Our Man in Havana

One of those books that makes you realise that great authors are considered great for a reason. A fairly simple comedy - perhaps it was more unusual when first published - but still full of good ideas, characters and action. I only felt it had lost its way once or twice, which is so much better than many books.

For some reason I was expecting this book to be a serious spy novel but what it delivered was much better - a very memorable and British tale of farce in the secret service.

Greene described this book as an "entertainment." In the early comedic parts I thought that Greene, at least in this instance, had indeed produced a lightweight entertaining novel and was not the heavyweight literature writer I had been lead to believe he was. I was thinking that I would not greatly inclined to read anything else by a writer many feel was robbed of the Nobel Prize.

When the book suddenly and dramatically veers towards the Tragic at about the half-way point my feelings also began to change. The characters steadily developed greater depth and a clear message emerged. The pace and rate of incident increased and a genuine sense of fear for the protagonist grew in me. I found the ending particularly satisfying, though explaining why would introduce plot spoilers....Having finished I am keen to read more by Greene.