Author : Graham Greene
What is it about : Our man in Havana Wormold, was actually a boozing vacuum cleaner salesman who was recruited in a bar toilet by the British Secret Service as their man in Havana. Wormold subsequently conjured up his imaginary sub-field agents - a pilot, a naked dancer, an engineer, a waiter and the lot, to sort operation monies from London as well as enlarging and forging vacuum cleaner diagrams to be presented as the "secret weapons" deployed deep in the Cuban jungles by "the other side". Before he could say "Hey Presto, those fools in London ... ", his imaginary world collided with reality and found himself the assassination target from "the other side"; climaxing in a hilarious duck-and-dodge-the-poison luncheon, followed by his "triumphant" return (deportation) back to London and was subsequently knighted !
Some thoughts after having read the book : The Author peppered the book with sarcastic remarks of the cynicism that existed in the "Western" and "Eastern" worlds during the Cold War. These remarks still resonate in today's world as conflicts still abound the world over, albeit in different forms. But the book was all about the lighter and humorous side of arm-chair espionage, written with all the flippant flair and freedom and created such larger-than-life colorful characters - a Cuban Police Captain (The Red Vulture) whose cigarette case was upholstered with the skin of a former prisoner; the all-knowing Chief back in London who had assumed too much, exacerbated by his underling who gave partial answers and silent nods; and there was the whiskey-soaked long time friend of Wormold's, the German doctor who inadvertently became a victim of Wormold's sad comedy.
Would I recommend this book to you : Being a big GG fan, I cannot recommend this book more to readers, to view a snapshot of the world that was (Cold War) and that which has changed little since. A super fun read of the chaos caused by our man in Havana, code-named not Double-O Anything, but Agent 59200/5 who had trouble using a Shakesphere reference to encrypt messages and posted a poorly taken micro-dot (film) onto an unmarked stamp and threw into the post box, a further 250 letters (with identical stamps) to "confuse the other side". Yeh, it was so much fun to catch up with such hilarity ! Go Read !
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