Our Man In Havana

The story of a reluctant spy who, finding himself out of his depth and a long way from oversight, plays on everyone's desire for secrets. Initially for his own advantage (or, rather, his daughter's advantage), he comes a to realise that his lies have consequences for those around him.

This is a brisk, satirical tale that nicely captures the seedy nature of Cold War competitiveness, each group trying to keep one-step ahead of the others, and all failing miserably. The characters are sympathetically drawn; none being definitively evil; all at the mercy of The Great Game.

Terrific story, second only to G.K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday in the scope and viciousness of its satire. I loved the pace and dynamism of the writing, and I really do think that it's time for a resurgence in these kinds of - as Christopher Hitchens calls them - ‘whiskey novels'. Post-colonial, but still very British, stiff upper lip kinds of stories. They're right up my alley. But, my goodness, Greene was never a great comedy writer. The self-consciously ‘funny' lines were just painful to read.