George Blagden's pleasant performance of William Boyd's second suspense novel about occasional spy Gabriel Dax floats equably along like a story told over a glass of postprandial whiskey. It's an adventure set in 1963 England and Berlin, where, between conducting MI5 jobs, Dax and his compatriots savor many cocktails and cigarettes. Blagden's vocal register rarely varies from mid-tenor, a range that risks sounding uninflected but seems right for our hero, who is a young man, a young man caught up in the Cold War and world-changing events, including President Kennedy's famous Berlin visit. Blagden's command of American, Russian, and Latin accents adds to the verisimilitude. While indistinguishable females all murmur softly, it makes them sound mysterious and of another era.
Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
Duration: 8 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781668157763
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
With her talent for distinct voices, Huber will keep listeners fully engaged and entertained from beginning to end.
In this third addition to The Martini Club series, narrator Hillary Huber masterfully performs the returning characters plus many new players—the good and the just pretending to be good. Martini Club member and former CIA agent Ingrid Slocum is managing a conference on potential global health disasters. When one of the prominent speakers, a Russian defector, is murdered, the Martini Club members are forced to return to their spy roots, sending Ingrid and former and current colleagues on a precarious adventure. With the assistance of the local chief of police, they investigate a series of murders mysteriously tied to a botched operation from their past.
With her talent for distinct voices, Huber will keep listeners fully engaged and entertained from beginning to end.Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2026
Duration: 10 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781511354622
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2026
Ballerini’s versatile narration takes an already interesting story and makes it riveting for the listener.
Nate Wilde, a Green Beret turned graduate student, reunites his former military team for a mission to find a lost city in the Middle East. Dekker does a great job developing the characters in this well-paced thriller, and Edoardo Ballerini elevates it beautifully. He consistently uses a variety of accents—southern U.S., assorted Middle Eastern and British voices, and others—while conveying the emotions, especially in tense fight scenes and dangerous situations. The author, a former Green Beret himself, has laid out a story that blends brains and brawn, academics and action.
Ballerini’s versatile narration takes an already interesting story and makes it riveting for the listener.Pub Date: July 28, 2026
Duration: 12 hrs, 2 mins
DD ISBN: 9781668133033
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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