
Istanbul Passage
A Novel
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $20.24
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Jefferson Mays
-
By:
-
Joseph Kanon
About this listen
From the acclaimed, best-selling author of Stardust, The Good German, and Los Alamos - a gripping tale of an American undercover agent in 1945 Istanbul who descends into the murky cat-and-mouse world of compromise and betrayal that will come to define the entire postwar era.
A neutral capital straddling Europe and Asia, Istanbul has spent the war as a magnet for refugees and spies. Even American businessman Leon Bauer has been drawn into this shadow world, doing undercover odd jobs and courier runs for the Allied war effort. Now, as the espionage community begins to pack up and an apprehensive city prepares for the grim realities of postwar life, he is given one more assignment, a routine job that goes fatally wrong, plunging him into a tangle of intrigue and moral confusion.
Played out against the bazaars and mosques and faded mansions of this knowing, ancient Ottoman city, Leon's attempt to save one life leads to a desperate manhunt and a maze of shifting loyalties that threatens his own. How do you do the right thing when there are only bad choices to make? Istanbul Passage is the story of a man swept up in the aftermath of war, an unexpected love affair, and a city as deceptive as the calm surface waters of the Bosphorus that divides it.
Rich with atmosphere and period detail, Joseph Kanon's latest novel flawlessly blends fact and fiction into a haunting thriller about the dawn of the Cold War, once again proving why Kanon has been hailed as the "heir apparent to Graham Greene" (The Boston Globe).
©2012 Simon & Schuster; 2012 Joseph KanonListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Berlin Exchange
- A Novel
- By: Joseph Kanon
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Berlin, 1963. An early morning spy swap, not at the familiar setting for such exchanges, nor at Checkpoint Charlie, where international visitors cross into the East, but at a more discreet border crossing, usually reserved for East German VIPs. The Communists are trading two American students caught helping people to escape over the wall and an aging MI6 operative. On the other side of the trade: Martin Keller, a physicist who once made headlines, but who then disappeared into the English prison system.
-
-
A fabulous thriller. As good as LeCarre
- By Rosemary Wells on 04-02-22
By: Joseph Kanon
-
The Accomplice
- By: Joseph Kanon
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Seventeen years after the fall of the Third Reich, Max Weill has never forgotten the atrocities he saw as a prisoner at Auschwitz - nor the face of Dr. Otto Schramm, a camp doctor who worked with Mengele on appalling experiments and who sent Max’s family to the gas chambers. As the war came to a close, Schramm was one of the many high-ranking former-Nazi officers who managed to escape Germany for new lives in South America, where leaders like Argentina’s Juan Perón gave them safe harbor and new identities.
-
-
Nazi Hunters
- By Renee Wilson on 04-13-20
By: Joseph Kanon
-
Leaving Berlin
- A Novel
- By: Joseph Kanon
- Narrated by: Corey Brill
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Berlin, 1948. Almost four years after the war's end, the city is still in ruins, a physical wasteland and a political symbol about to rupture. In the West a defiant, blockaded city is barely surviving on airlifted supplies; in the East the heady early days of political reconstruction are being undermined by the murky compromises of the Cold War. Espionage, like the black market, is a fact of life.
-
-
Espionage In Berlin 1948
- By Sara on 01-04-16
By: Joseph Kanon
-
Stardust
- By: Joseph Kanon
- Narrated by: T. Ryder Smith
- Length: 18 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hollywood, 1945. Ben Collier has just arrived from war-torn Europe to find his brother has died in mysterious circumstances. Why would a man with a beautiful wife, a successful movie career, and a heroic past choose to kill himself?
-
-
Joseph Kanon owns this little corner of history.
- By Richard Delman on 04-27-15
By: Joseph Kanon
-
Defectors
- A Novel
- By: Joseph Kanon
- Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1949 Frank Weeks, fair-haired boy of the newly formed CIA, was exposed as a communist spy and fled the country to vanish behind the Iron Curtain. Now, 12 years later, he has written his memoirs, a KGB-approved project almost certain to be an international best seller, and has asked his brother, Simon, a publisher, to come to Moscow to edit the manuscript. It's a reunion Simon both dreads and longs for.
-
-
Superb thriller!
- By Rosemary Wells on 06-15-17
By: Joseph Kanon
-
The Secret Hours
- By: Mick Herron
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two years ago, a hostile Prime Minister launched the Monochrome inquiry, investigating "historical over-reaching" by the British Secret Service “to investigate historical over-reaching.” Monochrome’s mission was to ferret out any hint of misconduct by any MI5 officer—and allowed Griselda Fleet and Malcolm Kyle, the two civil servants seconded to the project, unfettered access to any and all confidential information in the Service archives in order to do so. But MI5’s formidable First Desk did not become Britain’s top spy by accident, and she has successfully thwarted the inquiry at every turn.
-
-
Just about perfect
- By June Lapidow on 09-28-23
By: Mick Herron
-
The Berlin Exchange
- A Novel
- By: Joseph Kanon
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Berlin, 1963. An early morning spy swap, not at the familiar setting for such exchanges, nor at Checkpoint Charlie, where international visitors cross into the East, but at a more discreet border crossing, usually reserved for East German VIPs. The Communists are trading two American students caught helping people to escape over the wall and an aging MI6 operative. On the other side of the trade: Martin Keller, a physicist who once made headlines, but who then disappeared into the English prison system.
-
-
A fabulous thriller. As good as LeCarre
- By Rosemary Wells on 04-02-22
By: Joseph Kanon
-
The Accomplice
- By: Joseph Kanon
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Seventeen years after the fall of the Third Reich, Max Weill has never forgotten the atrocities he saw as a prisoner at Auschwitz - nor the face of Dr. Otto Schramm, a camp doctor who worked with Mengele on appalling experiments and who sent Max’s family to the gas chambers. As the war came to a close, Schramm was one of the many high-ranking former-Nazi officers who managed to escape Germany for new lives in South America, where leaders like Argentina’s Juan Perón gave them safe harbor and new identities.
-
-
Nazi Hunters
- By Renee Wilson on 04-13-20
By: Joseph Kanon
-
Leaving Berlin
- A Novel
- By: Joseph Kanon
- Narrated by: Corey Brill
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Berlin, 1948. Almost four years after the war's end, the city is still in ruins, a physical wasteland and a political symbol about to rupture. In the West a defiant, blockaded city is barely surviving on airlifted supplies; in the East the heady early days of political reconstruction are being undermined by the murky compromises of the Cold War. Espionage, like the black market, is a fact of life.
-
-
Espionage In Berlin 1948
- By Sara on 01-04-16
By: Joseph Kanon
-
Stardust
- By: Joseph Kanon
- Narrated by: T. Ryder Smith
- Length: 18 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hollywood, 1945. Ben Collier has just arrived from war-torn Europe to find his brother has died in mysterious circumstances. Why would a man with a beautiful wife, a successful movie career, and a heroic past choose to kill himself?
-
-
Joseph Kanon owns this little corner of history.
- By Richard Delman on 04-27-15
By: Joseph Kanon
-
Defectors
- A Novel
- By: Joseph Kanon
- Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1949 Frank Weeks, fair-haired boy of the newly formed CIA, was exposed as a communist spy and fled the country to vanish behind the Iron Curtain. Now, 12 years later, he has written his memoirs, a KGB-approved project almost certain to be an international best seller, and has asked his brother, Simon, a publisher, to come to Moscow to edit the manuscript. It's a reunion Simon both dreads and longs for.
-
-
Superb thriller!
- By Rosemary Wells on 06-15-17
By: Joseph Kanon
-
The Secret Hours
- By: Mick Herron
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two years ago, a hostile Prime Minister launched the Monochrome inquiry, investigating "historical over-reaching" by the British Secret Service “to investigate historical over-reaching.” Monochrome’s mission was to ferret out any hint of misconduct by any MI5 officer—and allowed Griselda Fleet and Malcolm Kyle, the two civil servants seconded to the project, unfettered access to any and all confidential information in the Service archives in order to do so. But MI5’s formidable First Desk did not become Britain’s top spy by accident, and she has successfully thwarted the inquiry at every turn.
-
-
Just about perfect
- By June Lapidow on 09-28-23
By: Mick Herron
-
The Unlikely Spy
- By: Daniel Silva
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 18 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“In wartime,” Winston Churchill wrote, “truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.” For Britain’s counterintelligence operations, this meant finding the unlikeliest agent imaginable - a history professor named Alfred Vicary, handpicked by Churchill himself to expose a highly dangerous, but unknown, traitor. The Nazis, however, have also chosen an unlikely agent.
-
-
The Unlikely Spy
- By Margaret on 12-14-09
By: Daniel Silva
-
Alibi
- By: Joseph Kanon
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 1946, and a stunned Europe is beginning its slow recovery from the ravages of World War II. Adam Miller has come to Venice to visit his widowed mother and try to forget the horrors he has witnessed as a U.S. Army war crimes investigator in Germany. Nothing has changed in Venice, not the beautiful palazzi, not the violins at Florian's, not the shifting water that makes the city, untouched by bombs, still seem a dream.
-
-
Kanon abridged! Oh no!
- By Judith Seaboyer on 06-05-05
By: Joseph Kanon
-
Silverview
- A Novel
- By: John le Carré
- Narrated by: Toby Jones
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Julian Lawndsley has renounced his high-flying job in the city for a simpler life running a bookshop in a small English seaside town. But only a couple of months into his new career, Julian’s evening is disrupted by a visitor. Edward, a Polish émigré living in Silverview, the big house on the edge of town, seems to know a lot about Julian’s family and is rather too interested in the inner workings of his modest new enterprise.
-
-
Le Carré's SILVERVIEW brings him and us back home
- By Close Listener on 10-14-21
By: John le Carré
-
The Man from St. Petersburg
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: Richard Armitage
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
His name was Feliks. He came to London to commit a murder that would change history. A master manipulator, he had many weapons at his command, but against him were ranged the whole of the English police, a brilliant and powerful lord, and the young Winston Churchill himself. These odds would have stopped any man in the world - except the man from St. Petersburg.
-
-
Riveting historical fiction
- By Thomas P. O'Connor on 04-14-21
By: Ken Follett
-
Agent in Berlin
- The Wolf Pack Spies 1
- By: Alex Gerlis
- Narrated by: Duncan Galloway
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To live among wolves, first you must become one… An unmissable new spy thriller from best-selling master of the genre, Alex Gerlis. War is coming to Europe. British spymaster Barnaby Allen begins recruiting a network of agents in Germany. With diplomatic relations quickly unravelling, this pack of spies soon comes into their own: the horse-loving German at home in Berlin's underground; the young American sports journalist; the mysterious Luftwaffe officer; the Japanese diplomat and the most unlikely one of all... the SS officer's wife.
-
-
I Love WWII Spy Novels…But
- By Gary L. Richardson on 03-29-22
By: Alex Gerlis
-
Prince of Spies
- The Richard Prince Thrillers, Book 1
- By: Alex Gerlis
- Narrated by: Rupert Bush
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1942: a German spy comes ashore on a desolate stretch of Lincolnshire beach. But he is hunted down by a young detective, Richard Prince. The secret services have need of a man like him.... In occupied Europe, Denmark is a hotbed of problems for British intelligence. Rumours of a war-ending weapon being developed by the Germans are rife. Sent to Copenhagen, Prince is soon caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse. Dodging Gestapo agents, SS muscle and the danger of betrayal, his survival - and the war effort - hangs in the balance.
-
-
Ending?
- By T Smith on 02-24-21
By: Alex Gerlis
-
The Best of Our Spies
- Spy Masters, Book 1
- By: Alex Gerlis
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 15 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
France, July 1944: a month after the Allied landings in Normandy, and the liberation of Europe is under way. In the Pas-de-Calais, Nathalie Mercier, a young British Special Operations executive secret agent working with the French Resistance, disappears. In London, her husband, Owen Quinn, an officer with Royal Navy Intelligence, discovers the truth about her role in the Allies' sophisticated deception at the heart of D-Day.
-
-
The Best Kind of Spy Story
- By Linda Hanson on 01-11-16
By: Alex Gerlis
-
The Kill Artist
- By: Daniel Silva
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After the assassination of his wife and son, Gabriel Allon retires from his brutal anti-terrorist career and loses himself in his previous cover job: art restoration. But when Tariq al-Hourani, the Palestinian terrorist responsible for his family’s death, begins a killing spree designed to destroy Middle East peace talks, Gabriel once again slips into the shadowy world of international intrigue. In a global game of hide-and-seek, the motives of Gabriel and Tariq soon become more personal than political.
-
-
Reluctant Assassin
- By Snoodely on 10-30-13
By: Daniel Silva
-
Down Cemetery Road
- By: Mick Herron
- Narrated by: Julia Franklin
- Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a house explodes in a quiet Oxford suburb and a young girl disappears in the aftermath, Sarah Tucker becomes obsessed with finding her. Accustomed to dull chores in a childless household and hosting her husband’s wearisome business clients for dinner, Sarah suddenly finds herself questioning everything she thought she knew, as her investigation reveals that people long believed dead are still among the living, while the living are fast joining the dead.
-
-
A bit of a slog....
- By rhl60 on 01-26-24
By: Mick Herron
-
The Cuban Affair
- By: Nelson DeMille
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 14 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Daniel Graham MacCormick - Mac for short - seems to have a pretty good life. At age 35 he's living in Key West, owner of a 42-foot charter fishing boat, The Maine. Mac served five years in the army as an infantry officer, with two tours in Afghanistan. He returned with the Silver Star, two Purple Hearts, scars that don't tan, and a boat with a big bank loan. Truth be told, Mac's finances are more than a little shaky. One day Mac is sitting in the famous Green Parrot Bar in Key West, contemplating his life....
-
-
Fun read with a continuous build, ok finish
- By Virgil on 09-22-17
By: Nelson DeMille
-
I Am Pilgrim
- A Thriller
- By: Terry Hayes
- Narrated by: Christopher Ragland
- Length: 22 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A breakneck race against time…and an implacable enemy. An anonymous young woman murdered in a run-down hotel, all identifying characteristics dissolved by acid. A father publicly beheaded in the blistering heat of a Saudi Arabian public square. A notorious Syrian biotech expert found eyeless in a Damascus junkyard. Smoldering human remains on a remote mountainside in Afghanistan. A flawless plot to commit an appalling crime against humanity. One path links them all, and only one man can make the journey. Pilgrim.
-
-
Please let this all be fiction.
- By B.J. on 08-08-14
By: Terry Hayes
-
First to Kill
- By: Andrew Peterson
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When you're the best at what you do, it's not always easy to walk away. Nathan McBride was retired. The trained Marine sniper and covert CIA operative had put the violence of his former life behind him. But not anymore. A deep-cover FBI agent has disappeared along with one ton of powerful Semtex explosive, enough to unleash a disaster of international proportions. The U.S. government has no choice but to coax Nathan out of retirement.
-
-
Sniper thriller par excellence
- By Ed on 06-17-09
By: Andrew Peterson
Critic reviews
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Shanghai
- A Novel
- By: Joseph Kanon
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After the violence of Kristallnacht (1938), European Jews, now desperate to emigrate, found the consular doors of the world closed to them. Only one port required no entry visa: Shanghai, a self-governing Western trading enclave in what was technically Chinese territory, a political anomaly that became an escape hatch—if you were lucky enough to afford a ticket on one of the great Lloyd liners sailing to the East and safety.
-
-
A very different story of Jewish refugees
- By Barbara on 06-29-24
By: Joseph Kanon
-
Leaving Berlin
- A Novel
- By: Joseph Kanon
- Narrated by: Corey Brill
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Berlin, 1948. Almost four years after the war's end, the city is still in ruins, a physical wasteland and a political symbol about to rupture. In the West a defiant, blockaded city is barely surviving on airlifted supplies; in the East the heady early days of political reconstruction are being undermined by the murky compromises of the Cold War. Espionage, like the black market, is a fact of life.
-
-
Espionage In Berlin 1948
- By Sara on 01-04-16
By: Joseph Kanon
-
The Berlin Exchange
- A Novel
- By: Joseph Kanon
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Berlin, 1963. An early morning spy swap, not at the familiar setting for such exchanges, nor at Checkpoint Charlie, where international visitors cross into the East, but at a more discreet border crossing, usually reserved for East German VIPs. The Communists are trading two American students caught helping people to escape over the wall and an aging MI6 operative. On the other side of the trade: Martin Keller, a physicist who once made headlines, but who then disappeared into the English prison system.
-
-
A fabulous thriller. As good as LeCarre
- By Rosemary Wells on 04-02-22
By: Joseph Kanon
-
Stardust
- By: Joseph Kanon
- Narrated by: T. Ryder Smith
- Length: 18 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hollywood, 1945. Ben Collier has just arrived from war-torn Europe to find his brother has died in mysterious circumstances. Why would a man with a beautiful wife, a successful movie career, and a heroic past choose to kill himself?
-
-
Joseph Kanon owns this little corner of history.
- By Richard Delman on 04-27-15
By: Joseph Kanon
-
The Accomplice
- By: Joseph Kanon
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Seventeen years after the fall of the Third Reich, Max Weill has never forgotten the atrocities he saw as a prisoner at Auschwitz - nor the face of Dr. Otto Schramm, a camp doctor who worked with Mengele on appalling experiments and who sent Max’s family to the gas chambers. As the war came to a close, Schramm was one of the many high-ranking former-Nazi officers who managed to escape Germany for new lives in South America, where leaders like Argentina’s Juan Perón gave them safe harbor and new identities.
-
-
Nazi Hunters
- By Renee Wilson on 04-13-20
By: Joseph Kanon
-
The Good German
- By: Joseph Kanon
- Narrated by: Stanley Tucci
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At once a murder mystery, a moving love story, and a riveting portrait of a unique time and place - Berlin, July 1945 - The Good German is a historical thriller of the first rank. The New York Times calls it "thoroughly captivating, a novel that brings to life the ambiguities at the heart of our country's moral legacy."
-
-
A good listen
- By Stevon on 12-29-06
By: Joseph Kanon
-
Shanghai
- A Novel
- By: Joseph Kanon
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After the violence of Kristallnacht (1938), European Jews, now desperate to emigrate, found the consular doors of the world closed to them. Only one port required no entry visa: Shanghai, a self-governing Western trading enclave in what was technically Chinese territory, a political anomaly that became an escape hatch—if you were lucky enough to afford a ticket on one of the great Lloyd liners sailing to the East and safety.
-
-
A very different story of Jewish refugees
- By Barbara on 06-29-24
By: Joseph Kanon
-
Leaving Berlin
- A Novel
- By: Joseph Kanon
- Narrated by: Corey Brill
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Berlin, 1948. Almost four years after the war's end, the city is still in ruins, a physical wasteland and a political symbol about to rupture. In the West a defiant, blockaded city is barely surviving on airlifted supplies; in the East the heady early days of political reconstruction are being undermined by the murky compromises of the Cold War. Espionage, like the black market, is a fact of life.
-
-
Espionage In Berlin 1948
- By Sara on 01-04-16
By: Joseph Kanon
-
The Berlin Exchange
- A Novel
- By: Joseph Kanon
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Berlin, 1963. An early morning spy swap, not at the familiar setting for such exchanges, nor at Checkpoint Charlie, where international visitors cross into the East, but at a more discreet border crossing, usually reserved for East German VIPs. The Communists are trading two American students caught helping people to escape over the wall and an aging MI6 operative. On the other side of the trade: Martin Keller, a physicist who once made headlines, but who then disappeared into the English prison system.
-
-
A fabulous thriller. As good as LeCarre
- By Rosemary Wells on 04-02-22
By: Joseph Kanon
-
Stardust
- By: Joseph Kanon
- Narrated by: T. Ryder Smith
- Length: 18 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hollywood, 1945. Ben Collier has just arrived from war-torn Europe to find his brother has died in mysterious circumstances. Why would a man with a beautiful wife, a successful movie career, and a heroic past choose to kill himself?
-
-
Joseph Kanon owns this little corner of history.
- By Richard Delman on 04-27-15
By: Joseph Kanon
-
The Accomplice
- By: Joseph Kanon
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Seventeen years after the fall of the Third Reich, Max Weill has never forgotten the atrocities he saw as a prisoner at Auschwitz - nor the face of Dr. Otto Schramm, a camp doctor who worked with Mengele on appalling experiments and who sent Max’s family to the gas chambers. As the war came to a close, Schramm was one of the many high-ranking former-Nazi officers who managed to escape Germany for new lives in South America, where leaders like Argentina’s Juan Perón gave them safe harbor and new identities.
-
-
Nazi Hunters
- By Renee Wilson on 04-13-20
By: Joseph Kanon
-
The Good German
- By: Joseph Kanon
- Narrated by: Stanley Tucci
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At once a murder mystery, a moving love story, and a riveting portrait of a unique time and place - Berlin, July 1945 - The Good German is a historical thriller of the first rank. The New York Times calls it "thoroughly captivating, a novel that brings to life the ambiguities at the heart of our country's moral legacy."
-
-
A good listen
- By Stevon on 12-29-06
By: Joseph Kanon
-
Los Alamos
- A Novel
- By: Joseph Kanon
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is the spring of 1945, and in a dusty, remote community, the world’s most brilliant minds have come together in secret. Their mission: to split an atom and end a war. But among those who have come to Robert Oppenheimer’s "enchanted campus" of foreign-born scientists, baffled guards, and restless wives is a simple man in search of a killer. Michael Connolly has been sent to the middle of nowhere to investigate the murder of a security officer on the Manhattan Project.
-
-
Terrible sound quality
- By JOSEPH on 12-14-12
By: Joseph Kanon
-
Defectors
- A Novel
- By: Joseph Kanon
- Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1949 Frank Weeks, fair-haired boy of the newly formed CIA, was exposed as a communist spy and fled the country to vanish behind the Iron Curtain. Now, 12 years later, he has written his memoirs, a KGB-approved project almost certain to be an international best seller, and has asked his brother, Simon, a publisher, to come to Moscow to edit the manuscript. It's a reunion Simon both dreads and longs for.
-
-
Superb thriller!
- By Rosemary Wells on 06-15-17
By: Joseph Kanon
-
Istanbul
- City of Majesty at the Crossroads of the World
- By: Thomas F. Madden
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 14 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For more than two millennia, Istanbul has stood at the crossroads of the world, perched at the very tip of Europe, gazing across the shores of Asia. The history of this city - known as Byzantium, then Constantinople, now Istanbul - is at once glorious, outsized, and astounding. Founded by the Greeks, its location blessed it as a center for trade but also made it a target of every empire in history, from Alexander the Great and his Macedonian Empire, to the Romans and later the Ottomans.
-
-
A History Without People
- By SeanO on 04-02-19
By: Thomas F. Madden
-
The Winter Agent
- By: Gareth Rubin
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
February, 1944. A bitter winter grips occupied France, where Marc Reece leads a circuit of British agents risking their lives in order to sabotage the German war effort from within. But Reece has a second mission, secret even from his fellow agents - including Charlotte, the woman with whom he has ill-advisedly fallen in love. He must secure a document identifying a German spy at the heart of British intelligence. The fate of the Allied forces on D-Day is in his hands.
-
-
Fantastic
- By Will Cunningham on 11-04-21
By: Gareth Rubin
-
Istanbul
- Memories and the City
- By: Orhan Pamuk
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A shimmering evocation, by turns intimate and panoramic, of one of the world’s great cities, by its foremost writer. Orhan Pamuk was born in Istanbul and still lives in the family apartment building where his mother first held him in her arms. His portrait of his city is thus also a self-portrait, refracted by memory and the melancholy—or hüzün—that all Istanbullus share.
-
-
Terrible pronunciation
- By K. Jaynes on 02-25-18
By: Orhan Pamuk
-
Munich Wolf
- By: Rory Clements
- Narrated by: Adam Sims
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Munich, 1935. The Bavarian capital is a magnet for young aristocratic Britons who come to learn German, swim in the lakes and drink beer in the cellars. What they don't see—or choose to ignore—is the brutal underbelly of the Nazi movement, which considers Munich its spiritual home. When a high-born English girl is murdered, Detective Sebastian Wolff is ordered to solve the crime. Wolff is already walking a tight line between doing his job and falling foul of the political party he abhors. Now Hitler is taking a personal interest in the case.
-
-
Never have heard of Rory Clements before this audible. But WOW what I’ve been missing.
- By paula wright on 07-26-24
By: Rory Clements
What listeners say about Istanbul Passage
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Richard Delman
- 06-03-12
A very somber experience.
Joseph Kanon can write, that's for sure, and Jefferson Mays is a good narrator. Nonetheless, listening to this book was a deeply ambivalent experience for me. For one, WWII was well over sixty years ago. Two, Schindler's List was such an astounding work of art that it is in a class by itself. I know one can't compare an audiobook to a movie, but the story of helping the traumatized Jews leave Germany and Poland has been covered many times. The setting of this book, Istanbul, is an interesting city to read about, and the characters are well drawn. However, the book is weighed down by millions of details, and it really does get boring. The love interest between Leon Bauer and Kay Bishop is one place at which the book comes alive. This furtive relationship is a sidebar, though. The plot centers on Leon's attempt to get a Romanian monster, a true butcher of Jews, out of Istanbul and into the West. It is possible to respect and admire this book without actually enjoying it. Kanon does a great job of weaving historical truth with fiction, but, for my money, Martin Cruz Smith is such a master of this genre that no one can touch him. The atmosphere of the book is quaint and dated. I know that it does not take place in the present, but I just did not feel lured into it. The writing is turgid and distanced. This one is only for true WWII history buffs. Another movie which tells a closely related story (I know I'm straying here) and which few people have seen, is Charlotte Grey. Cate Blanchett is the finest actor of our generation, in my opinion, and the movie tells the story in a gripping, deeply involving way which moves you to a welter of emotions. I would see it five or six times (and I have) before listening to this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
14 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 05-09-17
Gripping and Surprising Spy Story
I battled a few times to get into this book and stopped listening. Until I persevered and once past the rather slow and depressing beginning I was gripped. The story moves along and with many twists and turns and a surprise ending. It turned out to be a rather good spy story and very atmospheric of what Istanbul must have been like at the time. Well worth a credit.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Curt
- 09-13-12
Swept Away
This is a really good book.
When thinking about what I wanted to say in this review, Elizabeth Barrett Browning came to mind: "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways."
Here are three:
1. Attention to detail
Like an painter from the Realist School, Joseph Kanon's writing is detailed, accurate, and objective. His greatness is in the details.
This isn't a history lesson (like, say, Michener would write); rather, the book is a work of art. The detail of the setting (Istanbul just after the conclusion of the second World War) serves as the vase for the bouquet of flowers that is the story.
(Humorous aside: As I was listening to this book, I thought to myself that Istanbul Passage had the feel of another book I loved -- Los Alamos. I couldn't recall who wrote Los Alamos, so I went in search of the author. Surprise! Los Alamos is by Joseph Kanon.)
2. Story
Every once in a while, I come across a newspaper article about someone who, on a glorious day, sets out on a creek or river in a raft or kayak expecting to float along aimlessly to some unspecified destination. Along the way, invisible currents present themselves and turn the innocent outing into a situation of great peril.
Here's an example from one such newspaper article: "Before I realized it, the water was pushing me to the right, and I hear my dad yelling me to the left,” Amber recalled, “and it’s like, ‘I can’t. It’s too late at this point.’ ”
Amber could have been describing this book. She has perfectly summed up the story line of Istanbul Passage. What begins as a gentle current of self-inflicted events gradually overtakes American expatriate Leon Bauer. He thinks he's in control until, too late, he realizes that he's not.
I challenge you to find better story telling.
3. Reader
A great reader creates atmosphere and brings characters to life. Jefferson Mays gets an A+ in this regard. Istanbul Passage is a terrific listen.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Andrew Hall
- 08-13-20
Excellent
As a fan of the spy genre, I am so pleased to have stumbled upon this book and author. Vivid writing and gracious narration come together to tell a gripping tale that takes place along the shadowy banks of the Bosphorus.
I can’t wait to delve into this authors work further.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- RAMON
- 07-06-12
A Spy Story The Keeps Your Interest
This is a great spy story set in post-war Turkey. It has all the intrigue, betrayal and deception you expect from a spy story along with the mysterious atmosphere of Istanbul. I found the characters original and interesting. The protagonist is presented with the type of moral dilemma usually found in literary novels. Unlike some recent mysteries and spy stories, this one kept my interest throughout and it worth your time. The narration takes a little getting used to but the cadence fits the author's prose.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- richard perry
- 05-20-24
Aged, cigarette abused, male voice for narrator.
Narrator’s voice was aged and cigarette abused. Inappropriate for the female, youthful main/ secondsry characters. Shogun merited better narration.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sherri
- 10-29-12
Don't miss the boat.
The attention to detail is a feature of this great book. Joseph Kanon is a wonderful writer who's put together a thoughtful thriller set in a fascinating city during a turbulent time. I notice other reviews have quibbled about the narration -they're crackers, it's masterful.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
12 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Pamela
- 02-04-13
Was like a homework assignment
Would you try another book from Joseph Kanon and/or Jefferson Mays?
probably not
Would you recommend Istanbul Passage to your friends? Why or why not?
too hard too follow in an audio book, maybe it would've been better as a read
What didn’t you like about Jefferson Mays’s performance?
Too monotone.
Was Istanbul Passage worth the listening time?
It was last month's book club selection, or I wouldn't have finished it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Neil Chisholm
- 02-05-13
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Bazaar Trader
I've never been to Istanbul but after this book I'm intrigued to do so. It sound like a fascinating place. The different neighbourhoods sound most interesting and the history wonderful.
However, this is no travelogue its a spy story set in immediately post war Turkey. Spy novels are not normally my thing but I needed something lightish to listen to on holiday and in particular a long flight. This met those needs perfectly. Its not literature and doesn't pretend to be but it is a good story and well told. There were times when the action was as slow as treacle but that was just building up the suspense for there were times the action moved so fast I was out of breath!
It was a good holiday listen and Jefferson Mays did a good job of narrating and getting his tongue round some of those Turkish names.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Judith A. Weller
- 11-09-13
Boring and Tedious
This has to be one of the most boring and tedious espionage books I have listened to. Only the narrator saves it. The plot sounds fairly exciting. The main character, Leon, acts as a part time courier for am official, Tommy, at the British Embassy. The opening scene is exciting. Leon is at the docks awaiting a boat which is brining a Romanian defector with USSR/KGB secrets for the Americans. Gun fire erupts and Leon kills his assailant only to discover that he has killed the Brit from whom he has worked as an occasional courier. Obviously Tommy was a double agent.
The balance of the books deals with Leon trying to discover who Tommy really worked for, and trying to see that the Romanian is delivered to the American. Unfortunately this exciting sounding plot is revealed not by action, but by long and often boring conversation with a large number of people Leon meets at parties, at the Embassy, etc.
Combined with this story are the flashbacks about Leon’s life and marriage in pre-war Berlin to Anna, who as the result of traumatic accident now lies in a coma in a nursing home. Leon faithfully goes to see here and hold long conversations with here about what he is doing and what his plans are.
For a little spice, he has an affair with Kay Bishop, an embassy wife, whose husband is murdered. Suspicion falls on Leon. Again most of this is revealed through long conversation. I skipped a lot of the part about his relationship with Kay – he spent one night with here in a hotel room and the conversations they had goes on for several hours on the audio book. I skipped it. There is just too much tedious conversation like that to make the book an entertaining read.
Although it has an exciting plot on paper, the author’s method of development may have a limited appeal. The author know Turkey and Istanbul very well, but even when he goes to a location we get a description of the location not in a word picture, bur rather with a long drawn-out conversation or worse monologues with flash backs about going to the location with Anna.
If you can tolerate a book whose plot development is done mostly with long conversations with a variety of characters and very little action, you may like this book.. But the author is no Eric Ambler or Alan Furst.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful