The Human Factor
Ratings17
Average rating3.6
Maurice Castle is a high-level operative in the British secret service during the Cold War. He is deeply in love with his African wife, who escaped apartheid South Africa with the help of his communist friend. Despite his misgivings, Castle decides to act as a double agent, passing information to the Soviets to help his in-laws in South Africa. In order to evade detection, he allows his assistant to be wrongly identified as the source of the leaks. But when suspicions remain, Castle is forced to make an even more excruciating sacrifice to save himself. Originally published in 1978, The Human Factor is an exciting novel of espionage drawn from Greene’s own experiences in MI6 during World War II, and ultimately a deeply humanistic examination of the very nature of loyalty. This edition features a new introduction by Colm Tóibín. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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A very enjoyable Graham Greene novel of espionage in the British secret service.
There are plenty of plot outlines in other reviews, and hard not to offer spoilers to what is a fairly slow moving and sedate story. No car chases, no shootouts or airport arrests. Lots of SIS administration, phone calls from public phone boxes, and dead-letter drops.
Greene, with his background in MI6 during WWII brings to the novel the realism of how espionage works - none of the James Bond fiction here. Lots of bureaucracy, paperwork and process; double agents provide scraps of information and are inevitably not aware of how or why they are being used.
The writing is excellent, with Greene controlling the pace and tension being layered on as the story unwinds. Pressure is ramped on as noose tightens around the double agent. There is a bleakness to the novel, a level of resignation to being caught then killed or imprisoned. The men in the SIS are all flawed, portrayed as sad or lonely - one interested only in fishing; with another we see the increased distance from his daughter and the distaste with which his ex-wife views him; another who drinks heavily and longs for a relationship with his secretary.
The novel mostly though examines morality, loyalty and responsibility - and how they balance to justify actions. All set in a bleak, grey, British background of the 1970s.
Excellent. 4.5 stars
