Ambler transformed the spy novel genre by creating nuanced, unusual, and engaging characters. He pioneered the ordinary hero, plucked from their ordinary life and dropped into an extraordinary world of danger, espionage and intrigue in which the stakes are high, and the threats have international scope. His villains are equally interesting and complex, displaying depths of humanity and insecurity in stark contrast to the two-dimensional ‘evil’ villains created by Ambler’s predecessors.
There is a running theme of moral ambiguity throughout the novels, explored via the actions and motivations of multifaceted villains and anti-heroes. Ambler’s novels often have a strong ensemble cast of characters, where different plots interweave as the story unfolds. Whilst his novels are male-heavy, reflective of the age in which he was writing, Ambler also created a number of exciting and complex women who get stuck into the action and are in control of their own femininity and sexuality – often using it to their advantage.
Charles Latimer (Mask of Dimitrios and Intercom Conspiracy):
A lecturer in political economy and a detective mystery writer. He has recently retired to Athens to pursue writing full time. In both novels he appears in, he finds himself on the trail of a mystery. In the first novel he is piecing together the life and career of head criminal Dimitrios, and in the second he is uncovering a scam. He is methodical and careful in his approach and he encounters colourful and dangerous characters along the way.
Piet Maas (A Kind of Anger):
Piet is a Dutch journalist who finds himself on the trail of mystery woman Lucia, who has gone into hiding. When he finds her, they team up and are caught in the dangerous game of selling secret intelligence to the highest bidder. Piet is a complex, troubled character. Following the failure to establish a magazine, and the discovery of his girlfriend in bed with another man, he has attempted suicide, and his mental state remains frail. Will the terrifying and beautiful Lucia take him into dangerous waters?
Lucia Bernardi (A Kind of Anger):
The beautiful mistress of a murdered Iraqi colonel who steals intelligence documents and tries to sell them to the highest bidder with the help of besotted Piet. In her past she has worked as a bait for a conman, getting information out of rich older men. She is courageous and strong willed, using her femininity to her advantage and keeping Piet on his toes.
Dr Ernesto Reye Castillo (Dr Frigo):
Nicknamed Dr Frigo for his calm and rational demeanour, Castillo is a doctor on a small French Caribbean island. He is Latino, from a central American nation from which he fled after his father was assassinated and a military oligarchy took power. In the novel he finds himself surrounded by a colourful collection of spies and rebel plotters. A strong-willed professional, he tries to stay patient and independent. Through his diary, he becomes increasingly frustrated, and his detached commentary on the strange circumstances are dripping with irony and humour.
Karliss Zander (The Care of Time):
An international fixer, middleman and career criminal with powerful connections worldwide, and a predilection for specific piscine pseudonyms: all his aliases are related to types of pike. We first encounter him when he sends a bomb threat to protagonist Robert Halliday. He has the suaveness and ominous disposition of a great villain. One minute he is charming and flattering, and the next he turns threatening:
“He blinked and suddenly the eyes lost their good humour…From being an amiable grimace it became, with that blink, part of an unmistakable warning sign. An animal was ready to attack.”
Paul Firman (Send No More Roses):
Narrator Paul Firman is what Professor Krom, a sociologist, describes as an ‘Able Criminal’—a clever figure who works against society but whose law breaking is hard to pin down. The Argentinian is an expert in tax evasion and helps some questionable clients. He keeps a low profile and is far too clever to get caught. In this novel he arrogantly agrees to be interviewed by Krom who has been researching ‘Able Criminals’ and thinks Firman to be the textbook example. But as they interrogate one another in a Riviera villa, they discover that they may have to work together to escape a pressing danger.
Greg and Dorothy Nilson (Passage of Arms):
This naïve American husband and wife get caught up in a gun smuggling scheme in East Asia. To begin with the whole deal is a game, an unusual anecdote, until things rapidly turn dark and dangerous, and their romantic adventure is brutally dismantled. The pair sit in an interesting place between naive victims and worldly crooks, and Ambler constantly toys with this ambiguity.
Arthur Abdel Simpson (The Light of Day and Dirty Story):
An Anglo-Egyptian hustler and small-time conman. He is the narrator of both novels he appears in, and believes himself to be a sensitive man who attracts bad luck and what he perceives as injustice. Since bad experiences at an English boarding school, he has a pathological need for revenge. He consistently gets in trouble for dodgy dealings, often related to pornographic material. When he finds himself in tight spots, his humanity makes its way to the surface and there is an overriding sense that he just wants his humiliation to end and ‘the light of day’ to finally fall on his life.
Dr Czissar (Waiting for Orders):
Dr Jan Czissar was once part of the Czech police but has arrived in Britain as a wartime refugee. A politician at the Home Office introduced him to Scotland Yard, where he now helpfully, but rather irritatingly, solves apparently impossible mysteries. He is consistently underestimated by the British, described as a ‘lunatic’ and ‘unhinged’. And yet his endless knowledge and impressive skills of deduction prove otherwise, leaving the Assistant Commissioner Mercer “nursing a badly wounded self-esteem”, on every occasion.
