Dark story of espionage (The Secret Agent - Joseph Conrad)

Member Name: nlingwood

Product:	The Secret Agent - Joseph Conrad
Date:	04/08/00 (68 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Brooding, gritty setting

Disadvantages: Slow pace

Anarchists, plotters and secret police scheme in the shadows of Edwardian London in Conrad's novel. The placid, apathetic Verloc entered the shadowy world of secret agents as an easy living, cultivating his position with a group of Marxist activists and a foreign embassy. But a change of personnel turns him into an agent provocateur, tasked with rousing public opinion against the anarchists.

The London shown is dark and gritty, foreshadowing the cynical spy thrillers of the Cold War. Anarchists stalk the street carrying explosives and pamphlets, while the establishment sits complacently. The farce of Verloc's incompetent spying turns to tragedy when he involves his slow-witted stepbrother Stevie. An attack on the Greenwich Observatory goes wrong, leading to a sequence of events which will destroy the Secret Agent and his plans.

Joseph Conrad is a master of flawed characters and failed hopes. The shadowy characters that populate the book are each brought alive with their petty habits and ambitions.

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