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)

Lavish, Totally Absorbing

When I bought this book, I shelved it for a while because I couldn't commit myself to the sheer length of it. Everyday I didn't start listening to <U>The Company</U>, I was robbing myself of one of the greatest audio book experiences I will probably ever have. The depth of character development and the complexity of the interweaveing stories is handled masterfully by Littell. Scott Brick's narration is fantastic.

Do not be intimidated by the length of this book! Once you get in, it will stay with you during your days and nights when not listening to it.

Superb! Gripping! Highest Praise!

Now I don't often wax on about how great these audio books are. As you've probably figured out, there's occasional diamonds, and a whole lot of stones. This one is rare indeed! Essentially a fictionalized narrative history of the CIA from post-WW II through the end of the Cold War, it's a wonderful story! Scott Brick does an outstanding job with the voices, nuances, and accents. He's a great narrator! Littell's epic tale follows a number of actual historic characters through the years ... there are a number of international espionage accounts, with one overall mystery running through to the final end: who is the longstanding mole in CIA working with the Russians since the beginning(?). I found myself regularly jumping off to look up characters and events on Wikipedia to see how real history paralleled the narrative. It's really fantastic how Littell weaves it all together. Wonderfully intriguing and historic characters such as "The Sorcerer", James Jesus Alexander, Kim Philby, "The Rabbi", and on and on. The ending does not disappoint and is inspired. Hell, it might even be real! Try it, you'll like it!

Long, but very good

As long as this book was, I didn't want it to end!

Re-living my history

This was one of the first audible books I purchased - I think I was going for quantity. I listed to the first CD twice at different points in time but abandoned the effort each time. However, I have great faith in Audible reviewers and this book was one of the highest rated, widely read books on the site. I tried again and finally broke into the second CD. From there on, I was transported back to times and events I could remember but this book both refreshed that history and gave it a new perspective. How could one so quickly forget living the Cold War?

Unlike a few other reviewers, I applaud the reading by Brick as I could swear he recorded the Kennedy and Reagan White House conversations they seemed so real. Maybe you have to be of a certain age to truly appreciate this reading.

Epic!

In every sence of the word. Although slow at first it quickly became an addiction. Entertaining beyand measure, it kept me riveted till the 40th hour was complete. Having never read or listened to a spy novel, I am now hooked. I also found myself becoming facinated by the cold war struggle and the politics involved with the last 60 years.

Long, but Excellent

This book was extremely well done. Even though it is incredibly long I didn't get tired of it. The narrator was fantastic and the mini climaxes and subplots that all get tied together were great.

Good, but not Outstanding

The book is long, and sometimes tedious. If language is an issue for you , be advised that strong language is used, including the taking of several deities' names as epithets. At times I wanted to say, "enough already," especially later on in the book, when his spies seemed to get into hot water...again.
Be advised that this makes the CIA look like a bozo organization, overall, and only allows individuals to be heroes. If this book is any indicator, though we won the cold war, somehow we did it without ever winning a single battle in that war (which is, of course, ludicrous). Lots of eighties and nineties sentiments found in this story, even throughout the early segments which occur in the forties, fifties and early sixties.
Still, for a nice long listen, it was good. If I wished I could have skipped some of the drier passages, they were redeemed by those times when the story got good. The final denoument of the Soviet Union is especially interesting, even if incomplete. It would also have been interesting to see the story play through the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the revolutions in the Warsaw Pact states.

a fantastic experience

I've been listening to these books for a while, and this is the first one I've given 5 stars to. As most everyone mentions, it genuinely does hold your attention for the whole time. A couple of people think that it got too long, but I think the length was part of the unusual experience for me - it was not just the brief flash that so many books become, but was actually part of my life for a few weeks. And to be taken through time from WWII until now seemed to truly capture many of these characters' entire lives, and do their careers a real justice.

Fantastic, if long, book

Wow. What a great book. While I have enjoyed many of my books from Audible, this is the first book where I actually planned LONGER routes just to have more time to listen. While some of the female characters in the book are a bit too "squishy", the overall book was great. It covers several chapters in history from the veiwpoint of what might have happened at the CIA. I certainly have a new perspective to view current events in the world.

Each story could be a book unto itself which causes the overall book length to be long. (You could look at it as getting five books for the price of one...)

Great, Entertaining and Suspensefull but long

After completing this book I thoroughly enjoyed it. The author deeply involves the reader in the lives and adventures of the characters. Through the characters lives the reader lives the history of the CIA from the 1950's to present.

Though thoroughly entertaining and engaging the unabridged version was extremely long. Dont let this discourage you from listening because it is worth it. I recommend listening to the first two to three segments and listening to a shorter book between the last segments to break it up. I found that I missed the story and looked forward to downloading the next segment.

If you enjoy spy novels with a developed plot, you will enjoy The Company.