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The Ministry of Fear

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The Ministry of Fear

By: Graham Greene
Narrated by: Oliver Chris
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Brought to you by Penguin.

For Arthur Rowe the charity fête was a trip back to childhood, to innocence, a welcome chance to escape the terror of the Blitz, to forget twenty years of his past and a murder. Then he guesses the weight of the cake, and from that moment on he's a hunted man, the target of shadowy killers, on the run and struggling to remember and to find the truth.

© Graham Greene 1973 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

 Classics Crime Fiction Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Suspense Thriller & Suspense War & Military Crime Military Mind-bending War
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Critic reviews

Opening a new book by Graham Greene is like settling into a gran turismo car. Nothing will go wrong
One of the finest writers of any language
Greene was a force beyond his books (Melvyn Bragg)
The most ingenious, inventive and exciting of our novelists
No serious writer of this century has more thoroughly invaded and shaped the public imagination than did Graham Greene
All stars
Most relevant
I thought I had read all Graham Greene’s work, but somehow this one had slipped through the net. What gem! Classic Greene and beautifully narrated to.

Excellent listen

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A decent plot, very well read, but rather opaque. By which I mean that it doesn’t crack along like a good thriller or crime novel. Rather, it drags its feet. The authorial hand planes heavy over the plot. Greene is given to many psychological asides… . Frankly, I couldn’t be bothered to work them out, and would go to religion or to a philosopher for that.
Still, an insight and learning curve for me regarding my current preferences. If anyone’s interested, I prefer a good story, be it Middlemarch or any Agatha Christie, to a literary, “significant” piece of fiction. I might try Greene again after a while, though.

Literary

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I thought the story gripping and liked that it wasn't clear whether it was meant to be realistic or surreal.

surreal or real

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The Ministry of Fear, later adapted into a film noir directed by Fritz Lang starring Ray Milland, is a wonderfully labyrinthine wartime adventure driven by paranoia and guilt. In a Blitz-battered world where the truth is stranger than fiction, Graham Greene presents a jaded protagonist, Arthur Rowe, who’s unwittingly caught up in a murderous espionage plot. But he has some dark secrets of his own. I first read the novel as a student - and key scenes have stayed with me. The audio version is well-narrated, though at times I wondered whether I should have re-read this in hard copy. Towards the end, I did lose track of certain characters and plot lines. Nonetheless, the story arc is cleverly constructed and relatively easy to grasp. Most memorable of all is the sense of dread and menace in a world turned upside down.

Novel Noir

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Drew me in from the start. Intriguing psychology of main character. Powerful prose. I don't know how I overlooked this gem from Graham Greene . Very well read. I much recommend this audiobook.

Immensely enjoyable .

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