The Man who was Thursday, by G. K. Chesterton, is quoted at several points in Deus Ex. Not only that, but it was referenced in the help file of the excellent Evil Sorceror’s Party (as a scrapped ending). When collecting audiobooks for my trip, I noticed on a “best of librivox” list and knew that I had to give it a listen.
The narrative centres around a poet (who is also an undercover policeman) who finds himself elected to the Central Anarchists’ Council. Each member of the council is named for a day of the week, hence “The Man who was Thursday”. The bulk of the novel deals with the council’s plan to conduct an assassination in Paris, and the protagonist’s efforts to stop it.
I know that there are deeper layers to this work than the surface story, and I know that I’ve missed them (and audiobooks don’t allow poring over the work like a dead tree does), but it’s an enjoyable yarn nevertheless.
The work is well read, and read by a single person, something I consider essential for a good audiobook. The reader also reads each of the characters in a different voice, making the dialogue easy to follow.