... was Graham Greene's fourth novel, published in 1935. It was republished in 1953 as The Shipwrecked. Set in Stockholm, it concerns the travails of Anthony Farrant (described by Wikipedia as a "ne'er–do–well") who finds himself working as a bodyguard to a dubious Swedish financier (whose character is loosely inspired by Ivar Kreuger). In typical Greene fashion, the seedy antihero wrestles with his conscience as murky moral dilemmas begin to trouble even his disreputable soul.
Ivar Kreuger was a Swedish entrepreneur who is said to have controlled about 70% of the world's match production between the two world wars, becoming known as 'the Match King'. He has been variously described as a "genius and swindler", and the "Leonardo of larcenists". His business empire has been described as a Ponzi scheme, although this is probably an exaggeration.
In March 1932, Kreuger was found dead in the bedroom of his flat in Paris. The police concluded that he had committed suicide, but decades later Kreuger's brother Torsten claimed that he had been murdered. Later books have supported Torsten Kreuger's claims.
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