“Friedman’s excellent descriptions set the stage for the stops along the way, and Simon Vance’s smooth British accent puts listeners on the scene. As Friedman’s investigation unfolds, Vance embodies the author’s outrage at ‘the tragedy of human weakness’ responsible for the loss of some of the great work.”
      —AudioFile

“Brilliantly read by Simon Vance. His voice lends the whole story an air of gravitas and when combined with Friedman’s descriptions created the perfect combination to make a book about a very old book come to life and become a book about betrayal, danger, intrigue, greed, justice, cover-ups and the survival of a nation.”
      —DWD’s Reviews

“A thrilling, step-by-step quest to discover what really happened to Judaism’s most important book.”
      —Boston Globe

“Friedman’s clear writing and dogged pursuit of some otherwise overlooked assumptions read more like a detective novel than history. . . . An important account in accessible, gripping prose.”
      —The Christian Science Monitor

“Through the Levantine haze and a millennium of safekeeping, a carefully paced narrative of purloined Judaica.”
      —Kirkus Reviews

“Friedman has done a remarkable job—finding sources and digging through archives—of getting [this] fascinating story out of the shadows and into the light.”
      —Booklist [HC starred review]

“A masterful account of a major religious document. . . . Friedman delivers an atmospheric, tense story.”
      —Publishers Weekly [starred review]

“The Aleppo Codex could be read as a thriller. It could also be read as a history of the Jewish people, or as a meditation on history and myth. This great book comes closer to containing everything than any book I’ve read in a long, long time.”
      —Jonathan Safran Foer

“Friedman’s account of how the Codex was taken from Syria in the 1940s, later to resurface in Jerusalem, although no longer complete, is full of betrayals, controversy and surprises—and raises larger questions about the ownership and preservation of historical treasures.”
      —Jewish Week

“A superb work of investigative journalism that reads like a detective thriller.”
      —The Wall Street Journal

“Friedman shines as a magnificent and thoughtful storyteller. . . . The Aleppo Codex might be an unintentional thriller but it is a great one nonetheless.”
      —Jewish Book World

MATTI FRIEDMAN is an Associated Press writer. He lives in Israel.