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Narrated by:
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Bahni Turpin
About this listen
October, 1962, in Cuba: Soviet ships off-load what intelligence reveals to be nuclear missiles. In Washington, President Kennedy and his advisers are in furious debate over how long they can wait to discover what the Soviets intend before dropping the first bomb. And, in Ithaca, New York, Margo Jensen - a 19-year-old Cornell sophomore - is swept up in a bizarre concatenation of circumstances that will make of her the back-channel liaison between Soviet Premier Khrushchev and Kennedy. Events unfold too quickly for her even to ask, Why me? But the stunning answer is revealed bit by bit as she is drawn ever more deeply into the crossfire of infighting between governmental agencies; into desperate negotiations to avoid nuclear war; and into the secrets of the extraordinary legacy she inherited from the father she never knew.
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Critic reviews
What listeners say about Back Channel
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- Yvette
- 11-10-24
Fascinating!
I love Stephen Carter as a writer. His stories are a page turner!! It feels like it’s nonfiction.
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- Mark
- 12-04-16
GREAT spy thriller!
I so rarely rate a novel with 5 stars, but this novel made it an easy decision. The plot is a fictionalized version of the Cuban missile crisis, with the protagonist a 19 year old African American college student (Margo) who is instrumental in the back channel negotiations. I usually get bored with spy thrillers, but the characters in this made it come alive. I liked the historical backdrop, too. I loved this book from start to end. The writing is very good, too. I will definitely check out other books by Stephen Carter. This is a quality novel and a compelling thriller. It was both authentic and fun.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 10-16-24
Classy Political Mystery
You must listen to this book if you’re interested in challenging your thoughts. Provides insight into governmental hierarchies and processes.
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- Rosemary Wells
- 11-04-17
A good listen but a convoluted
This is an ambitious thriller book set during the Cuban missile crisis. A real page turner, good suspense too many chapters and twists and turns. Carter has written an over complicated story and the heart of the book is nice but just not credible. A better reader with more accent and language skills would have helped. Kennedy’s voice can easily be imitated but this reader misses entirely.
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- Frances Kanneh
- 03-01-19
too wordy and long
to much detail and it's dry. I can't force myself to finish! the story is interesting, but it uses too much words to describe something which tend to make the story slow and boring.
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- P. Terrington
- 01-28-16
Unbelievable story
Is there anything you would change about this book?
I enjoyed the narration and loved the length of the book (I hate to waste my subscription on a short book!) but I found the story rather unbelievable.
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1 person found this helpful