The Company

A Novel of the CIA

By: Robert Littell

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 41 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

Crisis constantly lurks around the corner, monitored by spies who are always with us. In his career-capping thirteenth novel, master of the espionage thriller Robert Littell has crafted a breathtaking story of the legendary CIA - "The Company" to insiders.

At its heart lies a spectacular mole hunt involving the CIA, MI6, KGB and Mossad - a stunningly conceived trip down the rabbit hole to the labyrinthine Alice-in-Wonderland world of espionage, "a wood where things have no names."

Racing across a landscape spanning the legendary Berlin Base of the 1950s - the front line of the simmering Cold War - the Soviet invasion of Hungary, the Bay of Pigs, Afghanistan, and the Gorbachev putsch, The Company tells the thrilling story of agents imprisoned in double lives, fighting an enemy that is amoral, elusive, and formidable. It also lays bare the internecine warfare within the company itself, adding another dimension to the spy vs. spy game.

©2013 Robert Littell (P)2013 Phoenix Audio

Critic reviews

"If Robert Littell didn't invent the American spy novel, he should have." (Tom Clancy, author of Patriot Games) "If le Carre is the Joyce of spy novelists, Littell is the Dickens." (Booklist, starred review). "An epic tale...peopled by heroes and villains who seem almost mythological in retrospect...Keeps you riveted." (Nelson DeMille, author of Up Country)
"Destined to become the definitive novel about the CIA." (Amazon.com)

Just couldn't get into this!

I unfortunately just couldnt get into this book. I found it long and tedious. The beginning of the book I very much enjoyed, just not the rest of it. I personally would not recommend it, although I realize it has received high ratings, and I downloaded it because of the ratings!

Obvious and derivative yet entertaining

I resisted buying audio books for a long time. Now I know why. The narration is the worst I have ever heard and almost never reflects the true voice of the prose. If I ever hear another narration done by Scott Brick I may have to have my ears amputated. Never has there been a bigger collection of bad acting, bad accents incorrect pronunciations and assorted gaffs in the reading of a book.

The book itself ? Not bad. Not that great either. You'd get more of a sense of the CIA in the period by reading Wikipedia. A bit repetitive.

Robert Littell is not John Le Carre. Not nearly as true-to-life as Stella Rimmington. But he's
a better writer than Robert Ludlum.

Awesome.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Its not for everyone. But, I would put this book at the top of my favorites.

What did you like best about this story?

The depth of the story across a significant period of history that truly shows how plots unravel over time and distance.

Have you listened to any of Scott Brick’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes. He is always good. However, I will have to criticize the producers and audio engineers for sometime NOT allowing a proper segue from plot line to plot line. There are many times there is no pause and you don't realize that you have just switched scenes. I had to back up a few times to catch that.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

"As close as you can get to the CIA with out the Freedom of Information Act."

Any additional comments?

Loved it.

Who's the good guy

Interesting perspective. Each side is passionate about their mission, culture and way of life. The corruption and brutality are spread across both. I'd do the unabridged, this is a long read (listen).... R.R. Martin's got on him.

Great context on CIA history

Any additional comments?

Fast read and anecdotes make the history much more digestable and provide fantastic context. This is clearly well researched. Great dialogue and small moments. Brick does a stellar job. I have read Legacy of Ashes afterward, and this made it much easier to get through. If you like the genre you should read this.

Overall, a great read!

I don't normally read much cold-war spy dramas but really, the length of this book got me interested, along with the glowing reviews. I figured what could be better than a 60 hour audiobook that gets almost universal good reviews. I was not lead wrong by those who said this was a great read. I did find it SLIGHTLY slow in spots but this is one of those books that more than makes up for any slowness by it's fantastic payoffs later on.

It didn't get 5 stars mainly because I think it was a tad light on action for me and had a bit too much about CIA politics than I cared for but I have to admit that this book is one of those cases where the evil is necessary...and by evil I mean VERY long and detailed character development and scene setting.

If you are at all interested in the spy business, or just a well told, epic story, get this book today. I can't see how you could regret it.

Engrossing Story and the Best Narrator Ever!!

Although this book is quite long (40 hours), I was so sad when I finished it. I wish it could have lasted another 40! The storyline is engrossing as it weaves historical facts with a truly captivating fictional story. You can't help but get emotionally involved in the lives of the principal characters as you following their lives from 1951 through the 1990's. The narrator Scott Brick is absolutely wonderful!!. He can do a myriad of accents, and can masterfully handle female parts just as well as he handles the male characters. His imitation of Reagan was incredibly accurate - not just the voice, but the whole essence of Reagan's apparent play acting as President. If you want to try one book to decide if audio books are for you, this is the one!!

Very well written and narrated

Scott Brick does an awesome job of keeping the characters seperate (via accents, tones, and inflection) and the story itself is very well written.

Thought provoking but long

An interesting fictional account of major intelligence events in US history since the end of World War Two, told through the lives of a group of CIA officials. The story telling raises a number of interesting "what-ifs" as to each event (Hungarian revolution, Bay of Pigs, etc.) with the author's thumb generally on the scale in favor of greater US intervention in other countries, or at least more wholehearted where we do intervene. The story drags in places, but is above average for its genre. The actor does a good job with the material, but you end up with the feeling that some of the characters are typecast between the writing and some of the accents.

Slow Start, but picked up quickly!

The story was little slow in getting started, but once it did it was very good. All 40 hours of it was great. The charactors the reader and the twist near the end make for a great listen.