The Director

By: David Ignatius

Narrated by: George Guidall

Length: 13 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

In David Ignatius' gripping new novel, spies don' t bother to steal information...they change it, permanently and invisibly. Graham Weber has been director of the CIA for less than a week when a Swiss kid in a dirty T-shirt walks into the American consulate in Hamburg and says the agency has been hacked, and he has a list of agents' names to prove it. This is the moment a CIA director most dreads. Weber isn' t sure where to turn until he meets a charismatic (and unstable) young man named James Morris who runs the Internet Operations Center. He' s the CIA' s in-house geek. Weber launches Morris on a mole hunt unlike anything in spy fiction - one that takes the listener into the hacker underground of Europe and America and ends up in a landscape of paranoia and betrayal. Like the new world of cyber-espionage from which it' s drawn, The Director is a maze of deception and double-dealing - about a world where everything is written in zeroes and ones and nothing can be trusted.

©2014 David Ignatius (P)2014 Recorded Books

soporific

all the excitement of an introductory accounting textbook. whenever something seems on the verge of happening, the author reverts to bland historical backfill.

This book belies the long-held belief that Goodell could read the phone book and make it interesting: even he can't breathe life into this one.

I wanted a little more mystery and suspense

The characters were believable and easy to relate to, and the story offered a palatable, yet frightening, way to understand the real vulnerability of our cyber universe. I just wish the author had let the reader connect some of the dots, rather than doing it for us.

New fan of writer- David Ignatius - THE DIRECTOR

What made the experience of listening to The Director the most enjoyable?

The Director is brilliant writing. I could physically imagine each character, the scenes, and locations.

What did you like best about this story?

Attention to detail. Ignatius knowledge of the intelligence industry and US foreign policy.
He really gets it right!

What about George Guidall’s performance did you like?

His vocal inflections were very good! Timing, spacing, the entire delivery, great!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I did not have an extreme reaction, only intense fascination!

Any additional comments?

I'm a fan!!!

Slow start, but really picks up.

The beginning of the book is a bit clunky, but once the plot gets moving it really gets interesting. Worth the credit.

Very Enjoyable

This is one of the better books I have listened to in a long time. The topic is of deep concern and this work of fiction explained a great deal of reality. The story is riveting and the characters very believable. I want to read the author's other books. Recommend highly.

Scary premise

The book just wasn't riveting. George made listening a treat, but even his narration couldn't make the story any better.

Just Flat Out Scary!

I stumbled into this book because of the narrator and stayed because of the tale the author wove. A tale of those who have no true believe system other than the code they can write or the thrill of the 'hack'. The young people who were given The Lie and believed it. All the hacking done by Morris is plausible. That he is a Goverment employee is also believable. And there is where this tale causes that shiver down your spine. But that is only one of the strands in this web of lies, deceipt Mr Ignatius has so tighty woven. Add Geo. Guidall, a true master, and I could not turn it off. This is one of those I wanted to listen to straight through.

Best Narration Ever?

The Director is only remarkable to me in that I've never experienced Mr. Ignatius' skill with the words and lingo of cyber hacking technology. The plot is ordinary in today's world of thriller novels otherwise. George Guidall however was spectacular. Male, female voices, foreign accents, no matter, he nailed it. He was Weber and everyone else for that matter. Listen to this novel if only for the great voice show!

Okay

What did you like best about The Director? What did you like least?

Interesting story that brings in computer hackery, intel issues, and revolutionary history. Predictable, and the sexiness and budding romance is blah and unnecessary.

loses steam

good first half with lots of action interesting strategy and insights into the world of financial computing. story climax in the middle feels like it was cut short and many pages were missing . Second-half loses lots of steam and does not utilize the excellent momentum of the first half. Gets lost in tired and drags to the end. narrator and a skilled wide range of voices, however did not bring across the energy and pace necessary to convey a techno-thriller. first half is a techno-thriller. Second half is a World War 2 spy novel. could have been blended better