Agent 6

By: Tom Rob Smith

Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris

THREE DECADES. TWO MURDERS. ONE CONSPIRACY

WHO IS AGENT 6?

Tom Rob Smith's debut, Child 44, was an immediate publishing sensation and marked the arrival of a major new talent in contemporary fiction. Named one of top 100 thrillers of all time by NPR, it hit bestseller lists around the world, won the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award and the ITW Thriller Award for Best First Novel, and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. In this spellbinding new novel, Tom Rob Smith probes the tenuous border between love and obsession as Leo Demidov struggles to untangle the threads of a devastating conspiracy that shatters everything he holds dear. Deftly capturing the claustrophobic intensity of the Cold War-era Soviet Union, it's at once a heart-pounding thriller and a richly atmospheric novel of extraordinary depth....

Leo Demidov is no longer a member of Moscow's secret police. But when his wife, Raisa, and daughters Zoya and Elena are invited on a "Peace Tour" to New York City, he is immediately suspicious.

Forbidden to travel with his family and trapped on the other side of the world, Leo watches helplessly as events in New York unfold and those closest to his heart are pulled into a web of political conspiracy and betrayal-one that will end in tragedy.

In the horrible aftermath, Leo demands only one thing: to investigate the killer who destroyed his family. His request is summarily denied. Crippled by grief and haunted by the need to find out exactly what happened on that night in New York, Leo takes matters into his own hands. It is a quest that will span decades, and take Leo around the world - from Moscow, to the mountains of Soviet-controlled Afghanistan, to the backstreets of New York - in pursuit of the one man who knows the truth: Agent 6.

©2011 Tom Rob Smith (P)2011 Hachette Audio

very good book an well read

What did you love best about Agent 6?

it is a complicated story and well told. i listened to all 3 books in this series and all of them were hard to stop listening to. well done.

Heart Wrenching!!!!!!!!!

Oh such a sad end to a great series. This book takes you so many places and follows such a wonderful story line. As a HUGE fan of Child 44 and The Secret Speech this book really took you to another world and covered the most ground. Following Leo and his family in the stories that you get here in Agent 6 will tug at your heart strings. The rebellion and loss, the love, the sadness……….it’s all there! It takes such a turn from the first two books but stands strong on its own. I’m sad to see the series end, I’d have loved to follow Leo threw many more books. A great read/listen and as always this narrator is amazing! Highly recommended.

Good Listen

This is the last book in the series about Leo Dimidov and his adventures. The main story starts the 1960s and it spans over a period of 20 years (bringing us to the 80's). As far as story line, this book does not disappoint. Very interesting plot and it kept me wanting more. However, I was very disappointed with the ending. After following Leo throughout the story, waiting for him to solve the mystery, I feel like there really wasn't much of a mystery to solve at the end of it all. Also how the book ultimately ended somehow felt unfinished. If you enjoyed Child 44 and The Secret Speech though, you will probably like this. As usual, the narrator was fantastic.

A final book in a trilogy?

This book continues to involve what I liked best about the earlier books, the historical setting. Agent 6 is at its best when the scene shifts to Afghanistan where Leo is working before and after the Russian Invasion. It is more a thriller than a mystery as was the case of the first two books, but it is handled better than they were. The identity of Agent 6 is never really a mystery and that does not diminish the book. Spoiler in the next sentence. I am not sure why the author felt the need to break up the family he created for Leo in the first two books and replace them with a new one in this one. He could have easily worked Raisa and the two girls into the heart of this book, but they only play a role in the first scenes.
The beginning takes place in the past with Leo back working for Stalin's secret police and tells the story of how Leo met Raisa during the visit of an American Communist. That part was fascinating for its historical setting and a peek into life under Stalin. I enjoyed those aspects of the first two books as well. Unfortunately, the scene quickly shifts to NYC and gets less interesting. Once in Afghanistan the inside perspective of the Soviet invasion rebuild the interest that lasts until the end. Spoiler: The end is not neatly tied up which hints that this may not be the last Leo book, If there are more, I hope he goes back to the past under Stalin. The reader is excellent. His performance really holds your attention, He differentiates voices well and I plan to look into more of his work

Agent 6

Agent 6 did not live up to Child 44. The performance was very good. Bye

A thrilling ride full of intense twists and turns!

I loved the story! Great narrative performance. This novel surpasses the 2nd book and maybe even the 1st one.

great book

Great book and great narration with a situation that is a courageous move for the author and sad for the rest of us who hoped to read a lot more of these characters' stories.

Great third entry, and narration terrific as ever.

I've previously listened to both "Child 44" and "The Secret Speech" as an audio book, and I'm still incredibly impressed by the originality and imagination of Tom Rob Smith. You honestly never know where you'll end up, and the characters (particularly Leo, of course) are immensely compelling. But I have to admit, a great deal of my enjoyment of all three books was due to the fantastic narration by Dennis Boutsikaris. I personally preferred the plot of the previous two books very slightly to this one, for reasons I won't go into in this review for fear of giving away anything, but I still couldn't rank it as anything but 5 stars for story and overall.
The only thing about this audio book that I disliked was the ridiculously intrusive music: despite only occurring (I think) at the very beginning and very end, it took *forever* to fade out at the beginning as the story began (which was merely irritating), but actually *ruined* the final paragraph or so at the very end! Unbelievable.

Well done!

A very satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. Many twists and turns. A good review of the Cold War Days and what was going on in Afghanistan.

great ending

it's different from the previous two books in its own way but it was a great conclusion.