The Quiet American

The story is told by Fowler, who looks back over his friendship with Pyle after the young man's body is found. Pyle, a quiet, polite American on an aid mission, has absorbed the ideas of an academic writer who argues that a new political force, neither colonial nor communist, can save the country. Fowler finds him naive but likeable, and the two develop an uneasy friendship even as Pyle openly courts Phuong, offering her marriage and security that Fowler, unable to divorce his wife in England, cannot.

Greene moves between Saigon cafés, opium dens and the war-torn countryside, where Fowler travels to report on fighting and where Pyle once saves his life. Gradually Fowler discovers that Pyle's ideals have led him into dangerous connections with a rebel general, with deadly consequences for ordinary people in the city. A patient French police inspector, Vigot, questions Fowler about Pyle's death, and the reader slowly understands what happened and why. The novel raises lasting questions about innocence, responsibility and whether anyone can remain neutral.

Short, tense and thought-provoking. About 180 pages in the Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition.