An Officer and a Spy Unabridged (Audio Download): Amazon.co.uk: Robert Harris, David Rintoul: Books

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Audio Download
Listening Length: 16 hours and 3 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Random House Audiobooks
Audible.co.uk Release Date: 26 Sep 2013
Language: English
ASIN: B00FAI0GN8

Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (330 customer reviews)

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Product Description

They lied to protect their country. He told the truth to save it. A gripping historical thriller from the best-selling author of Fatherland.

January 1895: On a freezing morning in the heart of Paris, an army officer, Georges Picquart, witnesses a convicted spy, Captain Alfred Dreyfus, being publicly humiliated in front of 20,000 spectators baying `Death to the Jew!� The officer is rewarded with promotion: Picquart is made the French army�s youngest colonel and put in command of `the Statistical Section� - the shadowy intelligence unit that tracked down Dreyfus.

The spy, meanwhile, is given a punishment of medieval cruelty: Dreyfus is shipped off to a lifetime of solitary confinement on Devil�s Island - unable to speak to anyone, not even his guards, his case seems closed forever. But gradually Picquart comes to believe there is something rotten at the heart of the Statistical Section. When he discovers another German spy operating on French soil, his superiors are oddly reluctant to pursue it. Despite official warnings, Picquart persists, and soon the officer and the spy are in the same predicament....

Narrated by Picquart, An Officer and a Spy is a compelling recreation of a scandal that became the most famous miscarriage of justice in history. Compelling, too, are the echoes for our modern world: an intelligence agency gone rogue, justice corrupted in the name of national security, a newspaper witch hunt of a persecuted minority, and the age-old instinct of those in power to cover-up their crimes.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Do not read Wikipedia first 25 Oct 2013

By Venerable Bede

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I stymied my reading pleasure, once I realised that I knew nothing about the Dreyfus Affair, by reading up some background which meant that the startling facts of the story did not shock. I regret this as the story is fascinating and timely. As usual, Robert Harris has developed the voice of a companionable narrator who is central to the story which reads well throughout. Look at wikipedia later as the photos of the protagonists ground the story in reality.

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96 of 101 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars First rate! 27 Sep 2013

By D. P. Mankin TOP 1000 REVIEWER VINE VOICE

Format:Hardcover

I have long been a fan of Robert Harris and was pleased to be given this novel as a birthday present. I devoured it in a couple of (longish) sittings. I recall studying the Dreyfus affair at school but these were hazy recollections at best. Having read the novel I am now seeking out a good non-fiction book on the topic so that I have a better appreciation of how well Robert Harris has integrated fact with fiction. The novel is revelatory in terms of demonstrating through fiction the lengths governments will go to in order to conceal the truth. Dreyfus was, to put it succintly, fitted up. As the author has shown in previous novels he is adept at (a) evoking a period setting, (b) creating well rounded characters like the central protaganist here, Colonel Georges Picquar, through whose eyes the story unfolds, and (c) making political machinations seem totally believable (and you only have to look at some of the more recent political scandals in the UK to draw certain parallels to those in this novel). The author's prose style is as fluent as ever, plotting is handled superbly, and the whole story rattles along. What really shines through the fiction is the author's obvious fascination with this famous French scandal. Highly recommended.

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Book of the Year 11 Nov 2013

By E. Moore

Format:Hardcover

Brilliant. Without doubt the best Robert Harris book to date. It's a book written from the viewpoint of Colonel Georges Picquart who ties all the various strands of this historic case together. The writing is absolutely superb and totally immerses the reader into Paris in the late 19th century with all the smells and colour of the time, city and political culture. Its theme is timeless with its secret dossiers and political subterfuge. I recommend this book as the best of the year.

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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Triumphant return to top form for Robert Harris 26 Nov 2013

By Cornwallgurl

Format:Kindle Edition

I have always enjoyed Robert Harris's books immensely, although I did feel he had "gone off the boil" a bit with his later ones. I did not particularly enjoy the two Roman ones, and felt that both The Ghost and The Fear Index were inferior to his earlier, cracking thrillers based around real events. My husband pre-ordered this book and read it obssessively on holiday, and I snatched it from him the minute he'd finished it.

We'd both read the various reviews, which served to act as a reminder about the politics and progression of L'Affaire Dreyfus - like most reviewers, we had a reasonable idea of the episode in outline, rather than the detail. One thing I was unaware of was quite how long it dragged on and how the French General Staff perpetrated almost any untruths rather than admit they were wrong. It did seem to resonate with some current affairs, but it was truly anchored in the late 19th Century, and did not attempt to view it in the light of the 21st. It was still breathtaking in its outrage, however and totally absorbing. The huge cast of characters were so well defined and described and the appalling dirty tricks were as thrilling as any fiction - and at times almost more extreme than could reasonably be imagined. The fact that Dreyfus was not a particularly likeable character, and his defendant Picquart admitted to not caring for him personally, made it all the more astonishing that Picquart was prepared to risk his career in his cause. Read more ›

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant - the best yet. 15 Oct 2013

By sgeoff

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I've enjoyed all of Robert Harris' novels, but this is his best. The whole Drefus Case is brought vividly to life in a novel which never flags - injustice, twists and turns, and appalling corruption at the highest levels of the French army and French intelligence. Historically, and in this novel, one man (Colonel Picquart) begins the challenge to the injustice committed, and so the story develops. The Parisian background feels very real, and we accompany characters who are so well drawn, that we can't avoid becoming engaged in the whole process. Brilliant !

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Utterly brilliant. 14 Oct 2013

By Alan

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Quite simply brilliant. The best book I have read this year. Great characterisation and a sensational story all told at a fantastic pace, made all the more extraordinary for being based on actual events. Every night I had to force myself to put the book down and go to sleep, otherwise I may have tried to read it in one sitting.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A stunning exposé of an incredible story 13 Oct 2013

By Scarlet Lancer

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Harris really captures the atmosphere of the time and wonderfully brings to life the appalling characters behind one of the greatest miscarriages of justice ever perpetrated by men in high authority. Should be recommended reading for all historians of the French Republic of the late 19th Century. Superbly written, extremely well researched and the Machiavellian activities of the officers involved, are clearly laid out in a very logical yet fascinating way. A real "must read".

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