The Third Man

Short Review: I have not seen the movie and I did not realize that this was originally written as a screen play before being turned into a novella after the movie was done. That make sense of the weaknesses of the book. I think visually the changes in narration would make sense in ways that the audiobook did not. The basic story was good and definitely felt like a le Carré styled mystery. It isn't really a spy book, but it has that type of feel.

The two narrators are an American pulp western novelist that is coming to Vienna to visit a friend only to arrive just in time for the funeral. And British military police detective. The mystery is about corruption more than politics and reflects the post-war cynicism that seems common in novels of the period.

This really is a novella (just over 3 hours in audio) and I listened to in a single session while doing data entry.

My only slightly longer review is at my blog at http://bookwi.se/the-third-man-by-graham-greene/

This is a short Graham Greene book - novella if you will.

It is a fast moving story, it doesn't hang about setting the scene, or going into in-depth descriptions, it just gets on with the mystery.

The way the story is told is interesting. The story is told as the recollections of Calloway, the English Colonel running the police in the British quarter of Vienna, post WWII. He explains the story of Rollo Martins, a novelist and friend of a British man living in Vienna, Harry Lime. Martins turns up in Vienna to visit Lime, only to find he died when hit by a car only a day before his arrival.
Calloway basically says to Rollo “just as well for him he died, we were about to pick him up for his criminal behaviour”. Rollo is displeased, and disbelieving, and after taking a swing at Calloway, sets off on a crusade to prove his deceased friend innocent.

Tucking into too much more plot would require the use of spoilers, so I will leave it at that.

This is a novella that doesn't take itself too seriously. It self mocks the genre, and it is pretty funny.

I enjoyed a number of bits, this one was good. The International Patrol turn up to arrest Anna (The IP are made up of the duty officer from the Russian, British, American and French forces, who drive about and jointly make decisions in the evenings as a police force):
There is a lot of comedy in these situations if you are not directly concerned. You need a background of Central European terror, of a father who belonged to a losing side, of house -searches and disappearances, before the fear outweighs the comedy. The Russian, you see, refused to leave the room while Anna dressed: the Englishman refused to remain in the room: the American wouldn't leave a girl unprotected with a Russian soldier, and the Frenchman – well, I think the Frenchman must have thought it was fun. Can't you imagine the scene? The Russian was just doing his duty and watched the girl all the time, without a flicker of sexual interest; the American stood with his back chivalrously turned, but aware, I am sure, of every movement; the Frenchman smoked his cigarette and watched with detached amusement the reflection of the girl dressing in the mirror of the wardrobe; and the Englishman stood in the passage wondering what to do next.

Four Stars.