The Twelfth Department cover art

The Twelfth Department

Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
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.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

The Twelfth Department

By: William Ryan, W.C. Ryan
Narrated by: Seán Barrett
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £17.99

Buy Now for £17.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

Moscow, 1937. Captain Korolev, a police investigator, is enjoying a long-overdue visit from his young son, Yuri, when an eminent scientist is shot dead within sight of the Kremlin, and Korolev is ordered to find the killer.

It soon emerges that the victim, a man who it appears would stop at nothing to fulfil his ambitions, was engaged in research of great interest to those at the very top ranks of Soviet power. When another scientist is brutally murdered and evidence of the professors’ experiments is hastily removed, Korolev begins to realise that, along with having a difficult case to solve, he’s caught in a dangerous battle between two warring factions of the NKVD. And then his son, Yuri, goes missing....

©2013 William Ryan (P)2014 Isis Audio
Espionage Spies & Politics Thriller & Suspense Russia Suspense

Listeners also enjoyed...

Traitor's Gate cover art
The Insider cover art
My Name Is Nobody cover art
The Brief cover art
The Last Moriarty cover art
The Seeker cover art
Zoo Station cover art
Waking the Tiger cover art
The Scarlet Papers cover art
The Unwanted Dead cover art
The Bastards of Pizzofalcone cover art
Wicked Game cover art
Babylon Berlin cover art
The Dark Yorkshire Series: Books 1-3 cover art
When the Sparrow Falls cover art
Last Gasp cover art
All stars
Most relevant
Excellently plotted story of the admirable Captain Korolev’s adventures in the Soviet Union of the 30s. Wonderful atmosphere of the period and superbly narrated. Would greatly appreciate a fourth episode.

An excellent third episode in this series

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

Great plot and a wonderful reading by Sean Barrett. I have read the first two in this series and can thoroughly recommend them. Interesting time period and the books are really well-written too.

First-class listen

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

This is a cracking 3rd book from the series, brilliantly written, great plot with many twists and as always incredible narration from Sean Barrett.

A brilliant 3rd instalment of this series!!

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

One of the best books I’ve read in a long time. Great characters. Unbelievably tense and atmospheric . Wonderful narration too.

Fantastic trilogy

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