in the coup against Gorbachev, but I did go online while reading that part and what Littell describes is exactly what happened during the coup. Which blurs the line between fiction and fact in this book all the more.

I very often got online and read about the events happening in the book. That really enriched the book for me. Filled in the holes, so to speak.

I plan on another listen in a couple of months. I think it will be like the LeCarre books; after you read them again, you find even more layers and shadings and subtleties that led the story to where it was going.

And I freakin' loved Turetti, the drunken old brilliant genius sot.

This is a good book. Buy it!

It Can Get No Better! I Promise You. I Swear!

What did you love best about The Company?

The continuity through generations of agents. It never got borring. The characters felt like they actually existed, as if this was a true story. It weaved actual historical events in with fictional characterization. It was simply great. The best spy novel ever written. Once you read this spy-novel all others will be inferior. It is a long listen but it seems like it ZOOMS by.

What other book might you compare The Company to and why?

None so far. That cover so many events with so many characters over such a long period of time and kept it so tightly woven. GREAT.

Which scene was your favorite?

When they were on the ship in the middle of ocean not sure if they have been abducted or being tested by there instructors. And I loved the scenes that involved the Old-School Russian-Soviet spy handler. I loved his character.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

A HOT STORY of THE COLD WAR!

Any additional comments?

I have listened to hundreds of books and this has been the only book that I have taken the time to actually review. It has been the best listen I have had so far.