Joseph Conrad's idiosyncratic style is in full flower for this enigmatic tale of intrigue. One is left with the sense that some subtle subtext was intended, perhaps in the manner of a morality play, which is hinted at by the characters of Jones and the inscrutable Lena. If "Victory" has a central flaw it is, perhaps, the inscrutability of its protagonists, whose psychology is expressed in language which is suggestive but, just the same, frequently opaque. In other words, the thoughts, feelings, and motives of both Heyst, Lena, and even Ricardo, are too often buried under Conrad's tendency toward florid language; he sometimes makes us work a little too hard at understanding his characters' positions. That having been said -- and without providing any spoilers -- I found "Victory" an otherwise lean, compelling, hard-to-put-down read with an ending which was anything but expected.