A few years ago I decided that I would try to read all of the books by Graham Greene. To that end, I have finished 10 of his books, well, now 11 with this non-completion of The Confidential Agent: An Entertainment, originally published in 1939. I'm sure if I'd plodded through, I would have enjoyed it. Greene is a unique writer and his stories are all different.

This story seems to follow D, an agent who is sent to England to buy coal to help fuel the fight of a dissident group in an unnamed country, I think in Africa. While in England, he is beaten up by a rival agent and meets a woman who may or may not help him. That's as far as I got. I keep picking up the book, reading a couple of pages, then putting it down.

Unfair of me to try and rate as I only completed 60 pages of it. So this is a non-rated (NR) book for me. I have 3 others on my bookshelf but, well, maybe I'm just not that interested in Greene anymore. We'll see. (DNF / NR)

Graham Greene is probably the most erratic author I have read. Some of his stories are good, some are bad (very bad). I used to think that even the worst are redeemed by his descriptive writing, but I am now sadly disillusioned. The Confidential Agent is absolute rubbish. Apparently, he wrote it (in 1939) solely because he needed money, and knocked it off in six weeks under the influence of benzedrine. When he sobered up he was so unimpressed with what he had done that he asked his publisher to release it under a pseudonym, but they refused. He should have been listened to, and then it could have been forgotten. The opening passages (presumably written before the benzedrine kicked in) are atmospheric and intriguing. But it then goes downhill fast, with ludicrous coincidences and a leading character who keeps doing incredibly stupid things. Avoid.