“Doctor Fischer of Geneva or The Bomb Party” by Graham Greene – Book Review.

Alfred Jones works for a chocolate factory in Switzerland as a translator. During the London blitz Alfred came across an unexploded bomb, but it didn’t remain unexploded for too long, taking one of Alfred’s hands away with it. But no matter, translators don’t need two hands to earn their living.

Not far from the chocolate factory is the Dentophil Bouquet toothpaste works, founded by the infamous Doctor Fischer, and the instrument that brought him great wealth, and the ability to buy a huge white mansion down by the lake, where he lives with his beautiful daughter, and entertains his strange collection of friends.

Alfred and the daughter meet and fall in love, despite him being thirty years older than she. There may be troubles ahead, you can be sure of that.

So begins Graham Greene’s “Doctor Fischer of Geneva or The Bomb Party”.

This is not a long novel, written in 1980, not much more than a novella, but it rips along in a very modern way, with crackling dialogue and characters who will remain with you long after you set it down.

In the book Mister Greene explores the themes of human greed, lust, and I suspect his own doubts about whether exactly there is a supreme being.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it; especially if you want a short snappy read that could be read in a single weekend, if the mood took you.