Two gym instructors accidentally stumble across and try to sell a disk containing the memoirs of a CIA agent Osborne Cox, 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 and her lover, 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 the verbal dexterity that makes their work so distinctive.

Author Biography

Joel and Ethan Coen are the writers and directors of The Big Lebowski, Fargo (for which they won the Best Original Screenplay Academy Award) and No Country for Old Men (for which they won Best adapted Screenplay, Best Director and Best Film Academy Awards).