A review by sbeerens
The Human Factor by Graham Greene

2.0

It is hard to explain why I didn't particularly enjoy this book. Earlier this year, I read Greene's The End of the Affair and thoroughly enjoyed it. Had it not been for that, I would probably never have picked up this novel in the first place, nor read it to the end.
There is nothing wrong with Greene's writing - it is easy to follow and I still love his style. It's also for his writing style I added the second star, as it doesn't deserve any less than that.
Therefore I must admit my low rating is solely based on the fact that the story itself just didn't appeal to me. There are too many characters that one never really gets to know well (Daintry's family members, C., Hargreaves) and that only complicate the story line. The hierarchy of the entire secret service remained a mystery to me, as did that of the communists. Maybe Greene has done this on purpose, but it confused me a great deal at times.
Some plot turns in the end might have resulted in me giving this book a 3 star rating after all, but as it's an open ending and the reader knows nothing about what will happen to any of the characters, this spoilt the fun for me again.

I guess others might like this book, but it's simply not for me.