I finished reading this tonight. I was waffling between giving this a 6 or 7 out of ten, which means it was ok but I didn't love it. I could have easily given it 6/10, but I liked the writing enough and the overall plot was interesting enough. But I can't stop thinking about how much of a wasted opportunity this book was. With such good writing and an interesting plot to write about, it feels like Conrad ultimately drops the ball on this one and fails to take the plot to more consistently interesting places and the characters are remarkably boring. Many of the characters are overall quite pointless as they appear and then are never heard from again. Some chapters were top notch only to be followed by a boring, pointless chapter (I'm looking at you, chapter about Verloc's mother-in-law's horse ride moving to her new home). The pace was quite slow, which was bothersome at times, but also really nicely done at other parts (I'm looking at you, chapter about Verloc's interaction with his wife after she learns of the bombing involving her brother).
I also came in to this book with low expectations because Conrad wrote one of my least favorite books of all time, Lord Jim. I haven't read Conrad for more than a decade because of how much I disliked that book. But this one was better and put Conrad as a writer back in my good graces.
Conrad books I've read, ranked:
1. Heart of Darkness
2. The Secret Agent
3. Lord Jim
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