In this book Raven, a professional assassin, kills the Minister of War, but is then double crossed by agents who give him stolen notes as payment. The police trace the notes, and Raven is on the run from the police and trying to track down the agent who gave him the money.
Meanwhile Mather, a dectective, is trying to catch Raven, but his girlfriend, Anne, is trying to help Raven find the agents, so that the source behind the assassination can be discovered, and a world war can be avoided. This book was published in 1936, in the years between World War I and World War II. It must have been on everyone’s minds that the next great war could also be sparked by an assassination.
I once read a book by Graham Greene (“The Power and the Glory”) for a Calvin literature class, and that remains my image of Graham Greene: Someone you read in literature classes. This book, on the other hand, resembles more a popular spy novel. Apparently Graham Greene alternated between ambitious literary books and suspense novels.
That being said, there’s a lot too distinguish this book from the average paperback. Raven’s whole character is created by the fact that he has a hair lip. This one seemingly trivial feature is enough to permanently keep him on the outside of society. For instance in this scene when he goes to the shop:
He said, “That dress in the window. How much?” She said, “Five Guineas.” She wouldn’t “sir” him. His lip was like a badge of class. It revealed the poverty of parents who couldn’t afford a clever surgeon.
Because of this one defect, Raven has developed severe anti-social tendencies, and is able to kill without remorse. It’s a powerful portrait of what it feels like to be on the outside, and how that can affect someone’s personality.
Much is also made of the fact that the assassinated Minister of War was a socialist, and was trying to help the poor. When Raven finally learns about the beliefs of the man he assassinated, he regrets doing it. I don’t know much about the politics of Graham Greene, and maybe someone who knows more can help me out on this. “The Power and the Glory” was critical of the socialist revolution in Mexico, but this book seems to be very sympathetic to the Socialist cause. I suppose the two are not necessarily contradictory. George Orwell, for example, never gave up on democratic socialism even as he became a critic of bolshevism.
Useless Wikipedia Fact
The sign for the town of Fucking, Austria, is the most commonly stolen street sign in Austria.
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