The Human Factor: Introduction by Peter Kemp

Greene takes the reader inside the dreary, cynical world of detente era espionage. The very few people who care about anything larger than themselves are deluded out-of-touch idealists or fanatics. No one will be caught out dreaming of a better world, unless it exists in the past. The 1970's were like that. Castle is neither an idealist nor a fanatic, but he is obsessively in love with his African wife. A secret agreement among apartheid South Africa, England and the US leads to desparate steps and the ultimate denouement. A brilliant portrayal of the spy's inner world. I love John LeCarre's work, but Greene's Maurice Castle excels even LeCarre's George Smiley.

Maurice Castle is working for the Secret Service. In this bizarre profession, he has to deal with leaks, security checks, tensions and suspicions. As Maurice approaches retirement, he realises that some of the decisions he made in the past are now having very serious consequences. In this beautiful novel, the reader discovers what the life of a secret agent is like: he is lonely, isolated and becomes almost neurotic. Greene lays bare a machine, the Secret Service, which overlooks Maurice's subtle and secret motivations that impel him. The characters are beautiful, full of tenderness, excitement and doubt. Mr Tim Pigott-Smith's performance as a reader of Graham Greene's "The Human Factor" in this audiobook is truly stunning. His voice is very pleasant and his vivid reading adds a further dimension to this already excellent novel.

Although several of the other reviewers seemed to approach this novel as a "spy" story, I thought that Greene was conducting a rather intense character sketch of one man. Certain social topics were approached (communism, McCarthyism, apartheid,etc), but they were never discussed outside of the mind of the main character. This is a very interesting composition on individuality and what that means. It discusses how individual actions can transcend political and philosophical ideologies. A very good novel...find a used copy up for auction--its worth it!

The New York Times called this the best espionage novel ever. I agree wholeheartedly. In fact, this is one of the best novels I've ever read, period. A great strength of this book is that you really care about the protaganist. He's very much your average, decent guy with a wife, step-kid and dog. He puts in his hours at the office each day, then goes home to them every night, just as millions of us do. There are no fancy gadgets or outlandish threats to the solar system in this story. Thus, the drama, centering on believable characters, is all the more palpable. Once the story takes off you can feel the tension and anticipation buidling up all around you.The plot is both simple and ingenious. British intelligence suspects a mole is passing info on sourthern Africa to the Soviets and moves to eliminate the suspect, leading to a great plot twist. Throw in what is for my money some of the best dialogue ever put on paper (e.g. the hilarious conversation about malteazers candy) and the result is an absolute classic. I've read several of Greene's novels including the renowned The Heart of the Matter, and The Human Factor tops my list. If you crave a novel that you just can't put down, this is surely it.

This book presents a very believable portrait of espionage during the cold war. No guns, no gadgets, no glamour. Just a drab monotonous life infused with constant paranoia and ending in tragedy. Quite a contrast to Our Man In Havana, although the main characters share much of the same insecurities (as most Greene characters seem to). The hero is a completely sympathetic character who loves his wife and child and hates the cruelty that the world has shown his wife and will surely show his child. And although he has become jaded and old he idealistically decides to punish the West for its racism by spying for the East (ironic considering the level of racism in the East). In the end he looses what he had, he looses what he loved, and he gains nothing. This was the first Graham Greene novel that I read, in high school, 15 years ago. It hooked me and I have read most of his other works since then. Many other authors have created stupid banal characters living the seedy life, but only Greene (in my limited reading) has created human, complex, intelligent characters.....living the seedy life.