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American Spy

A Cold War Spy Thriller Like You've Never Read Before

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American Spy

By: Lauren Wilkinson
Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
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About this listen

A BARACK OBAMA SUMMER READING 2019 PICK

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2019 CENTRE FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE

What if your sense of duty required you to betray the man you love?

It's 1986, the heart of the Cold War. Marie Mitchell is an intelligence officer with the FBI. She's brilliant and talented, but she's also a black woman working in an all-white boys' club, and her career has stalled with routine paperwork - until she's recruited to a shadowy task force aimed at undermining Thomas Sankara, the charismatic, revolutionary president of Burkina Faso, whose Communist ideology has made him a target for American intervention.

In the year that follows, Marie will observe Thomas, seduce him, and ultimately, have a hand in the coup that will bring him down. But doing so will change everything she believes about what it means to be a spy, a lover, and a good American.

©2019 Lauren Wilkinson (P)2019 Hachette Audio UK
Espionage Fiction Historical Political Spies & Politics Thriller Thriller & Suspense Women's Fiction Crime Africa Mystery Cold War

Critic reviews

"A spy thriller like you've never read before." (TIME)

"Packed with unforgettable characters, it's a stunning book, timely as it is timeless." (Paul Beatty, Man Booker Prize Winner)

"Riveting and thrilling from the very first page." (Marie Claire)

All stars
Most relevant
Very slow, I kept waiting for it to start and it didn’t. Eventually gave up on it. Avoid.

Dull

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I gave up on this book after ten chapters. It never really got started and wasn’t helped by a dreary narrative voice. I kept hoping something would happen but the story continued to be bogged down in dull stories from the heroine’s childhood.

Disappointing

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The reader made this incredibly painful and uninteresting - so American and patronising with all the French references and pronunciation

Dreary and I exciting

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