Defectors

A Novel

De: Joseph Kanon

Narrado por: John Bedford Lloyd

The bestselling author of Leaving Berlin and Istanbul Passage “continues to demonstrate that he is up there with the very best...of spy thriller writers” (The Times, UK) with this “fascinating” (The Washington Post) novel about two brothers bound by blood but divided by loyalty.

In 1949, Frank Weeks, agent of the newly formed CIA, was exposed as a Communist spy and fled the country to vanish behind the Iron Curtain. Now, twelve years later, he has written his memoirs, a KGB- approved project almost certain to be an international bestseller, and has asked his brother Simon, a publisher, to come to Moscow to edit the manuscript. It’s a reunion Simon both dreads and longs for.

The book is sure to be filled with mischief and misinformation; Frank’s motives suspect, the CIA hostile. But the chance to see Frank, his adored older brother, proves irresistible. And at first Frank is still Frank—the same charm, the same jokes, the same bond of affection that transcends ideology.

Then Simon begins to glimpse another Frank, capable of treachery and actively working for “the service.” He finds himself dragged into the middle of Frank’s new scheme, caught between the KGB and the CIA in a fatal cat and mouse game that only one of the brothers is likely to survive.

“A finely paced Cold War thriller with [Kanon’s] usual flair for atmospheric detail, intriguing characters, and suspenseful action” (Library Journal), Defectors takes us to the heart of a world of secrets, where even the people we know best can’t be trusted and murder is just collateral damage.

Talk about twists

Wow! This was an amazing listen and just when I thought I had the ending figured out I just kept getting one excellent surprise after another. This was an excellent book and I would highly recommend it!

Decent story. Narration mediocre.

The story line took a while to develop. The ending was somewhat predictable too, but it was a refreshing change from the brainless shoot-em-up spy novels that inundate the broad market.

Decent espionage novel

some moderate twists and turns but overall a little too sluggish with not much happening in the end.

Superb thriller!

This book will transport you to Moscow 1962. A very well written spy story. Very little sex or violence thankfully, with a truly superior narrator. Good job all around!

Loved it

Loved it nice to be able to hear it. when you can't read any longer.

Jim Squires

This a very complex book full of unexpected twists and turns. A difficult long listen.

Whodunnit within spy drama.

Good twists, vivid descriptions of scenery, sites, Russian culture, Character development progressed through to the end.

Could not get past the narrator.

I can't comment on the story, because i couldn't finish. WOW the narrator ruined this. He took out any gravitas that this book could have had. I just found him annoying.

So-so Spy Story told from a Different Perspective

The story tries hard to evoke what the life of a defector must have been like in the Soviet Union at the most frigid moments of the Cold War. I found it impossible to engage with the characters, each of whom was more boring than the next. The finale brings some twists, but I was just trying to get the whole thing over with.