City of Thieves

A Novel

By: David Benioff

Narrated by: Ron Perlman

From the critically acclaimed author of The 25th Hour and When the Nines Roll Over and co-creator of the HBO series Game of Thrones, a captivating novel about war, courage, survival — and a remarkable friendship that ripples across a lifetime.

During the Nazis’ brutal siege of Leningrad, Lev Beniov is arrested for looting and thrown into the same cell as a handsome deserter named Kolya. Instead of being executed, Lev and Kolya are given a shot at saving their own lives by complying with an outrageous directive: secure a dozen eggs for a powerful Soviet colonel to use in his daughter’s wedding cake. In a city cut off from all supplies and suffering unbelievable deprivation, Lev and Kolya embark on a hunt through the dire lawlessness of Leningrad and behind enemy lines to find the impossible.

By turns insightful and funny, thrilling and terrifying, the New York Times bestseller City of Thieves is a gripping, cinematic World War II adventure and an intimate coming-of-age story with an utterly contemporary feel for how boys become men.

Critic reviews

“The novel tells a refreshingly traditional tale, driven by an often ingenious plot . . . [Benioff] shifts tone with perfect control—no recent novel I have read travels so quickly and surely between registers, from humor to devastation.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“This spellbinding story perfectly blends tragedy and comedy.”
—USA Today

“Splendid . . . Benioff has produced a funny, sad, and thrilling novel.”
—Entertainment Weekly

“Benioff (a co-creator of HBO’s “Game of Thrones”) peppers his swift-moving plot with pitch-dark humor and unexpected turns. It’s a rousing reading experience, to cackle aloud at one paragraph then gasp at the next. . . . I’m glad I waited until warm weather to start this winter’s tale. But really, any other time would have been just fine. There’s no bad season to read a book this good.”
—Ken Jaworowski, The New York Times Book Review

“Benioff blends humor and horror expertly.”
—San Francisco Chronicle

“A deft storyteller, Benioff writes about starvation, cannibalism, and Nazi atrocities with poise and cinematic flair. If Thieves were a movie, it would start out like Schindler’s List and end up like Raiders of the Lost Ark.”
—People

"City of Thieves is a coming-of-age story brilliantly amplified by its worn-torn backdrop . . . Benioff’s finest achievement in "City of Thieves" has been to banish all possible pretensions from his novel, which never wears its research on its sleeve, and to deliver a rough-and-tumble tale that clenches humor, savagery, and pathos squarely together on the same page."
—The Washington Post

“City of Thieves is flat-out great . . . Benioff’s screen writing chops are in full force here - the plot careens along with cinematic verve - but that’s expected. The surprise is Benioff’s understated wisdom and tenderness.”
—Men’s Journal

“David Benioff, has written a gripping war novel. With lots of humour, suspense and tragedy he shows the desperate lives of the people who were caught between two opposing forces during the Second World War.”
—The Guardian

Compelling!

This is a coming of age story, set in the cold winter of 1942 during the Nazis brutal siege of Leningrad. The story is about an unlikely frienship between two young men.

I was afraid this book would be bleak considering the subject, but there was a wonderful balance with the story of war and humor. I loved the way Lev and Koyla interacted with each other and how their friendship unfolded. Koyla was my favorite with the way he could find humor in the most dismal of times.

Benioff brings this story to life as if I was standing right there. I literally could not stop listening. This book would be a great movie!

Intense but capitvating

What did you love best about City of Thieves?

This was a different side to the many stories told of WWII.

What was one of the most memorable moments of City of Thieves?

The very end of the story was surprising but so touching.

What about Ron Perlman’s performance did you like?

Each character stood alone in the story and were easily identifiable.

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

Yes, I would often linger at whatever I was doing so I could continue to listen.

A Must Listen

A story of coming of age, the horrors of war, and also of love. Written to be told, and very well told by Perlman. His voices and inflections capture the personalities as Benioff must have intended. One of the best books I've read and the best audiobooks I've listened to yet.

Benioff rocks this story!

Would you consider the audio edition of City of Thieves to be better than the print version?

I found the audio format preferable to print in that I would not know how to pronounce various Russian words and cities, etc.

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

Loved the Russian accents! Not overdone and only occasional for emphasis in certain passages. Nice interpretation, Ron.

Any additional comments?

After noting that Benioff wrote or co-wrote many of the excellent screenplays for Game of Thrones, I became interested in his work. This novel is a gripping account of grandfather's experiences as a young Russian man in the first winter of WWII when Nazi Germany attacked Communist Russia. The writing is extraordinary and compelling. I feel present in the story.

Excellent listen

I think this was the first book I listened to on audible over a year ago. To this day, it is the standard by which I measure every other book. Phenomenal story! Excellent reading performance.