The Secret Agent A Simple Tale

"This absurdist story is noted for its adept characterizations, melodramatic irony, and psychological intrigue. In a corrupt London underworld of criminals, terrorists, and fanatics, Mr. Verloc is assigned to plant a bomb. The tragic repercussions for his family show how Conrad's ironic voice is concerned not with politics but with the terrible fates of ordinary people. Adolf Verloc is a languid Eastern European secret agent posing as a London shop owner with anarchist leanings who is ordered to dynamite Greenwich Observatory. The plot fails when Verloc's mentally retarded brother-in-law is accidentally killed by the explosives. Verloc's wife Winnie murders Verloc in a fit of rage. She commits suicide after she is betrayed by Ossipon, one of her husband's anarchist associates. Inspired by an actual attempt in 1894 to blow up London's Greenwich Observatory."--Amazon.com.