The story in one page
Mr. Verloc maintains a grimy Soho shop selling questionable literature while secretly drawing salaries from both the London police and a foreign embassy. His quiet life of double-dealing unravels when Mr. Vladimir, a Russian diplomat, demands a public act of terrorism to shake British apathy. Verloc, lacking professional associates, enlists his wife’s brother, Stevie, for the operation. The plan ends in an accidental detonation in Greenwich Park. As the Assistant Commissioner and Inspector Heat navigate internal departmental rivalries to trace the source of the explosive, the domestic peace of the Verloc household disintegrates into a bloody confrontation, leaving the survivors to face the consequences of an act of madness or despair.
Who's who
- Mr. Verloc
A lethargic secret agent and shopkeeper who avoids real work.
- Winnie Verloc
Verloc's wife, devoted entirely to protecting her brother Stevie.
- The Professor
A nihilist carrying a permanent bomb to ensure his own arrest-proof status.
- Mr. Vladimir
An embassy official who forces Verloc to carry out an outrage.
- Chief Inspector Heat
A veteran policeman who prefers managing criminals to catching them.
What it's really about
- Domesticity
- Violent political plots colliding with the mundane needs of a household.
- Indolence
- Revolutionaries and policemen who are both fundamentally lazy and self-serving.
Why it's memorable
- A cracked shop bell that clatters with impudent virulence whenever a customer enters.
- A scrap of velvet coat collar with a name tape found in the grass.
The ending, explained
Spoilers — show the ending
Winnie stabs Verloc to death in their parlour, then gives her money to the anarchist Ossipon, who abandons her before she jumps off a cross-channel steamer.
For your book club
- The way bureaucratic vanity inside the police department mirrors the posturing of the anarchist groups.
- How the characters' refusal to look 'too deeply' into things leads to their collective destruction.