The Guard

Two men live in the basement of a large luxury apartment block, guarding its inhabitants. Harry and Michel work for "the organization", wear crisp blue uniforms and carry guns, taking turns to sleep only five hours a night and living on water, bread and corned beef. Harry is convinced that he and Michel are being tested by the organization. There was talk of a third guard being sent to assist them, but he has not arrived. They have no idea what is going in their city, in the outside world: there might be a war on, there might have been a nuclear explosion.

One weekend, the inhabitants abandon their apartments. There is no news from the organization and no deliveries for several days. Just as Michel begins to think he will die of starvation, the third guard appears with a box filled with food. Harry and Michel’s tight routine is disturbed, with horrific and fatal consequences.

Steeped in an atmosphere of tense paranoia, *The Guard* is a disturbing and brilliantly observed allegorical novel about war and peace—war with an incomprehensible enemy, peace which every man has to earn for himself.