The Fire Agent

A Novel

De: David Baerwald

Narrado por: David Baerwald

“A spy novel, a war story, a love story—brilliant historical fiction that is hardly fictional at all.”—Graham Yost, executive producer of The Americans and Slow Horses

An unforgettable, sweeping novel of espionage, love, and war that reframes our understanding of the first half of the twentieth century.

Born into an aristocratic German Jewish family, Ernst Baerwald is a gifted linguist, talented musician, and fearless idealist. When he’s recruited in 1900 to become a spy—his cover working for a company that would become the notorious chemical conglomerate IG Farben—his life becomes an extraordinary adventure spanning two continents, two world wars, and impossible choices that will haunt him forever.

From Frankfurt to Milan to Tokyo, Ernst moves through a world of intrigue and passion. He battles Japan’s Yakuza while entertaining its royalty and hosts Europe’s most brilliant performers. He falls deeply in love . . . with two women. He witnesses the rise of fascism in both Japan and Germany. And when the forces of fascism in Japan meet the horrors of Hitler’s Germany, this German Jew faces an impossible choice: destroy the country he loves most or become complicit in unimaginable evil.

Based on the life of author David Baerwald’s grandfather, The Fire Agent is historical fiction that comes across like a thriller. It carries us from nineteenth-century German idealism to the onset of chemical warfare; from Japan’s organized crime syndicates to FDR’s spy networks; from the Nanking Massacre to the dawn of the Cold War. At its center is the unforgettable character of Ernst—a man who has the courage to fight for what’s right, even when the cost is everything. The Fire Agent resonates deeply with our own time, providing a lens through which we come to see, and question, ourselves.

©2026 David Baerwald (P)2026 Spiegel & Grau by Spotify Audiobooks

rich and visceral

This book stands out as one of the best reads for me of the past several years. The story itself is expansive yet riveting. The character development is superb, and the questions it poses for its characters and all of us are fairly profound. It raises large questions about humanity's inevitable destructiveness and, similarly, the beauty that can be experienced and promoted through relationships, art, and love.

It's a special experience reading this book. The narrator, who is also the writer, is excellent, though there are a few moments where it seems a little bit too precious. Thank you to Bear Wall and to the publisher and the producer of this audiobook for the experience.

2/3 Rich Historical Fiction; 1/3 Disappointment

The first 2/3 of the book was an interesting and rich historical fiction of a German Jew immersed in Japanese language and culture and sent to act as an agent of industrial and political espionage in Japan in the early 20th century before WW1 and between the wars. It ends with a disappointing post-WW2 treasure hunt and transition to international corporate and political greed.

Boring narration

Couldn't get through this one. It just seemed to go nowhere. Narrator was boring. I tried to like it, but no.