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I still don’t know what to make of this and as I had to take it back to the library I can’t give you the back cover blurb.

In summary, Gabriel Syme is a policeman sent undercover into a group of anarchist terrorists. It starts out as a political thriller with plenty of theological and philosophical ponderings thrown in but very quickly it becomes so much more. There are some scenes that chill and disturb and others that are downright hilarious as Syme discovers that no-one is who they say they are and nothing is what it seems. It’s a world turned on its head -rather like anarchy. I wonder if this is the point Chesterton’s making. He is certainly hostile to anarchy but in ways with which I sympathise so I don’t really see him as equating anarchy with atheism.

There is lots of religious imagery (and of course the ‘man’ in charge of it all is called Sunday) and certainly in the final scenes the religious themes come out more strongly but I don’t see it as a redemptive or moral tale. It’s supposed to be a nightmare and it seems that way to me. There’s nothing benevolent and admirable about Sunday. I was left with a vague sense of nausea and hopelessness though, perhaps getting the feeling that the enemies of anarchy had been worn out and ground down by the randomness and chaos of it all and were going to retire quietly and give up the chase. But I would want to re-read the ending again to fully coment on that.

I feel bad that I can’t say any more about it. I wish I’d made the time to write this review straight after I finished reading it but as it was now some weeks ago I still remember the story well but not necessarily the impressions it made on me. Anyway, it’s certainly one to read again in the future and I will probably revisit it one day.