Try free for 30 days

  • Firebird

  • The Spy Thriller of the 1960s
  • By: Noel Hynd
  • Narrated by: George Kuch
  • Length: 16 hrs and 46 mins

1 credit a month to use on any title, yours to keep (you’ll use your first credit on this title).
Stream or download thousands of included titles.
Access to exclusive deals and discounts.
$16.45 a month after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.
Firebird cover art

Firebird

By: Noel Hynd
Narrated by: George Kuch
Try for $0.00

$16.45 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $33.99

Buy Now for $33.99

Pay using voucher balance (if applicable) then card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice and authorise Audible to charge your designated credit card or another available credit card on file.

Publisher's Summary

"Noel Hynd knows the ins and outs of Washington's agencies both public and secret." (Publishers Weekly

From Noel Hynd, author of Flowers from Berlin comes Firebird, an intricate true-to-life spy story that spans half a century. 

It is 1968, one of the most tumultuous years of the 20th century. Frank Cooper, a former star investigative reporter now writes obituaries for a popular New York City tabloid. He hears the confession of a dying man named Leonard Rudawski, a former American diplomat, who bitterly questions the fate of Pavel Lukashenko, a would-be Soviet defector in Paris in 1965. Lukashenko promised to expose the espionage secret of a generation if he could get to the West. But the defector, code named “Firebird”, vanished. 

Or did he? 

Cooper teams with Lauren Richie, a young, Latina reporter from the same tabloid. They prowl into the dying man’s confession. Soon they are onto the story of their lifetimes, reviving a dangerous once-cold trail of back channel/back-alley CIA and KGB intrigue and tradeoffs, all of which factor into the three-way racially tinged American election of that year: Nixon vs. Humphry vs. the segregationist George Wallace. 

Murder, espionage, romance, betrayal, and conspiracy intertwine. Listeners will meet and recognize dozens of memorable “real life" characters: reporters, gangsters, diplomats, call girls, spy masters, politicians, and assassins. The story is tough, large, sprawling, and historically precise. "Russians sabotage and destabilize the west", says one experienced reporter with KGB knowledge. "It's not just what they do. It's what they do best." 

The story straddles the decades from World War II to 2018, even throwing a cynical light on Russian-American relations of today.

©2018 Noel Hynd (P)2019 Noel Hynd

What listeners say about Firebird

Average Customer Ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.