
Billion-Dollar Brain
Penguin Modern Classics
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for £12.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
James Lailey
-
By:
-
Len Deighton
About this listen
Texan billionaire General Midwinter will stop at nothing to bring down the USSR - even if it puts the whole world at risk. The fourth and final novel featuring the cynical, insolent narrator of The IPCRESS File sees him sent from his shabby Soho office to bone-freezing Helsinki in order to penetrate Midwinter's vast anti-Communist network - and stop a deadly virus from wiping out the planet.
©1966 Len Deighton (P)2021 Penguin AudioNot as good as the first three books
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You were only supposed to read the b****y story
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Wonderful similes
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I knew it was good but this is better than I remem
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
And the narrator does a grand job of bringing Michael Caine’s Harry palmer to audio reality
I advise everyone to listen a touch slower on the settings for maximum effect
Harry palmer the working man’s bond
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
excellent narrator
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
After reading and listening to Funeral in Berlin, I was looking forward to getting around to Billion Dollar Brain.
Narrated again by James Lailey, he breaths life into all the characters and brings more to them than all the actors in the movie.
In terms of Movie vs Book, there is elements of the plot the book does better (Colonel Stok is such a better character in the book, rather than comical character he is in the book) but same time there is elements the movie does better (Anya in the movie is a much better and interesting character than the female lead in the book, Signe, is towards the plot.
Also in the book, General Midwinter is a MUCH better character compared to the z-list Bond character villain in the movie, but the actual brain itself only plays a very small part compared to the movie.
The movie follows our “unnamed hero” (affectionally known as Harry Palmer) in a good old fashion espionage story, where a man from Harry’s past, Harvey Newbegin (who also appeared in the Funeral in Berlin book) after the murder of a journalist in Helsinki.
Our hero is hired by a private intelligence outfit with the aim to bring down the Soviet Union, starting with revolution in the Baltic State of Latvia.
The story follows our hero as he gets in deeper and deeper to uncover a plan that could lead to another war.
It is a globe hopping adventure from London to Helsinki, into the Soviet Union taking in St Petersburg and Riga, before travelling to the United States in Midwinters offices in New York and then his “Brain” in Texas.
Only issue I have is the ending is rather subdued and no real answers, while the movie has the big Bond style ending.
All in all maybe not as good as Funeral in Berlin, but every bit as enjoyable.
Bit of a slog to get through, but expands upon the movie
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.