A man is arrested in an un-named country and placed in a prison cell. He remembers the events that have led him there and awaits his fate. Koestler may have an extremely dubious reputation nowadays, something I only discovered after reading the book, however that doesn’t take away from the excellence of this novel. Written just after the Moscow Trials it shows how a man can be accused of crimes he clearly did not commit, yet contemplate pleading guilty to them. The real-life parallels are clear, yet masterfully explored. I can’t do this book justice, so I’ll leave that to George Orwell.