I could not put down this novel about Scobie, a British police officer in a West African town. He is married to a delicate woman who is so disappointed with the life they are living such that she is always ill. His position is not prestigious enough to give her the social status that she desires; he does not get the promotion that would have made him police commissioner, plus, there's not much of a social scene in that town anyway. To send her on a trip to South Africa to improve her health, he has to compromise himself morally by borrowing money from a local lender under conditions that might cause his superiors to suspect him of accepting favors; then after his wife leaves he meets another frail young woman widowed during a rescue operation and enters into an affair with her.
Greene explores Scobie's increasing desperation as he tries to stay clean as a cop, tries not to betray any the obligations he has taken on to his wife and mistress, and reconciling all the resulting deceit to his relationship with God. In the end it is God he decides to betray. His duplicity results in the violent death of his servant; he falls prey to despair and commits suicide, despite his conscience urging him to seek forgiveness from God and the people involved instead. This is a story about how pride, even in the humble guise of just trying to appear reliable to other people, really is the greatest sin, because it causes us to deny that we really do need help and second (and third and fourth) chances from God and other people in order to finally get our act together.
Greene has a talent for scene setting, characterization, and psychological insight. His characters are very believable (some of them exasperating!) and you can lose yourself in the story.
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