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Preview
  • City of Spies

  • City of Spies, Book 1
  • By: Mara Timon
  • Narrated by: Kristin Atherton
  • Length: 13 hrs and 10 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (429 ratings)

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City of Spies

By: Mara Timon
Narrated by: Kristin Atherton
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Summary

The stunning debut from the new name to watch in espionage thrillers. For fans of Charlotte Philby, The Night Manager and Rory Clements, this is perfect Sunday night (or any night) drama.

Lisbon, 1943. After escaping from Nazi-Occupied France, SOE agent Elisabeth de Mornay, codename Cecile, receives new orders: she must infiltrate high society in neutral Lisbon and find out who is leaking key information to the Germans about British troop movements. As Solange Verin, a French widow of independent means, she will be able to meet all the rich Europeans who have gathered in Lisbon to wait out the war. One of them is a traitor, and she must find out who before more British servicemen die.

Complications arise when 'Solange' comes to the attention of German Abwehr officer Major Eduard Graf. As they get to know each other, she struggles to keep her lies close to the truth.

But in a city that is filled with spies, how can she tell who is friend or foe?

©2020 Mara Timon (P)2020 Bonnier Books UK
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What listeners say about City of Spies

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant

One of the best novels I’ve found on audible yet, it will be hard too top

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

City of spies

A fabulous book, full of twists and turns. The characters are intreging. Excellently read. leaves you wanting more.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Cliche & Weak

More Jilly Cooper than Le Carré this airport romp contains more cliches than ought to be acceptable. Two dimensional characters and unlikely scenarios spoil the potentially enjoyable read. The narrators accents are great reminders of ‘allo, allo’. A weak effort I’m afraid.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Couldn’t stop, amazing

Fantastic story and believe you me, as a Portuguese myself and knowing a bit about Portuguese history, it fits perfectly well with the times and mentally that prevailed to these days....
Fantastic reading, thank you!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Overall, I'm impressed

after an excellent beginning towards the third quartile I thought the story and the dialogue began to deteriorate, stretching credibility a tad. A good ending though reprieved the book for me and I look forward to the sequel, soon I hope.
I liked the author's post script plug for Lisbon as a short stay holiday location. I'm tempted having never been there.
A very good narration.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Great novel

loved both writing and construction. I was particlarly impressed with it as debut novel and look forward to the further adventures of 'Lizbeth in the future. Keep them coming Mara.
The performance was excellent, Kirsten always does a good job.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Beautiful blend of history and fiction

A fantastic fiction with gripping writing and excellent narration. I feel like I've known the characters myself.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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intrigue and Fado

Enjoyable spy story line with WW2 flavour and a nice historic understanding of Potugals balancing act during that time .

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Formulaic spy story

Having a female author and protagonist I had hoped that this would be different to a standard WWII espionage thriller; particularly as Portugal features in so few of them. However the characters are totally one dimensional and the dialogue clunky at best. The narrator doesn't help either with emphasis placed in very curious parts of a sentence. Ending is too corny for words.

For a far superior female spy in WWII, I suggest people try David Downing's superb 'station' series instead.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Exciting, interesting and looking forward to the next book.

As a Second World War history enthusiast, I learnt an awful lot about the events in Portugal - something entirely new to me. The story is rooted in well researched facts, and it’s fictional characters are well written and credible. Importantly, the writing and the performance meant that you ended up caring for them. The narrator attacked the narrative in a similar way that one would expect the main character undertook their covert activities in Europe.

Well done Mara and Kristin! Thanks.

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