The Tightrope Men (1973) - Desmond Bagley

Written by Desmond Bagley
Read by Tim Pidget-Smith
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 32 Kbps
Unabridged

Chivers Audio Book. 1992
Length: 9 hr., 13 min.

Giles Denison has been kidnapped from his flat in London and transformed into famous Finnish scientist, Dr Harold Feltham Meyrick. Compelled to adjust to his new persona and to play out the role assigned to him by his captors, he embarks on a dangerous escapade from Norway to Finland and across the border into Soviet Russia.

A review—The book is written during the cold war (1973) and intertwines the West/East rivalries and suspicions with the man waking to find his face changed. For the most part the story moves along at pace and links characters and countries as they try to understand, find, and dodge others. There are also nice and well-reasoned aspects with technology and what it could/couldn’t do in “good” or “bad” hands.

Desmond Bagley also provides good descriptions of the countryside and cities his characters find themselves in too.

Overall an enjoyable early 1970s thriller, it but lacks the solid ending leaving too many avenues unexplored around the face change

The copy I found was originally from tape and may have a click or two.