Masaryk Station

A John Russell Thriller, Book 6

By: David Downing

Narrated by: Michael Healy

Berlin, early 1948: The city, still occupied by the four Allied powers, still largely in ruins, has become the cockpit of a new Cold War, and as spring unfolds its German inhabitants live in fear of the Soviets enforcing a Western withdrawal. Here, as elsewhere in Europe, the legacies of the War have become entangled in the new Soviet-American conflict, creating a world of bizarre and fleeting loyalties, a paradise for spies.

John Russell works for both Stalin’s NKVD and the newly-created CIA. He does as little for either as he can safely get away with, and between the tawdry tasks they set him - assessing dubious defectors in Trieste, running a spy ring in a Berlin VD clinic, rescuing ex-Nazis who might prove useful from Czechoslovakia - he seeks a way to cut himself loose.

His partner Effi Koenen has an easier time, starring in a popular radio series and looking after their adopted daughter Rosa, until a woman she helped save in the War turns up on her doorstep, and admits to a child she left behind all those years before, a child now trapped behind the new iron curtain.

©2013 David Downing (P)2013 AudioGO

Poor narration

Michael Healy has a perfectly good speaking voice, but his performance did not suit the material. Too much upspeak—not emotive enough. He sounded like he was narrating a children’s book.

Deserves a better reader

I can't imagine a narrator less interested in the material he was reading than this one. He made almost no effort to differentiate among the characters with voice, inflection, accent, dynamics -- i.e., acting. Nor did he even try to properly pronounce the myriad of foreign names and phrases sprinkled throughout the book.I've read all of David Downing's excellent John Russell novels that depict the intrigues, human and political, that formed, deformed, and reformed the German experience before, during, and after World War II. This latest installment stands tall among them.

Love the series not narrator

I don't not understand why when a series is established and the same narrator which through their performance sets a certain flow and character which one gets used to a new narrator comes in and ruins the book and possibly the remainder of the series if he or she continues to narrate the series. Don't the authors or the publishers understand that this is how audiobooks work sometimes it's the narrator that make the book worth listening to.
Take it from a very successful series Harry Potter. If they would have put in another narrator then Jim Dale mid series or even at the end I believe there would be backlash and the series would suffer.
So as much as I really loved this series with Simon Prebble. I can not recommend this book in the series. I hope someone who makes these decisions will consider going back to Mr Prebble or at the very least someone who might sound and narrate like him which I think can't be done so get home back. Please I have seen this done before in other series. Please consider.
Thank you

excellent writing but terrible narration

I loved the previous books in the series and was driven to dive into this last book; however, the narration was so terrible I nearly returned it! I did stick with it but never got used to the narrator's irritating style of delivery.

The naration was dreadful.

As some have stated the narration is horrible. Had to keep going back to re-listen to sections, because I couldn't tell which character was speaking due to the lack of character voice or the un captivating performance.