Night Heron
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Night Heron
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Narrated by:
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Jason Isaacs
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By:
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Adam Brookes
About this listen
A lone man, Peanut, escapes a labour camp in the dead of night, fleeing across the winter desert of northwest China. Two decades earlier, he was a spy for the British; now Peanut must disappear on Beijing's surveillance-blanketed streets. Desperate and ruthless, he reaches out to his one-time MI6 paymasters via crusading journalist Philip Mangan, offering military secrets in return for extraction. But the secrets prove more valuable than Peanut or Mangan could ever have known... and not only to the British.
Uncover a world of international secrets in the utterly authentic, unbearably tense opening novel in a landmark thriller trilogy by BBC Foreign Correspondent Adam Brookes.
2014, CWA Daggers: John Creasey (New Blood), Long-listed
©2014 Adam Brookes (P)2014 Hachette AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"Night Heron is a fascinating portrait of the dangerous complexities of spying in a restricted country, the competing agendas driving international intelligence, and China's startlingly varied social realities. A must-read for fans of espionage and smart global fiction in general." (Booklist)
"Brookes, a correspondent for BBC News in Washington, D.C., who was formerly based in China, takes readers deep inside the culture and daily routines of that country in his outstanding fiction debut.... Good chase scenes and tense dialogue, coupled with a convincing picture of what actually happens in the corridors of power, make Brookes a thriller writer to watch." (Publishers Weekly)
"Fans of the international espionage genre will inhale this fast tale in a few suspenseful breaths. Brookes uses multiple narrators - the spy, the engineer, the journalist, the agent, the boss-whose conflicting alliances tell the real story." (Library Journal)
"The pace is frenetic and Brookes does a wonderful job with both the high-tech world of cyber intelligence and survival on Beijing's gritty, smog-smothered streets. Highly recommended." (The Bookseller)
"Engrossing and compelling" (LA Review of Books)
"Brookes, a one-time China correspondent for the BBC, knows this turf exceedingly well and translates that knowledge into a novel that is as strikingly different as it is thrilling . . . One of the best and most compulsively readable spy-fiction debuts in years" (Kirkus)
What listeners say about Night Heron
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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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
- C. D. Smith
- 07-07-14
Great book, ended on a whimper.
Where does Night Heron rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
One of the best audiobooks I have heard. Slightly disappointing ending.
What did you like best about this story?
Jason Isaacs narration is fantastic.
A great story with interesting characters.
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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
- Ann
- 07-07-14
A Very Different Spy
If you could sum up Night Heron in three words, what would they be?
Bewitching Heart Racer
What did you like best about this story?
Set in an environment I knew virtually nothing about.
What about Jason Isaacs’s performance did you like?
The pace of his narration is just perfect enabling you to feel the experience of the "Heron" in all its danger.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
Near the beginning when "Heron" is hiding in his cave.
Any additional comments?
I would highly recommend this book.The story is completely engrossing and original.
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2 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
- Pazzer
- 10-05-15
A great listen.
A well paced spy story, well written and a joy to listen to. Looking forward to more books from this author.
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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
- PDS
- 25-01-18
Highly recommended
Gripping story, decent pace and brilliantly read - this is a superb spy thriller set in China.
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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
- Roberto
- 29-05-14
Bravo!
An excellent debut novel - gripping, suspenseful with enough fact to keep it credible but enough fiction to keep it entertaining. The narration was also spot on, very well read.
It very much reminded me of an early Frederick Forsyth novel which is no bad thing.
I'd very much recommend this audiobook.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- A. Lewis
- 31-08-16
Failed to sustain my interest
What did you like best about Night Heron? What did you like least?
There were some enthralling set-pieces (the initial escape being one of them) but by half-way through the book I still didn't care enough about any of the characters to want to find out what was going to happen next. I found all of the main characters in the story to be both non-sympathetic (not necessarily a problem by itself) and non-empathetic - I just never felt engaged in the story.
Any additional comments?
Jason Isaacs does a good job of narration, the pace is just about right and characterisations as good as they could be given the source material. It's not a bad book, just not a terribly good one either. This was my first foray into post-Le-Carre contemporary spy fiction; I am hoping there are better, more exciting and more engaging examples yet to encounter.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Kim
- 06-02-18
Read, don't listen
Night Herron is the first of a trilogy (followed by Spy Games and The Spy's Daughter - best read in order). Ex-BBC foreign correspondent Adam Brookes writes with a journalist's brevity and sets the stories in a Chinese context he understands. Sometimes there is very good characterisation, but sometimes it's secondhand: the portraits of some of the British spy masters owes more than a nod to the BBC's Tinker, Tailor. (And speaking of Le Carre, Brookes has been lazily likened to Le Carre, but on reading three books he is interesting but never in Le Carre's League)
It is with the audiobooks that the troubles come. Three books, each with a different a sole male narrator none of whom, quite understandably, can satisfactorily span the required ranges. The Spy's Daughter is the worst where there are three strong female roles - upper class Brit, working class black Brit and a young Chinese lady. Brookes is a good writer but read, don't listen.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Iain
- 23-07-14
Not a bad little espionage tale
Would you listen to Night Heron again? Why?
No. Would only normally read a thriller once.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Night Heron?
Best part was the China setting.
Any additional comments?
An enjoyable thriller, although the characters were rather undeveloped. Good enough for me to get another book by this author when one comes out. Generally well read, although Jason Isaacs appears not to know how to pronounce 'peony', which is irritating, and more distinction between some of the characters' voices would help.
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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
- Michydog
- 25-07-14
Wonderful tense spy drama
Would you listen to Night Heron again? Why?
Yes, I want to get my husband to listen to it so will probably do so on a long car journey. Great book
What other book might you compare Night Heron to, and why?
I think it is quite like some of the La Carre works all of which I have loved.
Which scene did you most enjoy?
Can't really bring to mind one scene which was better than the rest. the book is very well balanced.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No, I never want to listen to books in 1 go.
Any additional comments?
Get it!
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2 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
- anne
- 11-12-17
First in a trilogy
This was an engrossing spy thriller. I’m now ready to move on to the second in the series. It was full of believable characters, some of whom were likeable and others were not! I’m interested to see how they develop in book two. Our unlikely spy/hero has many more adventures to come I hope.
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1 person found this helpful