The Human Factor Audiobook By Graham Greene cover art

The Human Factor

Preview

Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Human Factor

By: Graham Greene
Narrated by: Tim Pigott-Smith
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $23.67

Buy for $23.67

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

When a leak is traced back to a small sub-section of SIS, it sparks off security checks, tensions and suspicions - the sort of atmosphere where mistakes could be made. This novel opens up the lonely, isolated, neurotic world of the Secret Service.©1978 Graham Greene (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Classics Espionage Literary Fiction Fiction Suspense
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about The Human Factor

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    194
  • 4 Stars
    106
  • 3 Stars
    46
  • 2 Stars
    14
  • 1 Stars
    4
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    193
  • 4 Stars
    63
  • 3 Stars
    20
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    151
  • 4 Stars
    73
  • 3 Stars
    35
  • 2 Stars
    9
  • 1 Stars
    6

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

The Ending Ended just like this

Had never read a GG novel. How very English. Liked it alot. The ending ends abruptly, but on reflection it fits the story. Not very cheerful.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Full dose of Graham Greene

Wow, that was bleak. But excellent. Perceptive of how loneliness corrodes. Good narration, as well.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

All the stops

This book is painfully good - the story, character development, the prose and the humor and the real-ness are all there - and the narration is impeccable. I mean I can’t believe how good this guy is (Tim Pigott-Smith). It’s like a translator that brings a piece to life in another language…. Anyway yeah all the stars.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Subtle understated story by a master author

Would you consider the audio edition of The Human Factor to be better than the print version?

No, but Piggot-Smith was outstanding portraying a range of characters from the reserved, cynical British, the bully white South African and the strong black African woman. I felt he understood the book and portrayed the emotions of the characters well.

What did you like best about this story?

Greene as always presents a story with loads below the surface, enetertaining on face value but so much more beneath the veneer. Cynical, slow moving in parts and always with reserved humour the story builds and builds to its emotional climax. This is not just a spy story.
Other authors may pack a bigger punch in their story telling but with Greene there is always more to think about after the tale is told.

Any additional comments?

Is Graham Greene the most underrated author ever?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great and timeless read concerning human intelligence activities and the costs of being a defector

This is a classic Cold War writing concerning the choices one makes in serving as an intelligence officer, falling in love with your controlled asset and finally betraying your nation, your country, your family and your class. Very well written and narrated in an excellent fashion. This should be read by intelligence professionals and students of the tradecraft. The Human Factor is an excellent investment.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Excellent study in human nature

Good writing and narration to go along with a good spy story that is as old as time.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

A sad love story

I am usually expecting an exciting adventure when it comes to espionage, or at least intriguing. This was simply a sad love story.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The Greatest Spy Novel - James Bond w/o Explosions

This is perhaps the greatest spy novel ever written. Spy vs. Spy without the Cubby Brocholi explosions of James Bond films. Greene was brilliant to spin this yarn of tension woven with mundane day-to-day spy-business.

I cannot believe this hasn't been redone into a film - other that the 1979 version. It's the perfect balance of spy-work, appartied politics, cold war paranoia.

A true spy-masterpiece.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

The master of miserable plays a favorite tune

Nobody wrote crime fiction better. He's the writer behind all the writers who follow him, even if (boy, is this influence) they haven't read him. He divided his work into entertainments and novels, this being an example of the latter. It's the entertainments that hold up the best, at least for me. The pleasure of his sentences, of his observations and rhythms, cannot be overstated.

Then there's the grimy fact of it all. Reading him is like slow drowning in mud. His characters think their tip toes are about to find solid ground, but that ground soon shifts again, always shifts, under them. Only the really evil do well, because they don't love anybody and don't regret anything. He's considered a Catholic writer. If you want to know what people are talking about when they speak of Catholic guilt, Graham Greene is exhibit A.

Like air bubbles in the murk, there's humor, stark and arid. I haven't quite reached the ending here, but I see where it's going, and I'm taking a little time out to brace myself.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

He's the master, but a bit bleak

This possibly wasn't the best choice in the middle of a very cold winter when there is still no end in sight. It's the mood of the book already and it becomes too much. He captures the eroding of the human spirit that life in the secret service brings, which in his hands seems more destructive than actual physical harm. Everything is very well done and Tim Pigott-Smith as the narrator was masterful. One of his characters sounded very upper class British and made me picture Edward Fox playing the Duke of Windsor in Edward and Mrs. Simpson. Apparently it's a Mayfair accent.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful