The Peacock and the Sparrow - I.S. Berry Audiobook

Written by I.S. Berry
Read by Pete Simonelli
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Release date: May 30, 2023
Duration: 11:41:21

Shane Collins, a world-weary CIA spy, is ready to come in from the cold. Stationed in Bahrain off the coast of Saudi Arabia for his final tour, he has little use for his mission—uncovering Iranian support for the insurgency against the monarchy. He certainly has no use for his naïve and ambitious twenty-eight-year-old station chief. Then Collins meets Almaisa, a beautiful and enigmatic artist, and his eyes are opened to a side of Bahrain most expats never experience, to questions he never thought to ask.

When his trusted informant becomes embroiled in a murder, Collins finds himself drawn deep into the conflict, his growing romance with Almaisa—and his loyalties—upended. In an instant, he’s caught in the crosshairs of a revolution. Drawing on all his skills as a spymaster, he must navigate a bloody uprising, earn Almaisa’s love, and uncover the murky border where Bahrain’s secrets end and America’s begin.

Note— insurgency started Mon, Feb 14, 2011 and is ongoing.

“Narrator Pete Simonelli embodies Shane Collins, a world-weary alcoholic spy who is navigating Bahrain’s confusing political landscape during the Arab Spring upheaval. Author Berry’s CIA experience in Baghdad lends verisimilitude to her characters, their challenges, and the compromises they must make for success. Simonelli’s portrayal of Collins is steady and relaxed, pleasing to the ears. As narrator, he maintains the same pacing for detailed descriptions of locations, secondary characters, and tense scenes of violence. Berry offers listeners a candid view of the mutual dependency of the informant-handler relationship. As Collins’s search for answers takes him to some of the globe’s seedier locations, Simonelli adeptly handles the accents. This realistic tale lacks the glamour, cool technology, and flat characters of less authentic spy stories.”— AudioFile