Carrie's Run

A Homeland Novel

By: Andrew Kaplan

Narrated by: Penelope Rawlins

Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

An edge-of-your-seat original prequel based on Showtime's hit series Homeland

Beirut, 2006. CIA operations officer Carrie Mathison barely escapes an ambush while attempting a clandestine meeting with a new contact, code-name Nightingale. Suspicious that security has been compromised, she challenges the station chief in a heated confrontation that gets her booted back to Langley.

Expert in recognizing and anticipating behavioral patterns - a skill enhanced by her bipolar disorder she keeps secret to protect her career - Carrie is increasingly certain that a terrorist plot has been set in motion. She risks a shocking act of insubordination that helps her uncover secret evidence connecting Nightingale with Abu Nazir, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq. Determined to stop the terrorist mastermind, she embarks on an obsessive quest that will nearly destroy her.

Filled with the suspense and plot twists that have made Homeland a must-watch series, this riveting tale reveals the compelling untold back stories of the series' main characters and takes fans deeper into the life and mind of one brilliant female spy.

©2013 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (P)2013 HarperCollins Publishers

Narrator sounds 15yrs old

I bought this even though the reviews slammed the narrator hoping that I could get past the narration. I can’t. She sounds like she is fifteen years old and when she does the various voices it’s just distracting. I hate too be so harsh, but she needs to do teenage books. The storyline is pretty good.

Narrator is distracting - story good

The book itself was good but predictable. BUT the narrator was awful. I thought I was hearing things wrong, but her accent was very Eastern US. She dropped her "r's" and pronounced other words with a noticeable Boston or Jersey accent. It was very distracting. I have no idea why she was hired when there are so many narrators around who have "no" accent.

Great Prefix to Homeland

Any additional comments?

Great book, really enjoyed it. The narrator did a great job regardless of what some of the other reviews said. It was great to get the story behind Carrie.

Haven't finished, but Narration is annoying

I really enjoy homeland and picked this up without listening to a sample. I have to say I am not a fan of this narrator, chiefly she doesn't sound like Carrie and has a Boston or maybe New York accent which gets in the way of the story for me, also it doesn't sound like this narrator knows how to do a spy novel justice, feels like shes just reading it, not giving it any life. As for the story nothing fantastic so far, but well see...

Distracting narration

I love the Homeland series and was so excited to listen to this book. I did enjoy the story, but it was in spite of the narration. Carrie is not supposed to have a heavy New Jersey accent! At times the accent was very grating to the ears, but that aside this was well done.

Interesting prequel

Where does Carrie's Run rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Not a great audiobook but relatively enjoyable.

Would you recommend Carrie's Run to your friends? Why or why not?

Wouldn't recommend it due to its highly narrative style. However, if you liked the show, this would be an interesting prequel to read and a good window into Carrie's life.

Great Book, Terrible Audio Performance

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator simply failed on most all the male voices. It deeply brought me out of the book too often. Unfortunately, I decided to skip the audiobook and read it myself after 3 unbearable chapters.

For the Homeland Fans...

Would you listen to Carrie's Run again? Why?

I am a huge fan of Homeland, so when I found out about this pre-quel, I had to buy it.

Trying to capitalize on the TV series

What would have made Carrie's Run better?

A different writer and narrator. Penelope Rawlins sounds like she is 14, didn't research the narrative - misprounouced Patron and Acela (it's long "O" on Patron, and A-cel-a, not Ace-la). Her male characterization are laughable. The writing is simply lame, again high schoolish, with long redundant descriptions that seems to be written towards word count only.

Would you ever listen to anything by Andrew Kaplan again?

No.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

How didn't she. Never use her again, please.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

It was cheap.

Any additional comments?

Do I need to?

good story

narrator was terrible, it was very distracting trying to not catch all the word she over dramatized with her terrible Boston accent. just could have been WAY better.