Charlie M

By: Brian Freemantle

Narrated by: Napoleon Ryan

Charlie Muffin, an endearing spy, irritates his new boss and co-workers because of his appearance and age, but that doesn't stop them from taking the credit for his accomplishments. But Charlie perseveres and proves to be right over and over again in this story of the capture of a KGB general who is running a spy network in England.

Hayward Morse ably creates voices for each of the many characters, using a variety of convincing accents, though once in a while he doesn't shift to the correct voice. He is especially effective in his timing and makes the humor of certain situations evident. Through all the plot twists, there is never any hint of the surprising outcome.

©1979 Innslodge Publications Ltd (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Office politics cold war

... as opposed to Cold War office politics. Though that too. Class conflict in the workplace then a Holmes like bravura reveal that's morally ambiguous.

The cleverness of Charlie

The narrator was engaging and set the stage. I had never listened to this series from the beginning and it was amazing.

good first novel

First time author. A shorter novel, British author Brian Freemantle creates a different kind of protagonist, a scruffy, middle aged British spy whose bosses want to put out to pasture or worse. Set in various spots around Europe during the Cold War, the Brits and Americans work to get a KGB general who wants to defect, safely to the west. Charlie's bosses put him front and center in the effort. But they make a key mistake, he knows what he's doing. This is the first book in the Charlie Muffin series. I will for sure give book #2 a try.

Britain's Most Effective/Underrated Secret Agent!

I have read the book, heard the BBC radio adaptation and seen the 1979 movie with David Hemmings...and now I've listened tro the audio book! The only thing I have to complain about here is the audio editing...a lot of times there are no pauses between sections within a chapter to better denote that action is moving to another location or taking place somewhere else; this causes a kind of run-in effect that begins to annoy a listener like me after a while. Other than that, I enjoyed the pacing of the reading and the different voices the narrator has given the characters. This audiobook is a good way to introduce British Intelligence's best secret agent/spy...even if no one else in the current Service will acknowledge him as such!

I want to blame the narrator

The story seemed stilted and drawn out at times but, in hindsight, I want to blame the narrator. His monotone reading made the story drag at times. And his choice of voice for the main character, Charlie M., was particularly bad. Might have been OK for a minor character with just a few lines, but it was quite grating for a voice that (obviously) was featured prominently throughout the novel. That said, the story itself is quite good. The twist at the end was not the twist I was expecting. Will give the author another try, hopefully with a different narrator next time.

George Smiley Meets F. Forsyth

the character Charlie Muffin is completely likable, just as George Smiley is. The difference is the writing style of Brian Freemantle. For me, it's less "fussy" than John le Carré