• City of Thieves

  • A Novel
  • By: David Benioff
  • Narrated by: Ron Perlman
  • Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (6,829 ratings)

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City of Thieves  By  cover art

City of Thieves

By: David Benioff
Narrated by: Ron Perlman
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Editorial reviews

Two unlikely young men charged with desertion and facing execution in the besieged city of Leningrad are charged with an impossible task: they can have their freedom if they can find a dozen eggs for the wedding cake of a powerful colonel's daughter. The two make an odd couple: one a scrawny Jewish outsider, the other an erudite charmer, and their journey takes them from the war-torn city to the snow-covered countryside. Sound like the basis of a classic movie? That might be because the author, David Benioff, is a successful screenwriter, and City of Thieves is halfway between movie-script and roman-a-clef, between airport blockbuster and serious literature.

It's a difficult balancing act, but it succeeds here in no small part due to Ron Perlman's unforgettable narration. His voice is as full of character as his celebrated face, and his bar-room drawl brings a hard-boiled noir quality to the narration. It's a voice dripping in contraband and cordite, easily navigating the Russian names and injecting a sly, seductive humor into the dialogue that offsets the occasional lapse into sentimentality. It's a fantastic performance that succeeds in tying together the disparate elements of this rich tale.

Perlman also takes great relish in conveying the myriad of tiny details that Benioff weaves into the narrative, and which lend a cinematic quality to the work. Indeed, the author's screenwriting background is evident throughout: there's a tightly-constructed plot that never loses a sense of forward propulsion, even during the quieter moments; there is a skilful interweaving of film-school tropes the buddy movie, the coming-of-age tale, the WWII film. And there's that attention to detail. Although Benioff has clearly done his research, it's the off-beat imagery that brings to life the reality of living in a besieged city: concrete dragon's teeth are arranged to hinder the approach of enemy tanks; leather boots still bloody from the feet of the previous owners; malnourished children's bones break easily.

A slightly superfluous framing narrative alerts us to the novel's more literary aspirations. The art of storytelling is central to this tale, and the narrative brims over with literary references: doomed poets, scabrous novelists, callous propagandists. The picaresque plot recalls A Hero of Our Time, and the main action begins with a German parachutist's corpse drifting down the empty streets, an image halfway between a movie storyboard and Lord of the Flies just one of many evocative set-pieces in this highly entertaining adventure. Dafydd Phillips

Publisher's summary

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 best seller 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.

©2008 David Benioff (P)2008 Penguin

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)

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What listeners say about City of Thieves

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entertaining plus

great story, great narration, very memorable, will recommend to others it is different from what i generally read but glad I did.

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Great story

love it. love everything about it funny, sad, and even scary.
Ps. Ron voice in this is amazing 👏

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Wow! Great storytelling

I don't usually waste my points on such a short listen, but this one was well worth it. 'superb storytelling, great story, excellent narrator.

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I CRIED BRO LIKE FR

Guys this book is so good I love it omggggg 10/10 book I wish there was a part two I’m Absolutely obsessed Cant wait to read it again 😭🫶🏽

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Extraordinary story

Love this story and the narrative is great. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in a novel of WW2.

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A favorite I return to

Also a book where you delay reading the last chapters because you don’t want to say goodbye to the characters quite yet.

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Enjoyed this

I’m so glad I followed a recommendation for this book. Ron Perlman was excellent narrator and the story was interesting and different.

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brilliant

I love this book, I love the narration, it is so well done. I am listening to it for the second or third time and it really has an effect on me, it takes me in and keeps me riveted, horrified and somewhat subtly amused; heartened by the humanity and appalled by the lack there of. A love story of a sordid kind, a war story with a twist.

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great story teller

it's hard to critique a story. this good. if you want to know what it's about, you'll have to read it

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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.

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2 people found this helpful