A Burnt-Out Case

For me one of Greene's better of his deep thought novels. I enjoy his ‘entertainments' but have perhaps not had the same connection with his more serious works (or the Catholic novels) - until this one (noting that this isn't one of his big 4 Catholic novels, but certainly partially follows that line).
For me this one was masterfully crafted, the main character was excellent in his shallowness and depth, and his emotional evolution from the beginning to the end of the novel. There were unpredictable twists and turns and a building of pace and expectation which I find all to often missing in fiction. This book has reinforced for me the excellence of Greene's writing, and why I come back to him time and again (and why I have to resist reading him too often, for fear of running out of his books).
There are other reviews which outline plot, but very quickly, some of the main points which drew my interest immediately - most of which can be learned by reading the blurb - the main character is a famous ecclesiastical architect with a (deserved) reputation for womanising and an unsavoury history of relationships travels on a whim to deepest Congo to work as a volunteer in a leper colony, helping design and build a hospital. While there, the resident doctor says that he is the mental equivalent of a ‘burn-out case', a term that's used to describe leprosy patients who've lost an appendage.
As the story unfolds, he explains how he has lost his faith, and grown to dislike the fame he receives due to his work. Certain characters around him misinterpret his explanation and build up his story to make him some sort of martyr, giving up fame and fortune to work for God in a leper colony.
His interactions with an atheist doctor, the varied characters of the fathers who administer the colony, and a journalist keen to make what he can of the situation, along with the above mentioned miscommunications roll out through the novel, snowballing to what becomes almost an inevitable outcome deep in an irony that the architect himself finds amusing.

I enjoyed this from the start, but expected to enjoy it less by the end (I can't explain why!!) but was surprised to find it got better and better.

5 stars.