The original spy novel as well as the original terrorism novel done in the mode of Dostoesvky but with the claustrophic atmosphere that Conrad was wont to bring to his writings. Based on the Greenwich Outrages the central issue is how one can send someone to die for you – let alone one’s brother-in-law who is simple if not retarded. A personal tragedy is laid out and Conrad provides his solution to what the newspaper headlines would put it: ‘an inpenetrable mystery seems destined to hang for ever over this act of madness or despair’.