The Third Man

Rollo Martins' usual line is the writing of cheap paperback Westerns under the name of Buck Dexter. But when his old friend Harry Lime invites him to Vienna, he jumps at the chance. With exactly five pounds in his pocket, he arrives only just in time to make it to his friend's funeral. The victim of an apparently banal street accident, the late Mr. Lime, it seems, had been the focus of a criminal investigation, suspected of nothing less than being "the worst racketeer who ever made a dirty living in this city." Martins is determined to clear his friend's name, and begins an investigation of his own...
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Community Reviews
8.5/10. This spy classic (originally published as a novella by Graham Greene) is also a major film noir experience starring Joseph Cotton and Orson Welles. The suspense is crisply written a la Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer. The reader follows Rollo Martin as he investigates the death of his best friend, Harry Lime, on the treacherous streets of WW2 Vienna, a city divided by war and corruption. Loved the book and movie!
The End of the Affair is one of my favorite books, but this doesn't move me as that did. As a mystery or moral tale, it's a good read.
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