Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • A Foreign Country

  • By: Charles Cumming
  • Narrated by: Jot Davies
  • Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (506 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
A Foreign Country cover art

A Foreign Country

By: Charles Cumming
Narrated by: Jot Davies
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £13.00

Buy Now for £13.00

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Insider cover art
My Name Is Nobody cover art
The Scarlet Papers cover art
A Dying Breed cover art
The Shadow of What Was Lost cover art
14 cover art
Area 51 cover art
American Assassin cover art
Ratking cover art
Affaire Royale cover art
Europe in Autumn cover art

Summary

Six weeks before she is due to take up her position as the first female head of MI6, Amelia Levene vanishes without a trace. Her disappearance is the gravest crisis MI6 has faced for more than a decade. There has been no ransom demand, no word from foreign intelligence services, and no hint of a defection. Should news of Levene’s disappearance leak out, the consequences would be catastrophic. But for disgraced MI6 officer Thomas Kell, the crisis offers a chance for redemption. He is approached by his former employers and ordered to find her. Kell’s search takes him first to France, then North Africa, where he discovers an extraordinary secret hidden deep in Levene’s past. It is a secret that could fatally compromise Britain’s national security - and for which Kell could pay with his life.

This is another first-rate intelligent thriller which will cement Cumming's reputation as one of the most engaging British novelists writing today.

©2012 Charles Cumming (P)2012 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"The master of the modern spy thriller' and ‘heir to le Carré returns with another gripping and suspenseful novel." ( Guardian)

What listeners say about A Foreign Country

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    264
  • 4 Stars
    167
  • 3 Stars
    60
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    8
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    279
  • 4 Stars
    134
  • 3 Stars
    41
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    4
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    227
  • 4 Stars
    155
  • 3 Stars
    64
  • 2 Stars
    8
  • 1 Stars
    9

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Our worst enemies are the intelligent and corrupt.

For me the best book about spying is The Human Factor by Graham Greene it is what all good spy novels are about; the moment at which the humanity takes over the professional and all the plans go to hell because of love, fear, greed, doubt, or plain weakness.

Thomas Kell has confronted his demons and is suffering the consequences when he is called to find out what has happened to the future head of MI6, Amelia Levene, a task that will start his new career on the outside, doing what insiders can not do.

A good story with plenty of human factor, and some expected trade craft sprinkled on the story.
This is the first part of a trilogy about Thomas Kell and the modern political games we play even with our supposed friends. Good plot with plenty of twists and action.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent!!

Bought this after reading a review in the Sunday Telegraph. The plot was excellent, characters well defined and believable, and narration very good. I will definitely look for more by this author/narrator, and would highly recommend.

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
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A better quality of espionage romp

I enjoyed A Foreign Country, it offers a setting of the less travelled road of European espionage.

It is not a Smiley novel from le Carre, but it is a well structured and enjoyable thriller. Some may even prefer that.

The premise and some of the plot devices are perhaps far fetched, but if you can overlook that you have an enjoyable thriller on your hands.

The narration is good, although occasionally the voice of Kell didn't quite ring true for me. It is well edited with no issues around levelling or sound quality.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

slow burner that gets good

bit of a slow start but picks up well. sometimes guilty of purple prose but a decent romp none the less.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
  • A
  • 13-11-16

Cracking story incredibly well read

This is the 2nd Charles Cumming book I have listened to Jot Davies read, loved em both- more please!

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
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A very good story!

I enjoyed this story from start to finish, as I have with most of Charles Cumming's books, and I dare say, shall continue to do so.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

And so?

Perhaps it is unfair to write a review but I never finished this. It could be I'll get back to hear the end of the tale and wish I had waited to write this, but the story is not so gripping and has a sort of so what feel to it.

I hope that it gets better, there is a double buff feel to it but I did not really feel engaged by the story or its characters despite the summary.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Slow Burner But Very Good

Very entertaining. Slightly involved writing at times but creates solid characters. Book changes midway for better

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Boring

After a promising start descended downwards until I didn t care about the denouement.. disappointing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Best spy novel for a long time

With logical twists and turns, this is perhaps the best novel I've listened to for quite some time. Well deserving of 5 stars.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful