Customer Reviews

The Secret Man The Story of Watergate's Deep Throat Watergates Watergate

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I began reading Bob Woodward a couple years ago with "Bush at War", and last fall read "All the President's Men". I very much enjoyed the impartial, objective view presented in these works, and especially enjoyed the insight into the process of journalism. When I decided to begin listening to audiobooks in my daily commute, found "The Secret Man".

The book is essentially a retelling of "All the President's Men" (and perhaps "The Final Days", which I have not yet read) but with more direct focus on Woodward, Mark Felt (now known as informant "Deep Throat"), and their long-term relationship which began even before the Watergate scandal. It gives a much deeper insight into the character and motivation of Felt, the frustration and interference he encountered from the Nixon administration (beginning with the ITT/Dita Beard investigation, which Woodward describes as "a dress rehearsal for Watergate"), and the effect that Felt's role as Deep Throat may have played in his later years.

While I very much enjoyed the authorship of Woodward, I disliked the narration by Boyd Gaines. His delivery is dry, slow and deliberate, almost monotone, which very little intonation. I often found myself inadvertantly "tuning out" for a few seconds or almost a minute, which caused me to have to rewind in order to pick up on important points. This was in stark contrast to "My Life" by Bill Clinton, whose narration I found very engaging, or Tom Wolfe's "A man in Full", narrated by David Ogden Stiers, whose vivid narration makes each word and character come alive before me.

In short, regarding "The Secret Man" - Get the text version, but pass on the audiobook (or indeed, ANY audiobook narrated by Boyd Gaines, including "State of War" by James Risen).