Synopses & Reviews
During World War II a group of men is held prisoner by the Germans, who determine that three of them must die. This is the story of how one of those men trades his wealth for his life—and lives to pay for his act in utterly unexpected ways.
Review
"Surprisingly, considering its 41 years of neglect even by its own author, The Tenth Man is not some forgettable hack work dug up and published only because anything by Graham Greene sells these days. In fact, it is a good, if not great, novella. Unlike so many 20th-century characters, progeny of Kafka's K., Greene's protagonist is more than just a victim: he is a moral man caught in a moral dilemma, one he helped engender. Chavel's efforts to deal with his predicament make him a convincing character, a satisfying focus for the book. The novella, unfortunately, should have been a novel: Chavel's antagonists are only sketched in, only come to life as impingements on Chavel. If they had been more fully developed—and the potential is there—The Tenth Man could have been one of Greene's masterpieces." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)
Synopsis
From the author of the classics Brighton Rock and The Power and the Glory, a morally complex tale about a man at the mercy of deadly forces while being held in a German prison camp during World War II. Featuring an introduction by the author and two other story ideas from his archives. When Jean-Louis Chauvel, a French lawyer incarcerated in a German prison camp, is informed by his captors that three prisoners must die, he devises a plan for survival. Offering everything he owns to a fellow prisoner if he will take Chauvel's place, he manages to escape the firing squad but soon discovers that he will continue to pay for this act for the rest of his life.
An unforgettable and suspenseful novel that "deserves a place at the top of the list of world's best literature inspired by the war" (Houston Chronicle), The Tenth Man will haunt you long after you turn the final page.