Our Man in Havana

Another more lighthearted spy novel to counterbalance the heaviness of Rise & Kill First. This book seemed to predict aspects of the Cuban Missile Crisis 3 years later. It isn’t my favorite Greene but it is interesting and lighthearted for the genre!

Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene
256 pp.

Summary:

MI6’s man in Havana is Wormold, a former vacuum-cleaner salesman turned reluctant secret agent out of economic necessity. To keep his job, he files bogus reports based on Charles Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare and dreams up military installations from vacuum-cleaner designs. Then his stories start coming disturbingly true…

First published in 1959 against the backdrop of the Cold War, Our Man in Havana remains one of Graham Greene’s most widely read novels. It is an espionage thriller, a penetrating character study, and a political satire of government intelligence that still resonates today.