DR. B.

This promising audiobook by the grandson of the real-life Dr. B is set in the world of émigré publishing and spy craft in neutral Sweden under the Nazi hegemony. "Dr. B" was the pseudonymous by-line of Immanuel Birnbaum, a German refugee who wrote for liberal journals and worked as an editor in the Stockholm office of Fischer Verlag, German publisher of Stefan Zweig and Thomas Mann. The author is not a born storyteller, and perhaps his grandfather's complex tale would have been more effective as nonfiction. It's hard to tell since the text is badly served by veteran narrator John Lee, who is a pro at European accents but performs in a repetitive singsong that undercuts what dramatic momentum there may be here. B.G. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2022]