
The Swimmer
A Novel
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $24.29
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Peter Ganim
-
Elisabeth Rodgers
-
By:
-
Joakim Zander
About this listen
A deep-cover CIA agent races across Europe to save the daughter he never knew in this electrifying debut thriller - an international sensation billed as "Homeland meets Stieg Larsson" that heralds the arrival of a new master sure to follow in the footsteps of Stieg Larsson, John Le Carré, and Graham Greene.
In the end, you cannot hide who you are.
Klara Walldéen was raised by her grandparents on a remote archipelago in the Baltic Sea, learning to fish and hunt and sail a boat through a storm. Now, as an EU Parliament aide in Brussels, she is learning how to navigate the treacherous currents of international politics: the lines between friend and enemy, truth and lies.
But Klara has accidentally seen something she shouldn't have: a laptop containing information so sensitive that someone will kill to keep hidden. Suddenly, she is thrown into a terrifying chase across Europe, with no idea who is hunting her or why.
Meanwhile, in Virginia, an old spy hides from his past. Once, he was a man of action, an operative so dedicated that he abandoned his infant daughter to keep his cover. Now, he is the only man who can save Klara... and she is the only woman who can allow him to lay old ghosts to rest.
©2015 Joakim Zander (P)2015 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
-
Reaper: Ghost Target
- A Sniper Novel
- By: Nicholas Irving, A. J. Tata - contributor
- Narrated by: Jeff Gurner
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Vick "The Reaper" Harwood is an esteemed sniper with a record kill count - 33 kills in 90 days - when he is knocked out under mortar attack in Afghanistan. He wakes up back in the United States with little memory of what happened, his spotter and gun both unrecovered from the battlefield. Harwood has resigned himself to slowly picking up the pieces of his life. But when a series of assassinations start occurring in the area, Harwood can't explain why he just happens to be nearby for each killing - or how a sniper rifle that matches the description of the one he lost seems to be involved.
-
-
Too much knowledge CAN be Hazardous to your Life!
- By shelley on 05-14-18
By: Nicholas Irving, and others
-
Girls Without Tears
- By: T. L. Finlay
- Narrated by: Tara Sands
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When six-year-old Skye disappears from Everglades City, Noa is hesitant to return to her hometown to help with the search effort. Skye is the daughter of Noa’s ex, Zack, and Taylor, the girl he dumped her for. Going home also means facing the townspeople who have always misunderstood Noa’s medical condition, Congenital Insensitivity to Pain, and dealing with more of their ignorant comments. But returning home is just the beginning of Noa's painful journey.
-
-
Wow Wow Wow
- By CristinaBonV on 09-12-22
By: T. L. Finlay
-
The Girl Beneath the Sea
- A Thriller (Underwater Investigation Unit, Book 1)
- By: Andrew Mayne
- Narrated by: Susannah Jones
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Coming from scandalous Florida treasure hunters and drug smugglers, Sloan McPherson is forging her own path, for herself and for her daughter, out from under her family’s shadow. An auxiliary officer for Lauderdale Shores PD, she’s the go-to diver for evidence recovery. Then Sloan finds a fresh kill floating in a canal - a woman whose murky history collides with Sloan’s. Their troubling ties are making Sloan less a potential witness than a suspect. And her colleagues aren’t the only ones following every move she makes. So is the killer.
-
-
Investigator with quirky but helpful family...
- By shelley on 05-02-20
By: Andrew Mayne
-
The Maddie Castle Series, Books 1-3: The Handler - Tracking Justice - Hunting Grounds (Maddie Castle Box Sets Book 1)
- By: L.T. Ryan, C.R. Gray
- Narrated by: Katie Hagaman
- Length: 27 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dive into the world of Maddie Castle, a retired K9 handler turned private investigator, in this heart-pounding collection of the first three novels in the bestselling series. From gripping mysteries to life-threatening pursuits, Maddie and her canine partners battle danger, corruption, and their own pasts to bring justice to those who need it most.
-
-
4 star story
- By Marie Anderson on 05-06-25
By: L.T. Ryan, and others
-
The City of Brass
- A Novel
- By: S. A. Chakraborty
- Narrated by: Soneela Nankani
- Length: 20 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has power; on the streets of 18th-century Cairo, she’s a con woman of unsurpassed talent. But she knows better than anyone that the trades she uses to get by - palm readings, zars, and a mysterious gift for healing - are all tricks, both the means to the delightful end of swindling Ottoman nobles and a reliable way to survive. But when Nahri accidentally summons Dara, an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior, to her side during one of her cons, she’s forced to reconsider her beliefs.
-
-
it's a love/hate thing
- By Zahai on 02-28-18
-
The Tenant
- By: Katrine Engberg
- Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a young woman is found brutally murdered in her own apartment with an intricate pattern of lines carved into her face, Copenhagen police detectives Jeppe Korner and Anette Werner are assigned to the case. Soon, they establish a link between the victim, Julie Stender, and her landlady, Esther de Laurenti, who’s a bit too fond of drink and the host of raucous dinner parties with her artist friends. Esther also turns out to be a budding novelist - and when Julie turns up as a murder victim in the unfinished mystery she’s writing, the link between fiction and real life grows.
-
-
THOROUGHLY enjoyed this!!!
- By Mary C. Garrison on 02-10-20
By: Katrine Engberg
-
Reaper: Ghost Target
- A Sniper Novel
- By: Nicholas Irving, A. J. Tata - contributor
- Narrated by: Jeff Gurner
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Vick "The Reaper" Harwood is an esteemed sniper with a record kill count - 33 kills in 90 days - when he is knocked out under mortar attack in Afghanistan. He wakes up back in the United States with little memory of what happened, his spotter and gun both unrecovered from the battlefield. Harwood has resigned himself to slowly picking up the pieces of his life. But when a series of assassinations start occurring in the area, Harwood can't explain why he just happens to be nearby for each killing - or how a sniper rifle that matches the description of the one he lost seems to be involved.
-
-
Too much knowledge CAN be Hazardous to your Life!
- By shelley on 05-14-18
By: Nicholas Irving, and others
-
Girls Without Tears
- By: T. L. Finlay
- Narrated by: Tara Sands
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When six-year-old Skye disappears from Everglades City, Noa is hesitant to return to her hometown to help with the search effort. Skye is the daughter of Noa’s ex, Zack, and Taylor, the girl he dumped her for. Going home also means facing the townspeople who have always misunderstood Noa’s medical condition, Congenital Insensitivity to Pain, and dealing with more of their ignorant comments. But returning home is just the beginning of Noa's painful journey.
-
-
Wow Wow Wow
- By CristinaBonV on 09-12-22
By: T. L. Finlay
-
The Girl Beneath the Sea
- A Thriller (Underwater Investigation Unit, Book 1)
- By: Andrew Mayne
- Narrated by: Susannah Jones
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Coming from scandalous Florida treasure hunters and drug smugglers, Sloan McPherson is forging her own path, for herself and for her daughter, out from under her family’s shadow. An auxiliary officer for Lauderdale Shores PD, she’s the go-to diver for evidence recovery. Then Sloan finds a fresh kill floating in a canal - a woman whose murky history collides with Sloan’s. Their troubling ties are making Sloan less a potential witness than a suspect. And her colleagues aren’t the only ones following every move she makes. So is the killer.
-
-
Investigator with quirky but helpful family...
- By shelley on 05-02-20
By: Andrew Mayne
-
The Maddie Castle Series, Books 1-3: The Handler - Tracking Justice - Hunting Grounds (Maddie Castle Box Sets Book 1)
- By: L.T. Ryan, C.R. Gray
- Narrated by: Katie Hagaman
- Length: 27 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dive into the world of Maddie Castle, a retired K9 handler turned private investigator, in this heart-pounding collection of the first three novels in the bestselling series. From gripping mysteries to life-threatening pursuits, Maddie and her canine partners battle danger, corruption, and their own pasts to bring justice to those who need it most.
-
-
4 star story
- By Marie Anderson on 05-06-25
By: L.T. Ryan, and others
-
The City of Brass
- A Novel
- By: S. A. Chakraborty
- Narrated by: Soneela Nankani
- Length: 20 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has power; on the streets of 18th-century Cairo, she’s a con woman of unsurpassed talent. But she knows better than anyone that the trades she uses to get by - palm readings, zars, and a mysterious gift for healing - are all tricks, both the means to the delightful end of swindling Ottoman nobles and a reliable way to survive. But when Nahri accidentally summons Dara, an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior, to her side during one of her cons, she’s forced to reconsider her beliefs.
-
-
it's a love/hate thing
- By Zahai on 02-28-18
-
The Tenant
- By: Katrine Engberg
- Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a young woman is found brutally murdered in her own apartment with an intricate pattern of lines carved into her face, Copenhagen police detectives Jeppe Korner and Anette Werner are assigned to the case. Soon, they establish a link between the victim, Julie Stender, and her landlady, Esther de Laurenti, who’s a bit too fond of drink and the host of raucous dinner parties with her artist friends. Esther also turns out to be a budding novelist - and when Julie turns up as a murder victim in the unfinished mystery she’s writing, the link between fiction and real life grows.
-
-
THOROUGHLY enjoyed this!!!
- By Mary C. Garrison on 02-10-20
By: Katrine Engberg
-
Thomas Prescott Series Premium
- Books 1 - 4
- By: Nick Pirog
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 34 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A complete crime fiction box set! Homicide detective Thomas Prescott may be retired—but a serial killer, a high-profile murder, an ill-fated cruise, and a chilling small-town crime add more than enough excitement to his hard-earned rest. This collection includes the first four books: Unforeseen, Gray Matter, The Afrikaans, and Show Me.
-
-
THE BEST DEAL I HAVE EVER HAD ON AUDIABLE
- By Count B on 10-08-19
By: Nick Pirog
-
Graveyard Fields
- By: Steven Tingle
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Davis Reed is plagued by the three A's: anger, alcohol, and anxiety. A former Charleston police officer turned private detective, Davis hopes to gain some respect, self and otherwise, by writing a book. His subject? The true story of a B-25 bomber that crashed on Cold Mountain in western North Carolina just after the end of World War II. From the comfort of a mountain cabin in Cruso, North Carolina, Davis spends his days popping anti-anxiety pills, drinking copious amounts of home-brewed beer, and not writing.
-
-
Fast read!
- By Tammy G. on 06-14-23
By: Steven Tingle
-
A Solitude of Wolverines: A Novel of Suspense
- Alex Carter Series, Book 1
- By: Alice Henderson
- Narrated by: Eva Kaminsky
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While studying wolverines on a wildlife sanctuary in Montana, biologist Alex Carter is run off the road and threatened by locals determined to force her off the land. Undeterred in her mission to help save this threatened species, Alex tracks wolverines on foot and by cameras positioned in remote regions of the preserve. But when she reviews the photos, she discovers disturbing images of an animal of a different kind: a severely injured man seemingly lost and wandering in the wilds.
-
-
Disappointed in Where the Story Went
- By Debbie on 06-15-22
By: Alice Henderson
-
Man of War
- An Eric Steele Novel
- By: Sean Parnell
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eric Steele is the best of the best - an Alpha - an elite clandestine operative assigned to a US intelligence unit known simply as the "Program". A superbly trained Special Forces soldier who served several tours fighting radical Islamic militants in Afghanistan, Steele now operates under the radar, using a deadly combination of espionage and brute strength to root out his enemies and neutralize them.
-
-
Cliché Super Soldier/Spy Thriller Novel
- By David on 11-06-19
By: Sean Parnell
-
The Magician's Daughter
- By: H. G. Parry
- Narrated by: Rose McPhilemy
- Length: 15 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Off the coast of Ireland sits a legendary island hidden by magic. A place of ruins and ancient trees, sea-salt air and fairy lore, Hy-Brasil is the only home Biddy has ever known. Washed up on its shore as a baby, Biddy lives a quiet life with her guardian, the mercurial magician Rowan. A life she finds increasingly stifling. One night, Rowan fails to return from his mysterious travels. To find him, Biddy must venture into the outside world for the first time. But Rowan has powerful enemies—forces who have hoarded the world’s magic and have set their sights on the magician’s many secrets.
-
-
Cute and Enjoyable
- By Cherise on 04-12-23
By: H. G. Parry
-
Razzmatazz
- A Novel
- By: Christopher Moore
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
San Francisco, 1947. Bartender Sammy “Two Toes” Tiffin and the rest of the Cookie’s Coffee Irregulars—a ragtag bunch of working mugs last seen in Noir—are on the hustle: they’re trying to open a driving school; shanghai an abusive Swedish stevedore; get Mable, the local madam, and her girls to a Christmas party at the State Hospital without alerting the overzealous head of the S.F.P.D. vice squad.
-
-
Noir Has Never Been So Funny
- By Stefan Filipovits on 06-24-22
-
Collusion
- A Novel
- By: Newt Gingrich, Pete Earley
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Obsessive and compulsive, Valerie Mayberry is the FBI’s counterintelligence expert on domestic terrorism. Brett Garrett is a dishonorably discharged ex-Navy SEAL coming off a secret opioid addiction and a gun for hire working as a security contractor in Eastern Europe. When a high-ranking Kremlin official with knowledge of a plan to attack the US must be smuggled out under the nose of a kleptocratic Putin-like Russian president and a ruthless general, Mayberry and Garret are thrown together to exfiltrate him and preempt a deadly poisonous strike.
-
-
Thrilling!!
- By shelley on 05-01-19
By: Newt Gingrich, and others
-
New Spring
- The Wheel of Time Prequel
- By: Robert Jordan
- Narrated by: Kate Reading, Michael Kramer
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For three days battle has raged in the snow around the great city of Tar Valon. In the city, a foretelling of the future is uttered. On the slopes of Dragonmount, the immense mountain that looms over the city, a child is born, an infant prophesied to change the world. That child must be found before he can be killed by the forces of the Shadow.
-
-
Read it after reading others in the series
- By Stacy Fair on 12-13-07
By: Robert Jordan
-
Those Empty Eyes
- By: Charlie Donlea
- Narrated by: Vivienne Leheny
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alex Armstrong has changed everything about herself—her name, her appearance, her backstory. She’s no longer the terrified teenager a rapt audience saw on television, emerging in handcuffs from the quiet suburban home the night her family was massacred. That girl, Alexandra Quinlan, nicknamed Empty Eyes, was accused of the killings, fought to clear her name, and later took the stand during her highly publicized defamation lawsuit that captured the attention of the nation. It’s been ten years since, and Alex hasn’t stopped searching for answers about the night her family was killed.
-
-
SPELLBINDING!!!!
- By shelley on 03-31-23
By: Charlie Donlea
-
Dark Matter (Movie Tie-In)
- A Novel
- By: Blake Crouch
- Narrated by: Jon Lindstrom
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“Are you happy with your life?” Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the kidnapper knocks him unconscious. Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. Before a man he’s never met smiles down at him and says, “Welcome back, my friend.” In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife.
-
-
Another Book Where the Ratings Lie
- By Matthew on 08-05-16
By: Blake Crouch
-
Hyperion
- By: Dan Simmons
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor, Allyson Johnson, Kevin Pariseau, and others
- Length: 20 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all.
-
-
The Shrike Awaits. Enter The Time Tombs...
- By Michael on 10-13-12
By: Dan Simmons
-
A Disappearance in Fiji
- By: Nilima Rao
- Narrated by: Sid Sagar
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1914, Fiji: 25-year-old Akal Singh would rather be anywhere but this tropical paradise—or, as he calls it, “this godforsaken island.” After a promising start to his police career in his native India and Hong Kong, Akal has been sent to Fiji as punishment for a humiliating professional mistake. Lonely and grumpy, Akal plods through his work and dreams of getting back to Hong Kong. When an indentured Indian woman goes missing from a sugarcane plantation and Fiji’s newspapers scream “kidnapping,” the inspector-general reluctantly assigns Akal the case.
-
-
Good historical story
- By JU on 09-20-23
By: Nilima Rao
Very Good with Limitations
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Addictive
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great listen!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great global story of intrigue
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great book and listen
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great story, but I was hoping for a happy ending
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?
It did, because it moves back and forth between the story of a repentant CIA operative in the 80s and 90s and several young Swedes in 2013 caught up in a deadly hunt to destroy them.Have you listened to any of Peter Ganim and Elisabeth Rodgers ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
I haven't, but I have to say that Elizabeth Roger's rendering of male voices is not very convincing.Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
There were several, but I won't say so as not to spoil it for other readers.Any additional comments?
I heartily recommend this book for readers who are interested in contemporary international intrigue.Outstanding thriller
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I'm not normally someone who enjoys the spy thriller genre but this one hooked me. The desire of one character to atone for a past incident and connect with a loved one was the strong thread that held this story together for me.
It was fast-paced, had a wide variety of characters and provided an interesting look at the ramifications of "the war on terror" and the US' interference in the Middle East. I did find the ending of the "thriller" part of the book a bit too easy. After seeing the lengths the CIA would go to in order to keep secrets, they (although backed up against the wall) seemed to agree to the terms without much argument. Was it because of the personal connection between the CIA director and other characters? Because it seemed that based on everything else in the book, they would not have stopped.
I also wish (because I always want people to be reunited in a heart-warming way) was sad that after all the "swimmer" had been through he did not get to know his daughter, and yet, that would have certainly been an unlikely outcome that would have taken away from the authenticity of the story.
I felt this book also worked because it was written and set in Sweden. I'm not sure it would have felt as true if written by an American. It would have felt more "hand wringing".
I recommend it.
Spy Thriller with Heart
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Suspenseful, very nice
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
These are the types of questions this tale provoked in the reader. A slow, ever increasing, inexorable mounting of queries with regrettably few answers. While the story kept me engaged, the frequent scene changes didn't benefit the progress.
As the father works to make right a thirty three year old mistake, we are carried along jostling to and fro, intermittently loving and being made slightly nauseous by the ride.
Be warned it's a good ride, but not always fun.
Under Water In More Ways Than One
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.