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The Confidential Agent

graham greene

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In a small continental country civil war is raging. Once a lecturer in medieval French, now a confidential agent, D is a scarred stranger in a seemingly casual England, sent on a mission to buy coal at any price. Initially, this seems to be a matter of straightforward negotiation, but soon, implicated in murder, accused of possessing false documents and theft, held responsible for the death of a young woman, D becomes a hunted man, tormented by allegiances, doubts and the love of others.

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1,1939
Places
england, 

This edition

Format
304 pages, Hardcover
Published
March 11, 1982 by Chivers Press
ISBN
9780851191591
ASIN
0851191592
Language
English
Characters More characters

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About the author

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graham greene

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Henry Graham Greene was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading novelists of the 20th century.
Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquired a reputation early in his lifetime as a major writer, both of serious Catholic novels, and of thrillers (or "entertainments" as he termed them). He was shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in Literature several times. Through 67 years of writing, which included over 25 novels, he explored the conflicting moral and political issues of the modern world. The Power and the Glory won the 1941 Hawthornden Prize and The Heart of the Matter won the 1948 James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the Best of the James Tait Black. Greene was awarded the 1968 Shakespeare Prize and the 1981 Jerusalem Prize. Several of his stories have been filmed, some more than once, and he collaborated with filmmaker Carol Reed on The Fallen Idol (1948) and The Third Man (1949).
He converted to Catholicism in 1926 after meeting his future wife, Vivienne Dayrell-Browning. Later in life he took to calling himself a "Catholic agnostic". He died in 1991, aged 86, of leukemia, and was buried in Corseaux cemetery in Switzerland. William Golding called Greene "the ultimate chronicler of twentieth-century man's consciousness and anxiety".

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Community Reviews

Rating(4.1 / 5.0, 98 votes)
5 stars
33(34%)
4 stars
38(39%)
3 stars
27(28%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
0(0%)
98 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
HistoricalA
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Greene wrote this novel in a matter of weeks, while taking benzedrene, and the ins and outs of the plot are dizzying. Nevertheless, it is not a book that leaves one surprised or puzzled; despite the suspense of the spy versus spy, hunter versus hunted, there are not the shocks of 'The Quiet American," the last Greene novel I read. The background is a civil war in an anonymous European country, and "D" has come to England to buy coal for his side. A major problem for him is that "D" is trusted neither by his side nor his enemies. The story moves at a rapid pace, within a few days, and has a number of memorable characters. Most memorable is "D' himself, specifically how he turns from "hunted" to "hunter" after a despicable crime.
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Katsumata-kun
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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The Confidential Agent (1939) by Graham Greene is surprisingly good. I say surprisingly given that Graham Greene wanted it published under a pseudonym so I was expecting the worst.

It would make a good companion read to The Ministry of Fear (1943) which is another wonderful Graham Greene book written during the WW2 era. Click here to read my review of 'The Ministry of Fear'

Back to The Confidential Agent, a man, D, an ex-Medieval French lecturer, is unsuited to his role as the eponymous confidential agent. He is in London to try to buy coal whilst rivals try to foil his mission. His unnamed European country in in the midst of a civil war and he is on the Republican side. The unnamed war is clearly the Spanish Civil War however things are left oblique.

Where The Confidential Agent scores highly is in its sense of place. D grapples with class and culture in late 1930 England which is beguilingly evoked: grotty hotels, Mass Observation, dense chilly fog, the railways, roadhouse pubs, snobbery, suspicion of foreigners, smoggy London, Esperanto lessons, casual violence, pubs, the London underground, taxis, holiday camps, depression era northern pit towns, and much more.

Apparently Greene wrote The Confidential Agent in six weeks, fuelled by Benzedrine, which probably explains the book's powerful hallucinogenic, paranoid and nightmarish qualities. It's a pitch black noir which powerfully distills the mood of late 1930s Britain. I remained completely engrossed. The Confidential Agent is tense and exciting, but also weighty and provocative. Not a sentence is wasted. The Confidential Agent is one of Graham Greene’s “entertainments”, and despite its twisty and somewhat implausible plot, it's more profound than many other writers’ more ambitious works.

Another five star read from Graham Greene - and highly recommended.


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Leyren
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Dated sub noir account of an unnamed agent seeking a coal deal with English coal magnate. The agent, D, is presumably Spanish and the backdrop is the Spanish civil war whilst this is entirely set in England complete with pea soupers and benign bobbies.
It's ok but never really ignites.
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Mattymatrix
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Greene was not a fan of this work, one of his “entertainments,” having only written it for some income. Yet a middle-rate espionage thriller by Greene is still more interesting than most of the current trade paperbacks gracing airport bookstores. Told with his usual focus on human weakness and questionable triumphs, shady morality, and fraudulent men trying to sustain a bit of truth in a world of lies and war.
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dizzi_rd
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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This is the kind of book that is very enjoyable, action-packed, but also very frustrating as the main character, D (whose country we never actually are told, though it is alluded to often, in vague terms) is constantly being thwarted in his mission. Paranoia is part of spy craft and he says quite early in the book that the only person you can trust is yourself, and that definitely holds true throughout the course of the novel as he is constantly being betrayed, rescued, attacked, assisted, turned on, hunted, and so on. It lacks a certain Greene wit that is often the hallmark of his books, but maybe we're supposed to enjoy the protagonist's constant struggle. I did and I didn't.
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MrDeathTheCat
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I almost gave up on this espionage tale early on. Some literary affectations — a protagonist identified only as “D.” who serves as a confidential agent for some unidentified European country embroiled in civil war — put me off. But the opening chapter thrust us right into a mysterious situation, and I found myself drawn into D.’s mission and his sense of war-weariness and paranoia.

The mission is a relatively simple one, but very dangerous for D. Not knowing who he can trust, and victim to some of the compartmentalized “need-to-know” information protocols designed to protect missions like his, D. navigates his way through numerous dangers, feeling loss and dread and weariness all the way through.

An outstanding read.
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DWxErrOrnAn
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Πολιτικό - κατασκοπικό μυθιστόρημα με αρκετές ανατροπές, ενώ ταυτόχρονα υπάρχει στον πρωταγωνιστή ο εσωτερικός προβληματισμος για τον έρωτα, τον πόλεμο και τον θάνατο.
"Ένα απ'όσα σου κάνει ο κίνδυνος ύστερ' από κάμποσο καιρό είναι να σου σκοτώνει τα αισθήματα. Δεν πιστεύω πως θα νιώσω ποτέ μου πια τίποτ' άλλο εκτός από φόβο. Κανένας Από μας δεν μπορεί πια να μισήσει άλλο ή ν' αγαπήσει.... Πρέπει να αισθάνεσαι κάτι για να σταματήσεις έναν πόλεμο. Καμιά φορά σκέφτομαι πώς κρεμόμαστε σ' αυτόν γιατί υπάρχει ακόμα φόβος."
"Τούτη τη φορά δεν ήτανε μεγάλη αποτυχία. Όλα βρισκόταν εκεί εκτός από τον πόθο. Δεν μπορούσε να αισθανθεί πόθο. Ήταν σαν να' χει γίνει ευνούχος για χάρη του λαού του. Κάθε εραστής ήταν με τον τρόπο του, ένας φιλόσοφος. Η φύση φρόντιζε γι’ αυτό. Ένας εραστής έπρεπε να πιστεύει στον κόσμο, στην αξία της γέννησης. Η αντισύλληψη δεν άλλαζε την αξία της. Η πράξη του πόθου παρέμενε πράξη πίστης, κι αυτός είχε χάσει την πίστη του."
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fai_fluorite
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Such an odd story; and one cannot quite suspend one's disbelief. However, there is a brilliant theme of the difference between theory and reality. In particular, how often people have a romanticized notion of what war is like, and what it is really like. There are profoundly sad events, and some very funny episodes. One thing that did not ring true was the happily ever after love story.
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