The Death's Head Chess Club
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Prime members: New to Audible?Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
The Death's Head Chess Club
Buy for $29.48
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Mark Meadows
-
By:
-
John Donoghue
About this listen
SS Obersturmführer Paul Meissner arrives in Auschwitz from the Russian front. After being badly wounded he is fit only for administrative duty, and his first and most pressing task is to improve flagging camp morale. He sets up a chess club which thrives, as the officers and enlisted men are allowed to gamble on the results of the games. However, when Meissner learns from a chance remark that chess is also played by the prisoners, he hears of a Jewish watchmaker who is “unbeatable”. Meissner sets out to discover the truth behind this rumour, and what he finds will haunt him to his death....
©2015 John Donoghue (P)2015 Isis Publishing LtdListeners also enjoyed...
-
Lady Tan's Circle of Women
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Jennifer Lim, Justin Chien
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,105
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,764
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,761
According to Confucius, “an educated woman is a worthless woman,” but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separations, and loneliness—is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is one of only a handful of female doctors in China, and she teaches Yunxian the pillars of Chinese medicine, the Four Examinations—looking, listening, touching, and asking—something a man can never do with a female patient.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Another Beautiful Novel from Lisa See!
- By TuxedoedCorgi95 on 06-06-23
By: Lisa See
-
My Darkest Prayer
- A Novel
- By: S. A. Cosby
- Narrated by: Adam Lazarre-White
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 756
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 688
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 687
Whether it's working at his cousin's funeral home or tossing around the local riffraff at his favorite bar, Nathan Waymaker is a man who knows how to handle the bodies. A former marine and sheriff's deputy, Nathan has built a reputation in his small Southern town as a man who can help when all other avenues have been exhausted. When a beloved local minister is found dead, his parishioners ask Nathan to make sure the death isn’t swept under the rug.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Amazing First Novel
- By Tod M. Clark on 12-12-22
By: S. A. Cosby
-
Babylon Berlin
- Gereon Rath, Book 1
- By: Volker Kutscher
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows
- Length: 18 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 261
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 231
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 229
Berlin, 1929. Detective Inspector Rath was a successful career officer in the Cologne Homicide Division before a shooting incident in which he inadvertently killed a man. He has been transferred to the vice squad in Berlin, a job he detests even though he finds a new friend in his boss, Chief Inspector Wolter. There is seething unrest in the city, and the Commissioner of Police has ordered the vice squad to ruthlessly enforce the ban on May Day demonstrations.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
It's no Bernie Gunther Mystery ...
- By Brian English on 01-28-18
By: Volker Kutscher
-
The Auschwitz Escape
- By: Joel C. Rosenberg
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6,018
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 5,483
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,483
A terrible darkness has fallen upon Jacob Weisz’s beloved Germany. The Nazi regime, under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, has surged to power and now hold Germany by the throat. All non-Aryans - especially Jews like Jacob and his family - are treated like dogs. When tragedy strikes during one terrible night of violence, Jacob flees and joins rebel forces working to undermine the regime. But after a raid goes horribly wrong, Jacob finds himself in a living nightmare - trapped in a crowded, stinking car on the train to the Auschwitz death camp.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Amazing, horrifying, and heartwarming!
- By DebaDeb on 04-01-14
-
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
- By: Claire North
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 13,629
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 12,419
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 12,412
Harry August is on his deathbed. Again. No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, when death comes, Harry always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life he has already lived a dozen times before. Nothing ever changes. Until now. As Harry nears the end of his 11th life, a little girl appears at his bedside. "I nearly missed you, Doctor August", she says. "I need to send a message". This is the story of what Harry does next, and what he did before, and how he tries to save a past he cannot change and a future he cannot allow.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Not what I'd feared
- By Isobel on 04-29-16
By: Claire North
-
The One Man
- A Novel
- By: Andrew Gross
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,675
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,314
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,302
1944. Physics professor Alfred Mendel and his family were trying to flee Paris when they were caught and forced onto a train, along with thousands of other Jewish families. At the other end of the long, torturous train ride, Alfred is separated from his family and sent to the men’s camp, where all of his belongings are tossed on a roaring fire. His books, his papers, his life’s work. The Nazis have no idea what they have just destroyed. And without that physical record, Alfred is one of only two people in the world with his particular knowledge. Knowledge that could start a war, or end it.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
You gotta have a STRONG stomach.
- By Richard Delman on 09-22-16
By: Andrew Gross
-
Lady Tan's Circle of Women
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Jennifer Lim, Justin Chien
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,105
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,764
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,761
According to Confucius, “an educated woman is a worthless woman,” but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separations, and loneliness—is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is one of only a handful of female doctors in China, and she teaches Yunxian the pillars of Chinese medicine, the Four Examinations—looking, listening, touching, and asking—something a man can never do with a female patient.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Another Beautiful Novel from Lisa See!
- By TuxedoedCorgi95 on 06-06-23
By: Lisa See
-
My Darkest Prayer
- A Novel
- By: S. A. Cosby
- Narrated by: Adam Lazarre-White
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 756
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 688
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 687
Whether it's working at his cousin's funeral home or tossing around the local riffraff at his favorite bar, Nathan Waymaker is a man who knows how to handle the bodies. A former marine and sheriff's deputy, Nathan has built a reputation in his small Southern town as a man who can help when all other avenues have been exhausted. When a beloved local minister is found dead, his parishioners ask Nathan to make sure the death isn’t swept under the rug.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Amazing First Novel
- By Tod M. Clark on 12-12-22
By: S. A. Cosby
-
Babylon Berlin
- Gereon Rath, Book 1
- By: Volker Kutscher
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows
- Length: 18 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 261
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 231
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 229
Berlin, 1929. Detective Inspector Rath was a successful career officer in the Cologne Homicide Division before a shooting incident in which he inadvertently killed a man. He has been transferred to the vice squad in Berlin, a job he detests even though he finds a new friend in his boss, Chief Inspector Wolter. There is seething unrest in the city, and the Commissioner of Police has ordered the vice squad to ruthlessly enforce the ban on May Day demonstrations.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
It's no Bernie Gunther Mystery ...
- By Brian English on 01-28-18
By: Volker Kutscher
-
The Auschwitz Escape
- By: Joel C. Rosenberg
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6,018
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 5,483
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,483
A terrible darkness has fallen upon Jacob Weisz’s beloved Germany. The Nazi regime, under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, has surged to power and now hold Germany by the throat. All non-Aryans - especially Jews like Jacob and his family - are treated like dogs. When tragedy strikes during one terrible night of violence, Jacob flees and joins rebel forces working to undermine the regime. But after a raid goes horribly wrong, Jacob finds himself in a living nightmare - trapped in a crowded, stinking car on the train to the Auschwitz death camp.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Amazing, horrifying, and heartwarming!
- By DebaDeb on 04-01-14
-
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
- By: Claire North
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 13,629
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 12,419
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 12,412
Harry August is on his deathbed. Again. No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, when death comes, Harry always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life he has already lived a dozen times before. Nothing ever changes. Until now. As Harry nears the end of his 11th life, a little girl appears at his bedside. "I nearly missed you, Doctor August", she says. "I need to send a message". This is the story of what Harry does next, and what he did before, and how he tries to save a past he cannot change and a future he cannot allow.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Not what I'd feared
- By Isobel on 04-29-16
By: Claire North
-
The One Man
- A Novel
- By: Andrew Gross
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,675
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,314
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,302
1944. Physics professor Alfred Mendel and his family were trying to flee Paris when they were caught and forced onto a train, along with thousands of other Jewish families. At the other end of the long, torturous train ride, Alfred is separated from his family and sent to the men’s camp, where all of his belongings are tossed on a roaring fire. His books, his papers, his life’s work. The Nazis have no idea what they have just destroyed. And without that physical record, Alfred is one of only two people in the world with his particular knowledge. Knowledge that could start a war, or end it.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
You gotta have a STRONG stomach.
- By Richard Delman on 09-22-16
By: Andrew Gross
-
Flame of Resistance
- By: Tracy Groot
- Narrated by: Carine Montbertrand
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 23
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 25
A retelling of the Old Testament tale of Rahab the harlot, Flame of Resistance takes place in Nazi-occupied France. After American fighter pilot Tom Jaeger is shot down and harbored by the French Resistance, he figures prominently in a plan to infiltrate a Germans-only brothel. With the fates of multitudes hanging in the balance, Tom’s life—and the life of a prostitute named Brigitte—take on an importance that will reverberate through history.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Worth a listen
- By Benjamin Forrest on 06-22-23
By: Tracy Groot
-
The First Casualty
- By: Ben Elton
- Narrated by: Glen McCready
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 74
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 70
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 70
Flanders, June 1917: a British officer and celebrated poet, is shot dead, killed not by German fire, but while recuperating from shell shock well behind the lines. A young English soldier is arrested and, although he protests his innocence, charged with his murder.Douglas Kingsley is a conscientious objector, previously a detective with the London police, now imprisoned for his beliefs.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Not Elton's best
- By Peter Morton on 07-06-15
By: Ben Elton
-
An Officer and a Spy
- A Novel
- By: Robert Harris
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 16 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,839
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,627
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,628
Paris in 1895: Alfred Dreyfus, a young Jewish officer, has just been convicted of treason, sentenced to life imprisonment at Devil's Island, and stripped of his rank in front of a baying crowd of 20,000. Among the witnesses to his humiliation is Georges Picquart, the ambitious, intellectual, recently promoted head of the counterespionage agency that Dreyfus had passed secrets to the Germans. At first, Picquart firmly believes in Dreyfus' guilt. But it is not long after Dreyfus is delivered to his desolate prison that Picquart stumbles on information that leads him to suspect that there is still a spy at large in the French military.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Top Notch Historical Fiction
- By Ryan on 03-18-14
By: Robert Harris
-
The Last Paradise
- By: Antonio Garrido, Simon Bruni - translator
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 13 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 76
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 62
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 62
Jack Beilis once lived the American dream: custom suits, new cars, and the best clubs. But by 1931, he has sunk so low he cannot feed himself or his ailing father. Now he barely has time to wipe the blood from his hands before he finds himself on a ship from New York to Moscow, running from a crime he never intended. Desperate for an escape route, Jack wants to believe stories of a worker's paradise in the Soviet Union. Maybe the distance between Ellis Island and Red Square will let him leave poverty - and his pursuers - far behind.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
loved it
- By Trace J. Tumbleson on 08-12-22
By: Antonio Garrido, and others
-
A Rising Man
- By: Abir Mukherjee
- Narrated by: Malk Williams
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,004
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 880
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 878
Captain Sam Wyndham, former Scotland Yard detective, is a new arrival to Calcutta. Desperately seeking a fresh start after his experiences during the Great War, Wyndham has been recruited to head up a new post in the police force. He is immediately overwhelmed by the heady vibrancy of the tropical city, but with barely a moment to acclimatize or to deal with the ghosts that still haunt him, Wyndham is caught up in a murder investigation that threatens to destabilize a city already teetering on the brink of political insurgency.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Warning - Same book was issued May 5, 2016
- By Katharine on 07-04-17
By: Abir Mukherjee
-
In the First Circle
- By: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Harry T. Willets - translator
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 31 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 564
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 493
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 491
Moscow, Christmas Eve, 1949. The Soviet secret police intercept a call made to the American embassy by a Russian diplomat who promises to deliver secrets about the nascent Soviet Atomic Bomb program. On that same day, a brilliant mathematician is locked away inside a Moscow prison that houses the country's brightest minds. He and his fellow prisoners are charged with using their abilities to sleuth out the caller's identity, and they must choose whether to aid Joseph Stalin's repressive state - or refuse and accept transfer to the Siberian Gulag camps, and almost certain death.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
One of the five finest novels written in the 20th Century
- By Ellis D Vener on 04-08-19
By: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, and others
-
The Girl from Krakow
- A Novel
- By: Alex Rosenberg
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,157
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,016
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,026
It's 1935. Rita Feuerstahl comes to the university in Krakow intent on enjoying her freedom. But life has other things in store - marriage, a love affair, a child, all in the shadows of the oncoming war. When the war arrives, Rita is armed with a secret so enormous that it could cost the Allies everything, even as it gives her the will to live. She must find a way both to keep her secret and to survive amid the chaos of Europe at war.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Horrified in all the wrong ways
- By Beauty&DecorJunkie on 01-22-16
By: Alex Rosenberg
-
A Bitter Rain
- By: James D. Shipman
- Narrated by: David deVries
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 217
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 193
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 192
East Prussia, Nazi Germany, 1939. History professor Erik Mueller is a model citizen and a family man. He's also a decorated sergeant in the Gestapo. Proving his courage on the battlefields of Poland and the Soviet Union, and proud of the German army's victories across Europe, he embraces what he thinks is the righteousness of the Third Reich's cause. But his loyalties are soon tested when he crosses paths with his old university friend Trude Bensheim.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent book
- By Ann McNeil on 12-21-17
By: James D. Shipman
-
The Parisians
- By: Marius Gabriel
- Narrated by: Karissa Vacker
- Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 732
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 661
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 658
Paris, 1940. The Nazis have occupied the city - and the Ritz. The opulent old hotel, so loved by Parisians, is now full of swaggering officers, their minions and their mistresses. For American Olivia Olsen, working as a chambermaid at the hotel means denying her nationality and living a lie, every day bringing the danger of discovery closer. When Hitler’s right-hand man moves in and makes her his pet, she sees an opportunity to help the Resistance - and draw closer to Jack, her contact, whose brusque instructions may be a shield for something more....
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Not another WWII Book
- By CaliReader on 02-03-19
By: Marius Gabriel
-
The Light We Left Behind
- By: Tessa Harris
- Narrated by: Tor Leijten
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 24
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 24
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 24
England: 1944. When psychologist Maddie Gresham is sent a mysterious message telling her to report to Trent Park mansion, she wonders how she will be helping the war effort from a stately home. Having signed the official secrets act, she soon finds captured Nazi generals are being detained at the house. Bugged with listening devices in every room, it’s up to Maddie to gain the Nazis’ trust and coax them into giving up information. When Max Weitzler, a Jewish refugee, also arrives at Trent Park with the same mission, Maddie finds herself trapped in a dangerous game of chess.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Great, easy read
- By Rachel B on 11-15-24
By: Tessa Harris
-
Winter in Madrid
- By: C. J. Sansom
- Narrated by: Gordon Gordon
- Length: 21 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 180
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 122
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 123
Winter in Madrid is set just after the bloody Spanish Civil War, with World War II looming over Europe. Reluctantly, Harry Brett looks for an old schoolmate who's become a person of interest for British intelligence.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
realistic characters in historical context
- By Annie on 10-04-09
By: C. J. Sansom
-
Beyond the Shadow of Night
- By: Ray Kingfisher
- Narrated by: Jeremy Arthur, Brittany Wilkerson
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 315
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 272
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 270
Ukraine, 1923. On a small farm, two boys are born within days of each other, both Ukrainian, one Jewish. Mykhail and Asher grow up inseparable, together finding friendship, adventure and escape from the harshness of Russian rule. But after Asher’s family flees to Warsaw, their worlds are torn to shreds by the Second World War. The war brings cruelty to both boys. Although Asher finds love in Warsaw, the city is far from the haven his family sought; meanwhile Mykhail becomes a victim of the bitter struggle for Ukraine. But worse follows, in the shape of the Treblinka death camp.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Brothers in All But Blood
- By Debbie on 04-08-20
By: Ray Kingfisher
Related to this topic
-
In the First Circle
- By: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Harry T. Willets - translator
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 31 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 564
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 493
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 491
Moscow, Christmas Eve, 1949. The Soviet secret police intercept a call made to the American embassy by a Russian diplomat who promises to deliver secrets about the nascent Soviet Atomic Bomb program. On that same day, a brilliant mathematician is locked away inside a Moscow prison that houses the country's brightest minds. He and his fellow prisoners are charged with using their abilities to sleuth out the caller's identity, and they must choose whether to aid Joseph Stalin's repressive state - or refuse and accept transfer to the Siberian Gulag camps, and almost certain death.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
One of the five finest novels written in the 20th Century
- By Ellis D Vener on 04-08-19
By: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, and others
-
Dead Man's Land
- By: Robert Ryan
- Narrated by: Richard Burnip
- Length: 14 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 67
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 64
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 64
Deep in the trenches of Flanders Fields, men are dying in the thousands every day. So one more death shouldn't be a surprise. But then a body turns up with bizarre injuries, and Sherlock Holmes' former sidekick, Dr. John Watson - unable to fight for his country due to injury but able to serve it through his medical expertise - finds his suspicions raised.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Watson is wonderful, amid very grim surroundings
- By L. Gutman on 03-01-18
By: Robert Ryan
-
Winter in Madrid
- By: C. J. Sansom
- Narrated by: Gordon Gordon
- Length: 21 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 180
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 122
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 123
Winter in Madrid is set just after the bloody Spanish Civil War, with World War II looming over Europe. Reluctantly, Harry Brett looks for an old schoolmate who's become a person of interest for British intelligence.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
realistic characters in historical context
- By Annie on 10-04-09
By: C. J. Sansom
-
March Violets
- By: Philip Kerr
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,578
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,247
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,252
Hailed by Salman Rushdie as a "brilliantly innovative thriller-writer", Philip Kerr is the creator of taut, gripping, noir-tinged mysteries set in Nazi-era Berlin that are nothing short of spellbinding. The first book of the Berlin Noir trilogy, March Violets introduces listeners to Bernie Gunther, an ex-policeman who thought he'd seen everything on the streets of 1930s Berlin - until he turned freelance and each case he tackled sucked him further into the grisly excesses of Nazi subculture.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Brilliant Nazi Era Mystery
- By Constance on 05-04-12
By: Philip Kerr
-
Zoo Station
- John Russell WWII Spy, Book 1
- By: David Downing
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 67
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 58
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 58
By 1939, Anglo-American journalist John Russell has spent over a decade in Berlin, where his son lives with his mother. He writes human-interest pieces for British and American papers, avoiding the investigative journalism that could get him deported. But as World War II approaches, he faces having to leave his son as well as his girlfriend of several years, a beautiful German starlet. When an acquaintance from his old communist days approaches him to do some work for the Soviets, Russell is reluctant, but he is unable to resist the offer.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Overall great listen!
- By Patricia on 02-28-24
By: David Downing
-
Story of a Secret State
- Penguin Modern Classics
- By: Jan Karski
- Narrated by: Janusz Guttner
- Length: 18 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 94
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 84
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 82
I do not pretend to have given an exhaustive picture of the Polish Underground, its organisation and its activities. Because of our methods, I believe that there is no one today who could give an all-embracing recital...This book is a purely personal story, my story. Jan Karski's Second World War memoir is a heroic act of witness: the courageous testimony of a man who risked everything for his country. First published in 1944, the book became an instant bestseller in the US while the war still raged in Europe.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Outstanding
- By David on 10-20-11
By: Jan Karski
-
In the First Circle
- By: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Harry T. Willets - translator
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 31 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 564
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 493
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 491
Moscow, Christmas Eve, 1949. The Soviet secret police intercept a call made to the American embassy by a Russian diplomat who promises to deliver secrets about the nascent Soviet Atomic Bomb program. On that same day, a brilliant mathematician is locked away inside a Moscow prison that houses the country's brightest minds. He and his fellow prisoners are charged with using their abilities to sleuth out the caller's identity, and they must choose whether to aid Joseph Stalin's repressive state - or refuse and accept transfer to the Siberian Gulag camps, and almost certain death.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
One of the five finest novels written in the 20th Century
- By Ellis D Vener on 04-08-19
By: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, and others
-
Dead Man's Land
- By: Robert Ryan
- Narrated by: Richard Burnip
- Length: 14 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 67
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 64
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 64
Deep in the trenches of Flanders Fields, men are dying in the thousands every day. So one more death shouldn't be a surprise. But then a body turns up with bizarre injuries, and Sherlock Holmes' former sidekick, Dr. John Watson - unable to fight for his country due to injury but able to serve it through his medical expertise - finds his suspicions raised.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Watson is wonderful, amid very grim surroundings
- By L. Gutman on 03-01-18
By: Robert Ryan
-
Winter in Madrid
- By: C. J. Sansom
- Narrated by: Gordon Gordon
- Length: 21 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 180
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 122
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 123
Winter in Madrid is set just after the bloody Spanish Civil War, with World War II looming over Europe. Reluctantly, Harry Brett looks for an old schoolmate who's become a person of interest for British intelligence.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
realistic characters in historical context
- By Annie on 10-04-09
By: C. J. Sansom
-
March Violets
- By: Philip Kerr
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,578
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,247
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,252
Hailed by Salman Rushdie as a "brilliantly innovative thriller-writer", Philip Kerr is the creator of taut, gripping, noir-tinged mysteries set in Nazi-era Berlin that are nothing short of spellbinding. The first book of the Berlin Noir trilogy, March Violets introduces listeners to Bernie Gunther, an ex-policeman who thought he'd seen everything on the streets of 1930s Berlin - until he turned freelance and each case he tackled sucked him further into the grisly excesses of Nazi subculture.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Brilliant Nazi Era Mystery
- By Constance on 05-04-12
By: Philip Kerr
-
Zoo Station
- John Russell WWII Spy, Book 1
- By: David Downing
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 67
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 58
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 58
By 1939, Anglo-American journalist John Russell has spent over a decade in Berlin, where his son lives with his mother. He writes human-interest pieces for British and American papers, avoiding the investigative journalism that could get him deported. But as World War II approaches, he faces having to leave his son as well as his girlfriend of several years, a beautiful German starlet. When an acquaintance from his old communist days approaches him to do some work for the Soviets, Russell is reluctant, but he is unable to resist the offer.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Overall great listen!
- By Patricia on 02-28-24
By: David Downing
-
Story of a Secret State
- Penguin Modern Classics
- By: Jan Karski
- Narrated by: Janusz Guttner
- Length: 18 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 94
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 84
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 82
I do not pretend to have given an exhaustive picture of the Polish Underground, its organisation and its activities. Because of our methods, I believe that there is no one today who could give an all-embracing recital...This book is a purely personal story, my story. Jan Karski's Second World War memoir is a heroic act of witness: the courageous testimony of a man who risked everything for his country. First published in 1944, the book became an instant bestseller in the US while the war still raged in Europe.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Outstanding
- By David on 10-20-11
By: Jan Karski
-
Babylon Berlin
- Gereon Rath, Book 1
- By: Volker Kutscher
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows
- Length: 18 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 261
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 231
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 229
Berlin, 1929. Detective Inspector Rath was a successful career officer in the Cologne Homicide Division before a shooting incident in which he inadvertently killed a man. He has been transferred to the vice squad in Berlin, a job he detests even though he finds a new friend in his boss, Chief Inspector Wolter. There is seething unrest in the city, and the Commissioner of Police has ordered the vice squad to ruthlessly enforce the ban on May Day demonstrations.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
It's no Bernie Gunther Mystery ...
- By Brian English on 01-28-18
By: Volker Kutscher
-
The Auschwitz Escape
- By: Joel C. Rosenberg
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6,018
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 5,483
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,483
A terrible darkness has fallen upon Jacob Weisz’s beloved Germany. The Nazi regime, under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, has surged to power and now hold Germany by the throat. All non-Aryans - especially Jews like Jacob and his family - are treated like dogs. When tragedy strikes during one terrible night of violence, Jacob flees and joins rebel forces working to undermine the regime. But after a raid goes horribly wrong, Jacob finds himself in a living nightmare - trapped in a crowded, stinking car on the train to the Auschwitz death camp.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Amazing, horrifying, and heartwarming!
- By DebaDeb on 04-01-14
-
The Kindly Ones
- By: Jonathan Littell
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 39 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 295
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 221
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 220
The chilling fictional memoir of Dr. Maximilien Aue, a former Nazi officer who has reinvented himself, many years after the war, as a middle-class family man and factory owner in France. Max is an intellectual steeped in philosophy, literature, and classical music. He is also a cold-blooded assassin and the consummate bureaucrat. Through the eyes of this cultivated yet monstrous man, we experience in disturbingly precise detail the horrors of the Second World War and the Nazi genocide of the Jews.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Office politics in hell
- By Maine Colonial 🌲 on 04-02-13
By: Jonathan Littell
-
The Patriots
- A Novel
- By: Sana Krasikov
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren, George Guidall
- Length: 22 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 87
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 81
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 78
Florence Fein grows up in Brooklyn in the 1930s, in a family that is gaining a foothold in the middle class. At City College she becomes engaged politically with the left-leaning student groups, and eventually, in the midst of the Depression, she takes a job with a trade organization that has a position for her in Moscow. There, she falls in love with another expatriate American and has a son. Soon after, Florence is sent to a work camp and her son to an orphanage.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Point of View of characters, past and present collide
- By Angela Adams on 01-29-19
By: Sana Krasikov
-
Nocturne
- By: Diane Armstrong
- Narrated by: Deidre Rubenstein
- Length: 16 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 47
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 39
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 40
It is Warsaw, 1939, and Elzunia is an indulged teenager who longs for a heroic life filled with romance. But the outbreak of war shatters all her dreams. As bombs fall, she meets Adam, a taciturn airman whose fate becomes entwined with hers. In despair over the occupation, Adam joins the Polish resistance, then flies bombers for the RAF.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Blech
- By Caroline H. on 02-20-11
By: Diane Armstrong
-
A Christmas Journey
- By: Anne Perry
- Narrated by: Terrence Hardiman
- Length: 3 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 914
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 835
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 829
It's Christmas and the well-born guests who have gathered at Applecross for a delicious weekend of relaxation are warmed by roaring fires, mistletoe, and gorgeously wrapped gifts. It's scarcely the setting for misfortune, and no one - not even that clever young aristocrat and budding sleuth Vespasia Cumming-Gould - anticipates the tragedy that is to darken this light-hearted holiday house party. But soon one young woman lies dead, a suicide, and Vespasia must uncover the heartbreaking truth behind the tragedy.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Never tire of Anne Perry
- By Joan on 12-22-17
By: Anne Perry
-
Back Channel
- By: Stephen L. Carter
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 17 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 63
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 60
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 59
October, 1962, in Cuba: Soviet ships off-load what intelligence reveals to be nuclear missiles. In Washington, President Kennedy and his advisers are in furious debate over how long they can wait to discover what the Soviets intend before dropping the first bomb. And, in Ithaca, New York, Margo Jensen - a 19-year-old Cornell sophomore - is swept up in a bizarre concatenation of circumstances that will make of her the back-channel liaison between Soviet Premier Khrushchev and Kennedy.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
GREAT spy thriller!
- By Mark on 12-04-16
-
Code Name: Lise
- The True Story of the Woman Who Became WWII's Most Highly Decorated Spy
- By: Larry Loftis
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,505
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,347
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,343
1942: World War II is in full swing. Odette Sansom decides to follow in her war hero father’s footsteps by becoming an SOE agent to aid Britain and her beloved homeland, France. Five failed attempts and a plane crash later, she finally lands in occupied France to begin her mission. It is here that she meets her commanding officer, Captain Peter Churchill. As they successfully complete mission after mission, Peter and Odette fall in love. All the while, they are being hunted by the cunning German secret police sergeant, Hugo Bleicher, who finally succeeds in capturing them.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
SKIP THE PROLOGUE!
- By Erica J. Conway on 09-17-19
By: Larry Loftis
-
Season of Darkness
- By: Maureen Jennings
- Narrated by: Tom Craig
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 67
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 59
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 59
Following the disastrous retreat of the British army from Dunkirk in 1940, England is plunged into a state of fear. The threat of a German invasion is real, and many German Nationals are interned in camps across the country. One such camp is on the ancient moor land of Prees Heath, near the small town of Whitchurch in Shropshire, where Tom Tyler is the sole detective inspector. Young women from all walks of life have joined the Land Army, to help desperate farmers keep the country fed. Then one turns up dead.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
much better than average historical detective
- By connie on 09-30-12
By: Maureen Jennings
-
Topaz
- By: Leon Uris
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 123
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 104
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 104
On the eve of the Cuban Missile Crisis in Paris, 1962, Devereaux and Nordstrom uncover Soviet plans to ship nuclear arms. But when nobody acts after sharing his findings, Devereaux becomes the target of an assassination attempt and soon realizes the plot extends far beyond Cuba - and himself. A thrilling and well-paced novel filled with Cold War intrigue, Topaz features two agents on a journey around the world to save NATO and themselves.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A spy thriller in disguise
- By Shmuel M on 04-14-19
By: Leon Uris
-
The Best of Our Spies
- Spy Masters, Book 1
- By: Alex Gerlis
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 15 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 811
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 728
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 721
France, July 1944: a month after the Allied landings in Normandy, and the liberation of Europe is under way. In the Pas-de-Calais, Nathalie Mercier, a young British Special Operations executive secret agent working with the French Resistance, disappears. In London, her husband, Owen Quinn, an officer with Royal Navy Intelligence, discovers the truth about her role in the Allies' sophisticated deception at the heart of D-Day.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Best Kind of Spy Story
- By Linda Hanson on 01-11-16
By: Alex Gerlis
-
A Rising Man
- By: Abir Mukherjee
- Narrated by: Malk Williams
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,004
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 880
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 878
Captain Sam Wyndham, former Scotland Yard detective, is a new arrival to Calcutta. Desperately seeking a fresh start after his experiences during the Great War, Wyndham has been recruited to head up a new post in the police force. He is immediately overwhelmed by the heady vibrancy of the tropical city, but with barely a moment to acclimatize or to deal with the ghosts that still haunt him, Wyndham is caught up in a murder investigation that threatens to destabilize a city already teetering on the brink of political insurgency.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Warning - Same book was issued May 5, 2016
- By Katharine on 07-04-17
By: Abir Mukherjee