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Title details for A Single Spy by William Christie - Available

A Single Spy

by William Christie
Ari Fliakos
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available

"A single spy—in the right place and at the right moment—may change the course of history."
Aleksi Ivanovich Smirnov, an orphan and a thief, has been living by his wits and surviving below the ever-watchful eye of the Soviet system until his luck finally runs out. In 1936, at the age of 16, Aleksi is caught by the NKVD and transported to Moscow. There, in the notorious headquarters of the secret police, he is given a choice: be trained and inserted as a spy into Nazi Germany under the identity of his best friend, the long lost nephew of a high ranking Nazi official, or disappear forever in the basement of the Lubyanka. For Aleksi, it's no choice at all.
Over the course of the next seven years, Aleksi has to live his role, that of the devoted nephew of a high Nazi official, and ultimately works for the legendary German spymaster Wilhelm Canaris as an intelligence agent in the Abwehr. All the while, acting as a double agent—reporting back to the NKVD and avoiding detection by the Gestapo. Trapped between the implacable forces of two of the most notorious dictatorships in history, and truly loyal to no one but himself, Aleksi's goal remains the same—survival.
In 1943, Aleksi is chosen by the Gestapo to spearhead one of the most desperate operations of the war—to infiltrate the site of the upcoming Tehran conference between Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin, and set them up to be assassinated. For Aleksi, it's the moment of truth; for the rest of the world, the future is at stake.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 3, 2017

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781427283283
      • File size: 319980 KB
      • Duration: 11:06:37

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      February 6, 2017
      Alexsi Smirnov, the engaging hero of this impressive spy thriller set in the 1930s and ’40s from Christie (The Warriors of God), grows up in Soviet Azerbaijan, where he becomes a master thief and a master cynic. An orphan, he’s adopted by the Shultzes, a family of German socialists who immigrate to the Soviet Union only to be annihilated in a purge. In 1936, the Russians capture the 16-year-old Alexsi and pack him off to Moscow. Spared Siberia because of his brains and his linguistic talents (Russian, Farsi, German), he becomes a Soviet spy. Alexsi’s mission is to pose as the surviving Shultz son, return to Germany and his well-to-do “uncle” (a high official in the German foreign ministry), then infiltrate Nazi intelligence. Christie deserves credit for making that unlikely scenario remotely believable. The larger plot, somewhat too slow in development, involves the famous meeting of Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin in Tehran in 1943, but what carries the book is an intelligent understanding of political terrorism and the spy’s tradecraft. Agent: Richard Curtis, Richard Curtis Associates.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Narrator Ari Fliakos crafts unique voices and personas for key Russians and Germans in this pre-WWII spy story. Alexsi Ivanovich Smirnov is not a typical spy. Orphaned as a child, Smirnov uses his superior intellect to develop survival skills that so impress the NKVD Russian spy agency that it recruits him to serve as a double agent in the buildup to WWII. Although the audiobook starts slowly, once it moves from Smirnov's troubled childhood to his teenage years and then to his assignment in Germany, the plot, pace, and dialogue never relent. As characters reappear, listeners will appreciate Fliakos's earlier efforts to define every person. By the novel's unpredictable ending, listeners will be completely hooked on Fliakos's every word. D.J.S. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Funding for additional materials was made possible by a grant from the New Hampshire Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities.