First published 2004
In 1952 Saigon, cynical British journalist Thomas Fowler has a comfortable life with his young Vietnamese mistress Phuong. But their cozy arrangement is upended by the arrival of Alden Pyle, an earnest American eager to shape Vietnam to American ideals. As Pyle cultivates relationships with communist and anti-communist factions, his meddling threatens to engulf Fowler and Phuong in deadly intrigue. In this prophetic tale of foreign intervention, Greene masterfully explores the clash of personal desires and political convictions.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, political-thriller
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Saigon, Vietnam
Period: 1952
211 pages · Hardcover · Viking Press
Content warnings: colonialism, violence, war