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Lie Down with Lions  By  cover art

Lie Down with Lions

By: Ken Follett
Narrated by: Eric Lincoln,Lary Bradenburg,Donald Brearley,Jane Brady,Marie Chambers,Pennell Drake
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Publisher's summary

Ellis, the American. Jean-Pierre, the Frenchman.... They were two men on opposite sides of the cold war, with a woman torn between them. Together, they formed a triangle of passion and deception, racing from terrorist bombs in Paris to the violence and intrigue of Afghanistan - and on to the moment of truth and a deadly decision for all of them.
©1986 Ken Follett (P)1986 Brilliance Audio

Critic reviews

"Masterful...plot and counterplot, treachery, cunning and killing...keep you on edge every moment." ( Associated Press)
"A deadly romantic triangle, a clandestine mission with global stakes, an exotic location, a plot as gripping and ingenious as Eye of the Needle...engineered to perfection with breathless acceleration." ( Los Angeles Times)

What listeners say about Lie Down with Lions

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    340
  • 4 Stars
    261
  • 3 Stars
    115
  • 2 Stars
    40
  • 1 Stars
    16
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    303
  • 4 Stars
    155
  • 3 Stars
    75
  • 2 Stars
    28
  • 1 Stars
    20
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    264
  • 4 Stars
    192
  • 3 Stars
    82
  • 2 Stars
    36
  • 1 Stars
    8

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

makes me want my money back

Follett has written some crackling page-turners and riveting stories. Unfortunately, "Lie Down with Lions" is not one of these. Predicable plot turns are laced with 1980s political correctness - CIA evil, American on "wrong side" in Vietnam -- and mixed with explicit sex so puerile that any but teen-aged boys are tempted to fast forward.
Add to this a truly awful narration - especially the falsetto female voices - and the audio version is even worse than the print one.

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24 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Good, but the multiple voice reading was poor

Overall a good book... not great.

Of the recent additions, "A Dangerous Fortune" is much better.

The narrator in this one is ok, but all spoken words are performed by different actors, and unfortunately the actors are a little below "B Movie" actors.

I don't particularly care for the spoken word cut-away style production, the story loses flow, and since the actors are not very good in this one, it really detracts.

The story is interesting and takes you to the Russian war on Afghanistan during 1981. It does shed light on just how horrible the fanatical muslim life is for women, and served to raise my disgust level for those civilizations a notch higher.

I could never really figure out if Follett was trying to touch a level of sympathy with the Afghans or not. I found it impossible to do so if that was the intent.

In the end, you wanted the story's hero to win, but hoped both sides would lose the war.

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23 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Follett is becoming one of my must-hear authors

STORY (Espionage) - This story has great international suspense, and I loved the setting. It occurs in and among very small villages in Afghanistan, where small bands of guerillas are trying to rebel against Russian soldiers. The main characters -- a woman, a Frenchman and an American male -- are all trying to influence the outcome of the war, and they are also entangled in a love triangle. The main thrust of the book is definitely the war, interspersed with bits of village life, but the romantic conflict fits nicely into the background. Until it happens -- wha-bam! Totally out of the blue there is a fairly lengthy sex scene that would totally fit into a smutty romance novel. I'm not complaining, mind you, but it is explicit, fairly unique and not for the prudish. Then the story returns back to its original exciting self. And, by the way, there are no lions in the story.

PERFORMANCE - Some reviewers have severely criticized this multivoice performance, which makes me wonder how many audiobooks they've listened to. When compared to a single reader who doesn't even attempt voices of the opposite sex or one who tries but sounds sexually challenged, I thought this performance was awesome. It's not perfect, but Jane sounded like a female, Jean-Pierre sounded French, the Russians sounded Russian, etc. They even made pretty good attempts at making people sound like they were on the phone or a radio, when necessary. I thought it was a great effort and well worth it.

OVERALL - Highly recommended equally for men and women. As I said, this is a book about international suspense, NOT a romance. There is violence, cursing and the abovementioned sex scene (during which I heard the c-word for the first time on Audible.)

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Disappointed

This started out to be a great book with an absorbing plot and great charactors, but it concluded with graphic sex sceens and a hokey ending. I love graphic sex in romance novels, but not Ken Follett (if this is Ken Follett). I have read all of Follett's books. They are epic adventure novels, but this is not one of them.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

The narration is so bad, I couldn' finish the book

Would you try another book from Ken Follett and/or the narrators?

An absolute yes on Follett! I love his books and will read the printed version of this one. An absoutely no on the narrators. The "female" voices were laughable. I don't know how a self-respecting director could deem these performaces acceptable.

Would you ever listen to anything by Ken Follett again?

Yes and I already have - with a different narrator and it was great as I believe all of Follett's books are.

Would you be willing to try another one of the narrators’s performances?

No

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

I didn't get far enough in the book (maybe an hour or so only) to find any

Any additional comments?

Don't buy the audio version of the book by these narrators. It is money out the window...

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Unlistenable

Would you try another book from Ken Follett and/or the narrators?

I like many of Ken Follett's books, but the audio editing and narration was so bad that the book seemed stilted and just bad. I honestly don't know if I would have enjoyed reading this book. It is hard to separate the story from the audio.

What didn’t you like about the narrators’s performance?

The audio was spliced together from several voice actors. This has worked well for other stories that were staged as plays. Unfortunately, this is a collection of recordings spliced together. The timing is always a little off and the volumes are not well equalized.

Bottom line is that it is always obvious that the voices are spliced together and the flow of the story is lost. Instead of losing myself in the story, I was always aware that I was listening to spliced together soundbites.

I could not finish the story - actually quit for a while, tried again and quit again. I didn't make it past the 4th chapter.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic!

I first read this book several years ago and although there is a new war in Afghanistan this book still holds it's own. The multi-voice narration is very well done and the pacing is quick. I highly recommend this audio book.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Entertaining but predictable raunchy

I’m an avid KF reader but had never read this one. I found the story to be ok. I felt it was extremely graphic and relied heavily on sex rather than an actual story. It had good pace and good enough drama and followed in the same LF love triangle ways. Overall it’s probably my least favorite of his writing. When you read something as harrowing as the jackdaws and as riveting as the century trilogy this just felt more like a Danielle steel novel. I know it’s an early work so I still absolutely love KF

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Not his best, but.....

Despite the poor narration, it's still a good story and worth a credit. Don't let the 1 star reviews fool you. It is not nearly that bad.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Worth the read but not Follet's best

This was great and so glad I took the time to listen. There is an unnecessarily graphic sex scene (more than normal Ken Follet), which is why it doesn't get four stars. Just fast forward and you'll be fine.

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3 people found this helpful