THE MARYLEBONE DROP

The brevity of this elegant audiobook belies the size of its pleasures. It simultaneously manages to deliver just what we loved about le Carré and company--an insider's view of characters and events from the secret world of The Service--while doing a deadpan takeoff on Cold War spy novels. Here some old-timers are doing what they always did, but in a world that has moved on. The "drop" is a real but outmoded bit of tradecraft by chance observed by a similarly superannuated former "asset" who duly reports it to his barely functioning handler who doesn't really believe a drop happened--why would it? But it did. Gerard Doyle gives a performance of impeccable finesse, and the resulting listen is a gem. B.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2019 Best Audiobook © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2019]