Tony Saint

Story about UK immigration officers

Henry Brinks is an immigration officer at Heathrow who is disenchanted with the job and suffering from depression. His fellow employees are drunks, thieves, have serial affairs or are otherwise generally maladjusted. After he stumbles upon a scam involving another IO and a Chinese killer he has to protect himself against being framed for providing illegal entry visas. The plot is a bit thin and used merely as a framing device for basically a disgruntled employees diatribe against the immigration service (Saint is an ex-immigration officer). Many of the things that Brinks rails against are easy to envisage – office politics, incomprehensible bureaucracy, silly targets etc which are obviously exaggerated for effect.

Overall – a brief, light and ultimately forgettable book… (mere)