- ISBN: 9780571245222 | 0571245226
- Cover: Paperback
- Copyright: 9/16/2008
Two gym instructors (Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand) accidentally stumble across and try to sell a disk containing the memoirs of CIA agent Osborne Cox (John Malkovich), who has recently resigned from the agency in a fit of pique. Their attempts at blackmail go wildly awry, gradually engulfing Osborne Cox’s estranged wife (Tilda Swinton) and her lover (George Clooney), whose involvement triggers a series of tragic consequences. In Burn After Reading Joel and Ethan Coen take on the spy thriller genre and reinvent it in their unique voice – combining humour and violence in completely unexpected ways, and wrapping it all up with a the verbal dexterity that makes their work so distinctive.