Eric Ambler is an icon within the spy thriller genre. Over his career he wrote nineteen novels, all packed with intrigue, deception, action, and adventure. His stories take place in tense geopolitical climates and play out on the international stage. Generally, the stakes are extremely high, with many lives on the line.
Ambler pioneered modern thriller prose with his style of writing short declarative sentences, precise detail, and fast-paced sequences. His writing is no nonsense and clear in its detail, without unnecessary exposition or gratuitous description. This approach, no doubt influenced by his screenwriting nous, creates maximum tension, and makes for exciting, page-turning reading.
Each of Ambler’s novels is set in a unique, dark and uncertain political milieu, in which sinister crimes and conspiracies of international magnitude unfold. Each setting and story is distinct and the reader finds themselves absorbed in a compelling world of intrigue and risk.
Ambler’s heroes face a whole host of different adversaries. From ruthless Middle Eastern and Latin American dictators to international jewel thieves; Nazi assassins to German-American blackmailers and French conmen; Soviet spies to Palestinian terrorists. The stories are all rooted in geopolitics and international tensions, such as rebel coups, pre-war uncertainty and distrust, cold war antagonism, and post-colonial instability and exploitation. However, running beneath all these layers of intrigue is the theme of capitalist big-business corruption and manipulation. Many of the stories involve multi-national corporations, attempting to stoke up international tensions and conflict for their own gain, exploiting developing nations and inciting coups to create favourable commercial climates.
In Epitaph for a Spy a stateless Hungarian refugee in France is accused of espionage and is tasked with finding the real spy in a Riviera hotel.
The Mask of Dimitrios sees detective writer Charles Latimer set out on a mission to find the true story of a dead gangster, taking him on a journey through Europe.
The Dark Frontier sees an ordinary physicist caught up in an Eastern European revolution as he tries to prevent the development of an atomic weapon.
Uncommon Danger sees a British journalist team up with KGB agents to prevent Russian plans falling into Romanian hands which would provoke the country to ally with Germany.
In Journey into Fear the war has begun, and the Germans are trying to assassinate an English engineer to prevent him improving the Turkish navy.
