The Man Who Was Thursday (Electronic book text)

At first read, G.K. Chesterton's the Man Who Was Thursday is a zany mystery story filled with often surreal twists that turn more traditional thrillers on their ear. Set in a fantastic London where the ridiculous never nears the sublime, our hero, Gabriel Syme revolts against the status quo and breaks out as-normal. Yet Syme's normalcy provides the perfect foil to illustrate the insanity around him-and for Chesterton to illustrate the insanity he saw in turn-of-the-century London. The Man Who Was Thursday is a detective story filled with poetry and politics. But it is mystery that grows more mysterious, until it is nothing less than the mystery of creation itself. This is Chesterton's most famous novel. Critics immediately hailed it as "amazingly clever," "a remarkable acrobatic performance", and "a scurrying, door-slamming farce that ends like a chapter in the Apocalypse."