• Masaryk Station

  • A John Russell Thriller, Book 6
  • By: David Downing
  • Narrated by: Michael Healy
  • Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
  • 3.8 out of 5 stars (133 ratings)

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Masaryk Station  By  cover art

Masaryk Station

By: David Downing
Narrated by: Michael Healy
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Publisher's summary

Berlin, early 1948: The city, still occupied by the four Allied powers, still largely in ruins, has become the cockpit of a new Cold War, and as spring unfolds its German inhabitants live in fear of the Soviets enforcing a Western withdrawal. Here, as elsewhere in Europe, the legacies of the War have become entangled in the new Soviet-American conflict, creating a world of bizarre and fleeting loyalties, a paradise for spies.

John Russell works for both Stalin’s NKVD and the newly-created CIA. He does as little for either as he can safely get away with, and between the tawdry tasks they set him - assessing dubious defectors in Trieste, running a spy ring in a Berlin VD clinic, rescuing ex-Nazis who might prove useful from Czechoslovakia - he seeks a way to cut himself loose.

His partner Effi Koenen has an easier time, starring in a popular radio series and looking after their adopted daughter Rosa, until a woman she helped save in the War turns up on her doorstep, and admits to a child she left behind all those years before, a child now trapped behind the new iron curtain.

©2013 David Downing (P)2013 AudioGO

What listeners say about Masaryk Station

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

What a disappointment...and it's all the narrator

Would you try another book from David Downing and/or Michael Healy?

I love David Downing! this is the 6th audible book of his i purchased. The narrator is so miserable you can hardly follow the story. Simon Prebble made Downing's words come alive. In fact, the listener is riveted. This narrator should be fired from all future readings. his voice is droning, and i finally figured out why my Iphone has settings for increasing the speed at which you listen...If I didn't love these stories so much and was so interested in the lives of the characters, I would have given up long ago

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14 people found this helpful

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

A nice completion to a good series, nearly ruined.

I've worked my way through the John Russel series, by David Downing, and enjoyed all of them. I don't understand why the whole series isn't available. I bought the paperback of the missing book so I could maintain the story line. I suppose the series can be read out of order, but it is really more of a single long novel and more enjoyable to read in order. This book did a nice job of summing up and closing the series. If you've enjoyed the story and characters in these somewhat slow paced, but well written books, I think you could enjoy this one.

But,,,,(and it's a significant but), the reader is nearly awful. The book is full of mispronunciations. I can ignore a lot of that, but the reader sometimes pronounces the proper name "Thomas" in the ordinary way, (tomas), but then, inexplicably will pronounce the Th, (thomas, as in Thermos), Again and again. It's really annoying.

So, if you can find this book performed by another reader, buy that version. If you can't, well, the story is a good solid David Downing story and important for closure to those of us who follow a series, so you'll just have to try to turn a deaf ear to the narrator, and do your best to enjoy the writing.

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6 people found this helpful

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

Deserves a better reader

I can't imagine a narrator less interested in the material he was reading than this one. He made almost no effort to differentiate among the characters with voice, inflection, accent, dynamics -- i.e., acting. Nor did he even try to properly pronounce the myriad of foreign names and phrases sprinkled throughout the book.I've read all of David Downing's excellent John Russell novels that depict the intrigues, human and political, that formed, deformed, and reformed the German experience before, during, and after World War II. This latest installment stands tall among them.

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5 people found this helpful

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

Appalling narration

What would have made Masaryk Station better?

Simon Prebble narrating

What other book might you compare Masaryk Station to and why?

Can't, as I couldn't finish it. Will have to read it instead.

Would you be willing to try another one of Michael Healy’s performances?

Certainly not. If I could have given this zero stars I would have.

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

Couldn't finish listening to it.

Any additional comments?

I wish I'd taken note of the comments from other readers before purchasing it.

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3 people found this helpful

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

Big fan ...but

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The narrator. I was tempted to give up.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

His diction and pronunciation are poor.

Any additional comments?

Not the best work in the series, but once you're hooked!

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3 people found this helpful

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

the narrator is OK

Any additional comments?

The narrator, Michael Healy, has been severely criticized by other listeners. I could find fault with his performance too. His pronunciation of German words is terrible, which is forgivable in a foreigner, though I can't imagine how he gets "Luther" out of "Lothar" and not only because the "h" is not pronounced in that context in German. But he is certainly not "droning," as one reviewer put it. I, too, was somewhat put off at the beginning, but I think that was only because his style was different from the earlier, excellent narrators. Or maybe it just took him a while to get into the story. In any case, he did get into it and made the story interesting.

Regarding the story itself, it becomes clear that Russell (and probably Downing too) is an ardent socialist. As a free market capitalist sharply opposed to socialism, I was offended by the moral equivalency drawn between Soviets and Americans. Although that comes out to some degree in earlier novels, it is the principal theme of this one. That was ideologically offensive to me, but don't let it turn you off. If you are not a fan of socialism already, you learn a lot about how those of that persuasion think and, most importantly, how that played into mid-20th century history.

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2 people found this helpful

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

Terrible narrator

I’ve purchased and listened to the entire series. I was disappointed when Simon Prebble didn’t narrate the last 2 but the narrator of #5 was good as well. The narrator for this book is absolutely horrible, No inflection in his voice, hard to follow, and absolutely a pain to listen to. I’m not even sure I can finish it.

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1 person found this helpful

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

New Reader please!

The story, once one got past the narrator, was actually really fascinating, that early cold war period in Berlin, as well as a view on what was happening to the rest of the Eastern Block. Why a different narrator was chosen was mysterious, because his tone completely distracted from the story,and it took me at least 2/3 the way through to get the thread of it, and who was who. Please, if any John Russell books come back, do NOT use Mr. Healy.

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1 person found this helpful

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

Poor narration

Michael Healy has a perfectly good speaking voice, but his performance did not suit the material. Too much upspeak—not emotive enough. He sounded like he was narrating a children’s book.

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1 person found this helpful

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

horrible narration

it's really too bad that a good story has been basically ruined by such horrible narration. I am so disappointed.

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