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An Officer and a Spy
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 16 hrs and 4 mins
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An Officer and a Spy
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Summary
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.
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What listeners say about An Officer and a Spy
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Joe allsop
- 10-08-16
Enjoyable for every moment
A fantastic combination of great story, great writing and great narration. A must have ! One of the few books I have read and listened to, and one I'll listen to again and again
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8 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mary Carnegie
- 26-10-16
Dreyfus revisited- and well done
I've studied the Dreyfus affair in detail in all its crazy injustice, and particularly enjoyed Harris's credible reconstruction.
David Rintoul was a good choice for first-person narrator, the Alsatian Georges Picquart, and pronounces French well generally.
Dreyfus himself is a supporting actor in his own drama, of necessity, as he's chained up in horrid isolation in an uninhabited and unpleasant island at the other end of the Atlantic for much of the time, while others campaign for, or conspire against him.
An important episode in French history which remains significant today.
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- K. Lyne
- 01-12-14
very interesting
What made the experience of listening to An Officer and a Spy the most enjoyable?
An excellent perspective on a very complex bit of history
What did you like best about this story?
Learning about a famous event I knew very little about before
What about David Rintoul’s performance did you like?
Even tone, good at different voices
If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?
A whole army against one man
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Neels
- 08-03-17
Fantastic story extremely well read.
I really enjoyed this. It was so well written and historically well researched. The detail was perfect and the style of writing puts the reader or listener right there. Even if you know the basic story, there are many bits I bet you weren't aware of. Congratulations also to David Rintoul who reader this with passion, professionalism and well, just perfectly.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 04-05-14
Superb compelling true story
What made the experience of listening to An Officer and a Spy the most enjoyable?
Knowing this is a true story and being swept along by the brilliant reading of the narrator.
What other book might you compare An Officer and a Spy to, and why?
This book has the same taut style as other books by Robert Harries.
Have you listened to any of David Rintoul’s other performances? How does this one compare?
I haven't heard any other books read by David Rintoul but I would be very interested to hear them as I think his ability to give each character his or her own voice is excellent.
If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?
Miscarriage of justice and integrity come face to face.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Sarah Faherty
- 18-07-17
Hard to believe it's based on a true story ..
Gripping story of a tragic case, well narrated
But a little bit hard to pay attention at points due to the sheer volume of detail!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 08-08-17
Excellent
An extraordinary story, fantastically written and expertly narrated. The tension builds consistently from the first chapter to the last. Absolutely riveting.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Phil robson
- 29-03-20
Inspiring and yet unbelievable true story
Great narration by Rintoul and a sad but deeply moving true story. Now where can I see the film!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 13-06-20
A Gripping Thriller
A gripping thriller with many modern equivalents, set in a meticulously researched historical background.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Lawrence Wood
- 22-07-20
Great story
Really enjoyed the story, but was a little frustrated by the narrator repeatedly mis-pronuncing some French words, e.g Saying Monsieur so that it sounds like Mercier.
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