Lie Down with Lions

By: Ken Follett

Narrated by: Eric Lincoln, Lary Bradenburg, Donald Brearley, Jane Brady, Marie Chambers, Pennell Drake

Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

Ellis, the American. Jean-Pierre, the Frenchman.... They were two men on opposite sides of the cold war, with a woman torn between them. Together, they formed a triangle of passion and deception, racing from terrorist bombs in Paris to the violence and intrigue of Afghanistan - and on to the moment of truth and a deadly decision for all of them.

©1986 Ken Follett (P)1986 Brilliance Audio

Critic reviews

"Masterful...plot and counterplot, treachery, cunning and killing...keep you on edge every moment." ( Associated Press)
"A deadly romantic triangle, a clandestine mission with global stakes, an exotic location, a plot as gripping and ingenious as Eye of the Needle...engineered to perfection with breathless acceleration." ( Los Angeles Times)

Riveting!

Like all Follett’s books for me, the first third of the book is slow and the last two thirds race by! I never want them to end when they do. This was very good! I especially enjoyed the terrain. Follett brings the geography of the setting to life so well.

Authenticity

This book was utterly captivating. The narrators were superb with excellent diction and with obvious knowledge of the area they were retelling. Follett did it again, so carefully researching so much about the afghani and weaving a thriller par excellance

great story

great story good delivery from many characters in the book. another classic Ken Follett novel.

Another good one

Another great book by this guy. I’ve read most of them now and although not my very top favorite, definitely ranks towards the top. A little bit of a slow start and lots of characters to keep track of but worth the investment. Partly and it gets exciting and halfway through it gets very exciting all the way through the end.

Follett is becoming one of my must-hear authors

STORY (Espionage) - This story has great international suspense, and I loved the setting. It occurs in and among very small villages in Afghanistan, where small bands of guerillas are trying to rebel against Russian soldiers. The main characters -- a woman, a Frenchman and an American male -- are all trying to influence the outcome of the war, and they are also entangled in a love triangle. The main thrust of the book is definitely the war, interspersed with bits of village life, but the romantic conflict fits nicely into the background. Until it happens -- wha-bam! Totally out of the blue there is a fairly lengthy sex scene that would totally fit into a smutty romance novel. I'm not complaining, mind you, but it is explicit, fairly unique and not for the prudish. Then the story returns back to its original exciting self. And, by the way, there are no lions in the story.

PERFORMANCE - Some reviewers have severely criticized this multivoice performance, which makes me wonder how many audiobooks they've listened to. When compared to a single reader who doesn't even attempt voices of the opposite sex or one who tries but sounds sexually challenged, I thought this performance was awesome. It's not perfect, but Jane sounded like a female, Jean-Pierre sounded French, the Russians sounded Russian, etc. They even made pretty good attempts at making people sound like they were on the phone or a radio, when necessary. I thought it was a great effort and well worth it.

OVERALL - Highly recommended equally for men and women. As I said, this is a book about international suspense, NOT a romance. There is violence, cursing and the abovementioned sex scene (during which I heard the c-word for the first time on Audible.)

Page turner

Entertaining page turning tale, good for a vacation. Narration is interesting as it has actors for various characters!

Worth the read but not Follet's best

This was great and so glad I took the time to listen. There is an unnecessarily graphic sex scene (more than normal Ken Follet), which is why it doesn't get four stars. Just fast forward and you'll be fine.

Great book

Any additional comments?

Great book that made many of the problems I was far away from much closer.

Good, but the multiple voice reading was poor

Overall a good book... not great.

Of the recent additions, "A Dangerous Fortune" is much better.

The narrator in this one is ok, but all spoken words are performed by different actors, and unfortunately the actors are a little below "B Movie" actors.

I don't particularly care for the spoken word cut-away style production, the story loses flow, and since the actors are not very good in this one, it really detracts.

The story is interesting and takes you to the Russian war on Afghanistan during 1981. It does shed light on just how horrible the fanatical muslim life is for women, and served to raise my disgust level for those civilizations a notch higher.

I could never really figure out if Follett was trying to touch a level of sympathy with the Afghans or not. I found it impossible to do so if that was the intent.

In the end, you wanted the story's hero to win, but hoped both sides would lose the war.

Disappointed

This started out to be a great book with an absorbing plot and great charactors, but it concluded with graphic sex sceens and a hokey ending. I love graphic sex in romance novels, but not Ken Follett (if this is Ken Follett). I have read all of Follett's books. They are epic adventure novels, but this is not one of them.