Despite having read this, my only Greene novel, about 15 years ago, I've always remembered it as one of the strangest and yet most interesting and even thrilling books I've ever read.
In fact, because of its setting in war-torn London during the blitz and its surreal plot, The Ministry of Fear reminds me of another WWII/bombs-dropping-on-London text: "Chard Whitlow" by Henry Reed (one of my all-time favorite poems).
Greene's novel follows a middle-aged Englishman as he struggles both to deal with his guilt over the mercy-killing of his wife, and understand why he's sucked into a bizarre, carnivalesque world of underground Nazis, séances, and the constant threat of obliteration. Many bombs happen to fall just where Arthur Rowe happens to be, and with each explosion comes another turn in the maze of his unraveling life.
It's inexcusable that I haven't yet made time to read more Greene, but I do want to. He's on my TBR list. I promise.
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