Suspense: Orient Express/This Gun for Hire/The Ministry of Fear/Our Man in Havana

by Graham Greene

1 HARDCOVER BOOK

Genres: Fiction, Mystery

570 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

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".

Reviews

[Ryan Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Ministry of Fear was definitely the standout of this collection, closely followed by Our Man in Havana. Both earlier novels were solid, but not brilliant. The latter two however, had some great plot twists and a depth of psychological drama and humor that were quite satisfying.

[Jwt Jan50 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Our Man in Havana; 1987 Galahad hardcover, jacket design The Great American Art Co. This is the fourth of Greene's works that I've read: The Heart of the Matter, The Third Man, The Quiet American. He is an exceptional writer. Read this in parallel with Hull's 'Our Man Down in Havana' and Kinzer's 'The Brothers.' There is a great deal of wit and history that would have passed me by if I hadn't been reading Hull and Kinzer. While ostensibly a 'frothy' satire of the spy genre, it is really quite dark. One of the characters clearly speaks for Greene (survivor of the 'joys' of World and Cold wars): "I can't believe in anything bigger than a home, or anything vaguer than a human being." The writing and the treatment of the subject rates 5* - the 3 is a reflection of how depressing the world was outside of American suburbs at that point in time.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

maybe 4½ stars overall - here are my ratings for the individual novels included in this omnibus:

Orient Express - 3 ***
This Gun For Hire - 4 ****
Our Man in Havana - 5 *****
The Ministry of Fear - 5 *****

I read Orient Express last, which may have colored my rating. It was quite good but not as exciting as This Gun For Hire or The Ministry of Fear…