Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
City of the Dead cover art

City of the Dead

By: Herbert Lieberman
Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Buy Now for £18.99

Buy Now for £18.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Blackmail, My Love cover art
Chasing the Devil's Tail cover art
Skin Deep cover art
Motor City Blue cover art
The Butcher's Theater cover art
Limbus, Inc. cover art
Offbeat cover art
Sworn to the Night cover art
Meet the Tiger cover art Cut to the Bone cover art
The Light at the End cover art
Video Nasties cover art
Relic cover art
The Lost Army of Cambyses cover art
Girl Missing cover art
Blue World: The Complete Collection cover art

Summary

Winner of the Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere: As chief medical examiner of New York City, Paul Konig has one of the world’s most difficult jobs - and when his daughter goes missing, he must take on his most wrenching case yet.

New York City in the 1970s is a dark, dangerous, and threatening place. One of the bright spots in this decaying metropolis is Paul Konig. As the city’s chief medical examiner, he has developed an impressive reputation for his skills in forensic pathology - skills that will be put to the ultimate test when a dangerous psychopath kidnaps Konig’s daughter.

Herbert Lieberman takes his readers on a gruesome journey through the ten most difficult days in the life of a man at the very end of his rope. In addition to being awoken to phone calls featuring his daughter’s desperate screams each night, Konig’s professional life is in danger. Between the case of a serial killer who leaves a trail of severed body parts in his wake; the investigation of questionable forensic work on an alleged prison suicide under Konig’s watch; and the naked ambitions of a deputy medical examiner, it will take every ounce of Konig’s strength to save his own life - as well as his family’s.

©1976 Herbert Lieberman (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about City of the Dead

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    54
  • 4 Stars
    33
  • 3 Stars
    12
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    65
  • 4 Stars
    21
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    47
  • 4 Stars
    29
  • 3 Stars
    14
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    3

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

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant!

I came across the wonderful Mr Lieberman by complete fluke, and this is the second book of his I have listened to in the last 4 days.
Thanks to Audible, my membership includes their plus catalogue, and I am able to try new genres and authors without having to ponder over my credits or returning titles (which I hate). So far so brilliant. Since my health became really bad to stop me working, Audible has been my absolute god send, allowing me to mentally wander into so many different lands and scenarios, helping to channel my over active brain quite a bit of the time, and when I do find myself a bit lost, I just rewind until I remember a line or so and start again from there. If you haven't had to deal with a mental health issue, it may not make a lot of sense, but just being able to slow thoughts that are whizzing a thousand miles a minute down for a short while is respite and invaluable. So thank you Audible and again the wonderful and very talented Mr Lieberman and Mr Butler Murray, from the bottom of my heart. 🤗💕

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

An Absolute Must

In a word: marvellous. Intriguing, instructive, at times pretty grisly, but right from the start extraordinarily immersive, redolent of the streets of New York - especially the East River. All the characters have emotional weight,believability and you can’t help but live with them, empathise with them. The descriptions are detailed, the inner monologue
revealing, not like anything I’ve listened to before and the narration is spot on. Don’t miss it: you’ll be soary.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

KAZ🇬🇧😃 Good but!!

I really enjoyed the story it's something that I've listened to before from other author's like Patricia Cornwell it kept me interested right from the start with the grumpy Dr Konnig trying to cope with work & his daughter Lolly going missing after the death of his wife he's inundated with body part's being found missing head's hand's & other part's as well yuck 🤢 He attempt's to keep his life separate from his work but not all the people under him are friend's so he's overwhelmed sadly You get a look at what the police go through trying to catch a killer I'm giving the story away lol 😂 Definitely good book apart from the end I was gutted how it was left won't give it away though 😃😃

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Very enjoyable

It took me a while to get into this but it gets more engrossing. The main character is well drawn but quite unsympathetic and clearly a man of no emotional intelligence at all, for which he pays a high price. Maybe it is his job of pathologist that has given him this carapace, or maybe that’s why he’s so good at the job. The supporting characters are engaging and the reading by Michael Butler Murray is absolutely excellent.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Far too long winded

Maybe this book would be particulaly interesting to a student of pathology or someone working in that field, but the unnecessary details of the injuries to the bodies just dragged on and on. It made me very frustrated and I nearly gave up, but continued, hoping it would improve ... it didn't. I also didn't like the way that the scene descriptions were written in lists, rather like blank verse, rather than sentences. It also didn't help that the main character was so unlikeable!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great story

A great detective story focussing on the Chief Coroner. Well narrated, too. Surprised that it was written back in 1976.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Cornwell Wannabe

Never in all my years of reading have I ever read a book with such an unlikeable main character.
It doesn’t even evoke any empathy towards him, which it should considering the storyline. I should have been crying at the end, but I wasn’t, because I didn’t care about him.
The narrator was good, though most characters sounded the same.
Lieberman is a great author, but maybe leave the Chief Medical Examiner stuff to Queen Scarpetta/Cornwell.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Gripping story.

Excellent storyline and very well written. Not for the faint hearted due to gruesome details but very well done. I was occasionally irked by mispronunciation but on the whole well narrated with the characters easily identifiable.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

gripping novel really enjoyed listening

Author has amazing knowledge of pathology so much detail great story and perfectly narrated would recommend to anyone who enjoys a good crime novel

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Superb

Best book I’ve listened to for a long time. Excellent story. Excellent performance. Great on every level. Highly recommend.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!