Reading The Secret Agent is work. It takes effort to follow Conrad’s unconventional use of English. It takes effort to understand where the plot is going. I’ll be honest—it takes effort to pick the book up of the night stand and read another chapter!

Just when I was preparing to dismiss this book, I made it to the last three chapters. If the whole book was as psychologically profound and tense as these chapters, Conrad would have had something!

In the end, it was too little too late. I can’t recommend reading this book. I can’t even understand why it made it into the ranks of Everyman’s Library.

Conrad, Joseph. The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.