Ambler had developed the modern spy novel in the 1930s, then took time off from novel writing for army service in WWII. During the war, several of his early novels were made into Hollywood films he detested. When he resumed his output of novels in the early 50s, it would seem he had determined to exercise a degree of control over the eventual movies his stories might become by writing with a simple, vivid, forcefulness that no movie adapter could misinterpret or screw up. The prologue to Schirmer Inheritance is breathtaking in the speed and skill in which you are swept up into the story of the wounded Prussian cavalry sergeant, Franz Schirmer, who deserts during a retreat from a battle against Napolean. Fast forward 140 years to a Philadelphia law firm which is attempting to find heirs to the considerable estate of an elderly, childless woman, who turns out to be a descendant of the Prussian sergeant. A young associate at the firm is sent off to Germany to look for relatives and discovers that the only possible relative was last seen alive in 1945 in a Wehrmacht truck convey which was attacked on a Greek mountain road by partisans. No survivors were ever found including the NCO in charge of the convoy, Sgt. Franz Schirmer. The lawyer travels to Greece and Yugoslavia to try to get more definite proof of death which will satisfy the Pennsylvania Probate Court. The plot twists are ingenious without seeming contrived. The writing, as I said, is vivid. Schirmer Inheritance should be read in every college course on the modern English novel as a model of excitement with economy.

I can't believe that it's taken me so long to discover Ambler. I first read Coffin for Demitrios on a whim (and a little help from Amazon), and The Schirmer Inheritance is the third Ambler book I've read. In relatively short novels, Ambler combines intrigue, vivid detail, political intrigue and complex character development. The Schirmer Inheritance stands out for its historical context, the ongoing and developing tension between the two main protagonists, and Ambler's ability to keep you completely engaged throughout the novel. Think of this book as a series of mouse-traps laid out in a dark room. As you carefully walk across the room, you "feel" the traps, know that one or more will spring, yet you are drawn to the other side of the room by the power of the story-telling. Great fun!

The Schirmer Inheritance is Eric Ambler at his best. The introduction recounts the story of a German sergeant who deserts during the Franco-Prussian War and changes his name to conceal this desertion. Ambler then takes us to modern times and the tortuous complications that this seemingly-trivial event has on the search for the heir to an unclaimed fortune. Along the way we encounter the many interesting vignettes and insights into human behavior that typify Ambler's stories. If such revelatory insights coupled with compelling twists and turns of plot are more important to you than explicit sex and violence, then you too may find Eric Ambler to be THE master of intrigue as well as one of the finest novelists of this century in any genre. You may also decide, like I have, that The Schirmer Inheritance may well be his masterpiece.

It's easy for a person to begin to confuse their subjective perceptions with reality. Do this long enough, and the person becomes convinced that anyone who disagrees with them is either perverse or stupid. Naturally, a successful person is more likely to fall into this trap. That syndrome is one that Eric Ambler deftly explores in Judgment on Deltchev in such an effective way that the book actually transcends the spy thriller genre into universality. This is one of my three favorite Eric Ambler novels. If you haven't read it yet, you're in for a major treat!

At the height of the Cold War, Foster, a London West End dramatist is invited to write a series of articles in what seems to be a political show trial of Yordan Deltchev behind the Iron Curtain. Deltchev had been a moderate leader in the revolution that brought the currrent government into power. The charges against him are assumed by Foster to respresent a final way to liquidate Deltchev's party, because Deltchev is accused of conspiring with the group that he had personally opposed. Like the protagonists in many of Eric Ambler's best novels, Foster is hopelessly naive and inexperienced for the challenges he is about to face. Only his good intentions can hope to save him . . . but too often his good intentions put him into dangerous situations. In the background are numbers of people who accommodate the current government in a variety of ways such as Georghi Pashik, the local press representative whom Foster relies on, and Sibley, the reporter.

As the trial develops, many unexpected events occur and Foster finds himself unpeeling the onion of a complex mystery concerning what the real agendas behind the trial are. In the process, he learns a lot about himself and human nature in general. He faces important ethical challenges, ones that will leave you wondering what you would have done in the same situation. As a result, you'll find yourself walking in Foster's steps and sharing his reality. It's a chilling trip.

One of several fascinating areas this book explores is the connection between whom we trust and whom we do not. Foster, like most, is attracted to those whose views he understands and approves of, those who are physically attractive, and those who he enjoys being with. Yet the information he receives that is helpful often comes from what would appear to be obviously untrustworthy or discredited sources. He gradually learns to cross-check his information, and digs to the bottom of many cross-currents of plots and subplots among the competing characters in the political tempest of a totalitarian regime. We can all learn a lot of good lessons from this story in overcoming out own shortsightedness about finding the truth.

Learn to appreciate the fragile and delicate beauty of truth . . . and how to seek it...

To read or not to read the great spy novels of Eric Ambler? That is the question most people ignore because they are not familiar with Mr. Ambler and his particularly talent.

Mr. Ambler has always had this problem. As Alfred Hitchcock noted in his introduction to Intrigue (an omnibus volume containing Journey into Fear, A Coffin for Dimitrios, Cause for Alarm and Background to Danger), "Perhaps this was the volume that brought Mr. Ambler to the attention of the public that make best-sellers. They had been singularly inattentive until its appearance -- I suppose only God knows why." He goes on to say, "They had not even heeded the critics, who had said, from the very first, that Mr. Ambler had given new life and fresh viewpoint to the art of the spy novel -- an art supposedly threadbare and certainly cliché-infested."

So what's new and different about Eric Ambler writing? His heroes are ordinary people with whom almost any reader can identify, which puts you in the middle of a turmoil of emotions. His bad guys are characteristic of those who did the type of dirty deeds described in the book. His angels on the sidelines are equally realistic to the historical context. The backgrounds, histories and plot lines are finely nuanced into the actual evolution of the areas and events described during that time. In a way, these books are like historical fiction, except they describe deceit and betrayal rather than love and affection. From a distance of over 60 years, we read these books today as a way to step back into the darkest days of the past and relive them vividly. You can almost see and feel a dark hand raised to strike you in the back as you read one of his book's later pages. In a way, these stories are like a more realistic version of what Dashiell Hammett wrote as applied to European and Middle Eastern espionage.

Since Mr. Ambler wrote, the thrillers have gotten much bigger in scope . . . and moved beyond reality. Usually, the future of the human race is at stake. The heroes make Superman look like a wimp in terms of their prowess and knowledge. There's usually a love interest who exceeds your vision of the ideal woman. Fast-paced violence and killing dominate most pages. There are lots of toys to describe and use in imaginative ways. The villains combine the worst faults of the 45 most undesirable people in world history and have gained enormous wealth and power while being totally crazy. The plot twists and turns like cruise missile every few seconds in unexpected directions. If you want a book like that, please do not read Mr. Ambler's work. You won't like it.

If you want to taste, touch, smell, see and hear evil from close range and move through fear to defeat it, Mr. Ambler's your man.

In A Kind of Anger, Piet Maas, a barely hanging on journalist is given a tough assignment -- to find a mysterious witness to a murder in Switzerland whom no one else can find. But he is given a clue . . . a connection who may know the blonde, bikinied woman. Using his knowledge of French property registration methods, he finds the connection and blackmails him into finding the woman. In the process, he turns down a bribe . . . one that would be enough to start another publication like the one he ran into bankruptcy earlier.

The woman intrigues him with her story, which he duly reports to his publisher. She has kept the documents about a secret Kurdish organization that her former lover was killed for. Then he disappears so he can join her to see how much they can seize for themselves in selling these documents. Suddenly, they are trying to sell dangerous goods to even more dangerous people . . . Kurdish revolutionaries, the Iraqi government and a mysterious oil consortium. They have to arrange for secret meetings, negotiate for large payments and avoid being killed in the process. How will they do?

An important aspect of this story is that Maas has once tried to commit suicide and feels he has little to live for as the book begins. In the process of taking on large risks with Lucia Bernardi, the blonde, he regains his desire to live. You'll find yourself pulling for the two scammers as they hold their document auction.

After you finish this story, I suggest that you think about what would inspire you to attempt more . . . accomplish more . . . and extend yourself beyond what you think you can achieve. Then, get busy!

A humble but enterprising Indian clerk with the dream of owning a bus company accidentally finds out about an abandoned terrorist weapons cache. He carefully and painstakingly sets up their sale through a businessman in Singapore. In the sale process, an American couple on vacation get drawn into the affair, and end up on the firing line between Sumatran factions.

Ambler's characters are all beautifully drawn. They are presented, too, with a finely honed sense of humor, and deep understanding of human nature. The carefully constructed plot never ceases to turn, and each new episode is a fresh surprize and delight.

I particularly enjoyed the character of Girija Krishnan, who so loved the buses. And General Iskaq, with his pondering of just how to best shock and annoy the British and American consuls. And the Tan family politics. Etc., etc., etc.

This book was great fun, and beautifully well written.

Eric Ambler, like Graham Green or Summerset Maugham provide much more then a mystery story: their work is well written, assumes an intelligent reader and has plenty of philosophy or "background" that is interesting and worthwhile. Ambler's use of "tradecraft" is similiar to Jorn LeCarre's, "Soldier, Tailor Tinker Spy".

Ambler has written about twelve books, all available in used form, and all concerning espionage. "Send no more roses" makes the reader a willing confidant and one is able to compare the action of the hero with what he might do in similiar circumstances.

A very enjoyable experience: you'll want to read "A Coffin for Demetris" and some of his other novels too.

In early September, 1939 Great Britain and France declared war on Germany when Hitler's forces invaded Poland. Little happened for months. The French remained behind the Maginot Line; the Germans were secure behind the newly completed Siegfried Line.

Eric Ambler wrote Journey into Fear during this period of relative calm. Ambler, as well as most Europeans, expected a replay of the trench warfare of WWI. Hitler's unexpected blitzkrieg across Belgium, Holland, and France was yet to come.

As with his previous story, A Coffin for Dimitrios (1939), the setting begins in Istanbul and we again briefly meet Colonel Haki, head of the Turkish secret police. Mr. Graham, a naval ordnance engineer for an English armament manufacturer, has been assisting Turkey with plans for modernizing their naval vessels. The project was tiring and Graham is anxious to return home. But German agents have other plans.

Journey into Fear would have worked effectively as a Hitchcock thriller involving a common man in an uncommon situation (and undoubtedly Ambler's stories influenced Hitchcock). Graham is unprepared to play the role of an assassin's target. He is just an engineer doing his job. His efforts to escape are often ineffective and even amateurish, but would we readers have done differently? We share his frustration and fear at his inability to prevent the noose from tightening.

For those new to Eric Ambler, I would recommend beginning with A Coffin for Dimitrios (also titled The Mask of Dimitrios) and to be followed by Journey into Fear. Both are good stories. I would rate A Coffin for Dimitrios slightly higher.

Journey into Fear was made into movie in 1942, produced by Orson Welles' Mercury company, directed by Norman Foster, and starred Joseph Cotton and Dolores Del Rio.

Peter Lorre, Sidney Greenstreet, and Zachary Scott starred in The Mask of Dimitrios in 1944. It was directed by Jean Negulesco.

To read or not to read the great spy novels of Eric Ambler? That is the question most people ignore because they are not familiar with Mr. Ambler and his particularly talent.

Mr. Ambler has always had this problem. As Alfred Hitchcock noted in his introduction to Intrigue (an omnibus volume containing Journey into Fear, A Coffin for Dimitrios, Cause for Alarm and Background to Danger), "Perhaps this was the volume that brought Mr. Ambler to the attention of the public that make best-sellers. They had been singularly inattentive until its appearance -- I suppose only God knows why." He goes on to say, "They had not even heeded the critics, who had said, from the very first, that Mr. Ambler had given new life and fresh viewpoint to the art of the spy novel -- an art supposedly threadbare and certainly cliché-infested."

So what's new and different about Eric Ambler writing? His heroes are ordinary people with whom almost any reader can identify, which puts you in the middle of a turmoil of emotions. His bad guys are characteristic of those who did the type of dirty deeds described in the book. His angels on the sidelines are equally realistic to the historical context. The backgrounds, histories and plot lines are finely nuanced into the actual evolution of the areas and events described during that time. In a way, these books are like historical fiction, except they describe deceit and betrayal rather than love and affection. From a distance of over 60 years, we read these books today as a way to step back into the darkest days of the past and relive them vividly. You can almost see and feel a dark hand raised to strike you in the back as you read one of his book's later pages. In a way, these stories are like a more realistic version of what Dashiell Hammett wrote as applied to European espionage.

Since Mr. Ambler wrote, the thrillers have gotten much bigger in scope . . . and moved beyond reality. Usually, the future of the human race is at stake. The heroes make Superman look like a wimp in terms of their prowess and knowledge. There's usually a love interest who exceeds your vision of the ideal woman. Fast-paced violence and killing dominate most pages. There are lots of toys to describe and use in imaginative ways. The villains combine the worst faults of the 45 most undesirable people in world history and have gained enormous wealth and power while being totally crazy. The plot twists and turns like cruise missile every few seconds in unexpected directions. If you want a book like that, please do not read Mr. Ambler's work. You won't like it.

If you want to taste, touch, smell, see and hear evil from close range and move through fear to defeat it, Mr. Ambler's your man.

On to Journey into Fear. Many people rate Journey into Fear to be one of the greatest novels of physical terror and a chilling treat. Almost everyone agrees that it is one of Mr. Ambler's best novels.

The book opens with the engineer Graham boarding a ship, the Sestri Levante, along with 9 other passengers in Turkey during December 1939. Safely in his cabin, he muses on his injured hand, which "throbbed and ached abominably" from being grazed by a bullet the night before. Alone, he realizes that he has "discovered the fear of death."

He then remembers the events that led up to the hectic last 24 hours. He has been in Turkey to help England's ally prepare its defenses against potential invasion. Foreign agents have been assigned to kill him so that the defenses will not be completed before an attack occurs. The assassin shoots at him when he returns to his hotel room from an evening at a night club, and just nicks him. Colonel Haki (of A Coffin for Dimitrios) takes charge of Graham, and arranges for him to leave by ship to avoid another attempt. Air flights have been suspended due to an earthquake, and the train is too hard to guard. The colonel vouches for all of the passengers. Graham reluctantly agrees.

As the boat sails off, Graham recognizes the tenth passenger as the assassin assigned to kill him, Banat. Seized by terror and knowing he's trapped aboard the ship, he tries everything he can think of to save his life. Will his best be enough?

For those who like stories involving the psychology of chilling terror, this book will be a delight. For those who want nonstop action, this book will be boring.

Mr. Ambler has provided us with an in-depth look at the psychology of killers and their prey that reminds one of the famous short story, "The Most Dangerous Game." As Colonel Haki notes, "The real killer is not a mere brute. He may be quite sensitive." Colonel Haki's theory is that killers have "an idee fixe about the father whom they identify . . . with their own [weakness]. When they kill, they are killing their own weakness." The hunted can crash about in the underbrush and merely draw the killer, or learn to control fear and think out a solution. Ambler is clearly interested in the subject of whether the rational mind will win out over the abnormally compulsive one. Along the way, Graham also learns a great deal about himself, a sort of self analysis through terror.

In addition, Graham is introduced to Mademoiselle Josette in the night club, and must from then decide how he will deal with the temptations she presents to him as a married man. This subplot greatly strengthens the story rather than being a distraction from it.

After you finish this impressive story, please think about when you have been terrified. What did you learn from that experience? Does this story add to your understanding of what one needs to do when terribly frightened?

Since other reviewers described very accurately the plot and the tone of the novel, I skip that part. I also consider this novel a very scary novel because anyone person can be in place of Graham [the main character]. The difference between this novel and the others where an innocent man is accused or chased by the criminals or the police is that the people who are trying to kill him have a legitimate and convincing [from their point of view] reason to kill him. And this is where the suspense comes from. I consider this and the and a few of Le Carre's novels to be the best spy novels of all time.

Eric Ambler always relied on the contemporary political tensions to build his international espionage thrillers. The Care of Time is no exception except that it has stood the test of time for 22 years amazingly well. If you leave out occasional references to the Cold War, the rest of the book could easily have been set in January 2003. If you are interested in the question of how to control access to weapons of mass destruction, you will find The Care of Time provides you will chilling issues to keep you up late at night!

The Care of Time is Mr. Ambler's last novel, and is unfortunately out of print. Hopefully, the events in the Middle East over the last 12 years will increase interest enough in the novel to bring it back into print.

The key players in the book are an Arab ruler of a small Middle Eastern state, an American ghostwriter with a CIA background, and an international wheeler dealer in shadowy offerings. Amid them are sprinkled terrorists, generals, and reporters. The resulting stew builds around a thrilling, suspenseful plot in which the safety of all of us is put into question. To give you a flavor, here's how the book opens. "The warning mesage arrived on Monday, the bomb itself on Wednesday."

Those who like thrillers will find this one to be very satisfying unless they require the deaths of vast numbers of people in the story.

For Eric Ambler fans, I think this is the best of his work in his last decade.

In other words, don't miss this book! You may have to buy a used copy or find it in the library until it is back in print.

Be vigilant in seeking out the right solutions for all of us.

Donald Mitchell
Co-Author of The 2,000 Percent Solution, The Irresistible Growth Enteprise, and The Ultimate Competitive Advantage

This novel, by the author of thrillers admired as the classics of the genre by Graham Greene and Alfred Hitchcock, concerns a journalist's encounter with an anonymous international shaker& mover who has fallen from favor with the probably insane Arab ruler he is presently serving. If you would like to read a novel which has all that you need to understand international terrorism, this is it. If you would like to read another which makes clear Arab-Palestinian terrorism especially, read Ambler's earlier novel, The Levanter.

...seems to enjoy living in a fully furnished cave,with all the modern conveniences... It's hard to believe this novel,Mr. Ambler's last,is out of print. Suffice it to say that the similarities between this 1981 novel, and today's world, are interesting. I was fortunate to have met and spoken with Mr. Ambler at the time. In fact, he was a leading author and screenwriter for over forty years before this was written. If you can get hold of a copy, don't miss it!

Not least among the delights of this splendid book is that,until quite late in the day,the reader is never quite certain what type of book it is going to be.It hints at a spy story,it could easily turn out to be a political thriller with a coup at its centre In the event,it is a caper-heist story wih a gang of criminals intent on a daring museum robbery.(It was the source for the Peter Ustinov movie "Topkapi")
The other great achievement of the novel is its narrator,"Arthur Abdel Simpson".He is the son of an Anglo-Egyptian couple,educated in a minor English private school and a man of dubious honesty and an ex-con into the bargain ,having served time for the dissemination of pornographic magazines.When the book opens he is eking out a living as an Athens taxi driver/tourist guide/pimp.He is interrupted in the act of robbing an American tourist,"Harper",who blackmails him into delivering a car from Athens to Turkey neglecting to mention the illegal cargo concealed in the vehicle .When the Turks discover this they force the reluctant coward to act as their agent within the gang to whom he is delivering the car and its contents
The gang are intent on robbing the Topkapi museum and the robbery forms the climax of the novel.

Arthur is a masterly creation-cowardly,quick witted,oleaginous,and physically unprepossessing,yet strangely likeable
You end up caring for him and this transforms a well written thriller into something a little bit more memorable.The other characters are more sketchily drawn but this a minor caveat

Recommended!

The Light of Day is one of the finest crime thrillers ever written. It continues to serve as a model for all those who wish they could write a great crime novel. The story is taut, surprising and intriguing. The story's background is as rich for stimulating the imagination as anyone could wish. But what makes the book truly great is the protagonist, Arthur Simpson, who is both a fresh and indelible character. He is a weak man who preys on those around him, but is curiously appealing in his foibles and follies. For those who are movie fans, Topkapi was adapted from this book.

Arthur Abdel Simpson is a journalist by profession, but doesn't make much money at it. So he's temporarily earning his living as a driver for hire with his own car. As the story opens, he persuades Harper to hire him at the Athens airport. Keeping an eye out for the main chance, Simpson leaves Harper at a maison de rendezvous called Madame Irma's and beats it back to burgle Harper's hotel room where Harper surprises him in the act. Harper blackmails him with a threat to complain to the Greek police, and Simpson agrees to do a little job of driving a car into Turkey. No fool, Simpson takes the car apart on the way to Turkey to see what he's smuggling. Finding nothing, he proceeds overconfidently to the border to an unpleasant meeting with the Turkish police. It seems he's overlooked a little something. From there, he finds himself pressured to help the Turks capture Harper in the act while trying to get the blackmail evidence back from Harper. It makes for many delicious complications as he fails to understand the true nature of Harper's intent until he finds himself in the middle of it!

One of the delights of this book is the way that Simpson's true personality and character are exposed by others as they test him with their own investigations, tasks and questions. Gradually, the self-serving history that he shares in the book's beginning is exposed for the fraud that Simpson himself is. Yet, he's really more of a good guy than a bad guy. What makes him a fraud is that he overindulges in the all-too-human qualities of self-righteousness, vanity, greed, laziness and self-pity. You will find yourself identifying with Simpson and caring about how he handles his many dangerous tasks.

If you enjoy Simpson as a character, you can read more about him in another Eric Ambler masterpiece, Dirty Story.

I suppose that the ultimate appeal of all Eric Ambler's many fine books is that his characters are ordinary people who rise to the occasion to deal with very difficult situations in admirable ways, displaying courage, ingenuity and honesty under fire. Since Simpson is the weakest reed you could ever imagine playing such a role, he makes Ambler's point that there is a hero in all of us in a remarkable effective way.

After you read and enjoy this marvelous story, think about how you could rise to the occasion to play a hero's or a heroine's role for others. You can do it!

The Light of Day is an exceptionally good story that involves a rather unusual protagonist for a suspenseful thriller, a petty crook named Arthur Abdel Simpson. The setting is Athens and Instanbul in 1962. The book was a best seller, and it was adapted into a successful movie, a lighthearted caper titled Topkapi (1964). Peter Ustinov received an academy award for his portrayal of Arthur Simpson.

Arthur, as the protagonist in The Light of Day, is disagreeable, dishonest, and disreputable. He blames others for his failings, he cheats his clients, and he has served a short sentence for distributing pornographic material. Arthur is caught stealing and is blackmailed into driving a car from Athens to Istanbul. The bumbling Arthur is arrested for smuggling at the Turkish border and now finds himself working unwillingly for the Turkish secret police. Neither Arthur nor the reader quite understands the situation. Is he mixed up with a political plot, arms smuggling, drug trafficking, or something else? Despite my misgivings, I found myself becoming sympathetic to Arthur. Had he conned me too?

I highly recommend this suspenseful novel by Eric Ambler. I enjoyed (and reviewed) both Ambler's A Coffin for Dimitrios and Journey into Fear, but The Light of Day is even better. This book would be a good starting point for anyone new to Eric Ambler.

When I picked up "A Coffin for Dimitrios," I had no idea that the suspense level of a 60+ year old book would be so high. Needless to say, Ambler's book was a welcome surprise.

Charles Latimer is a British writer of detective stories who, pretty much due to boredom, finds himself hanging out in Turkey in the 1930's. While in Turkey, Latimer hears from a Turkish official the story of an elusive, shifty criminal called Dimitrios. Partly to gather material for a new novel, and partly out of personal curiosity, Latimer attempts to trace the movements of Dimitrios during the past several years. In doing so, the writer learns that the career of Dimitrios includes much criminal activity including murder, blackmail, white slavery, and much more. The more Latimer learns, the more he must know. Latimer's journey takes him to many different and dangerous locations as he learns that knowledge of Dimitrios can itself be a very deadly thing.

This is the first Eric Ambler book I have read. I hope it is not the last. Ambler has the ability to write about exotic locations and different cultures in a way that makes them come alive. The characters are believable and colorful at the same time, without becoming comic. I think I can honestly say that Ambler packs more suspense in every page than most thriller writers today can place in an entire book. The book is not a flashy story with lots of gimmicks, but a real well-thought out suspense novel that deserves to be read by anyone who enjoys a good suspense story.

Ambler's book traces the story of Charles Latimer's, a British professor who writes detective novels in his spare time, descent into the world of international espionage and greed. Ambler is wonderful at recreating the recollections of an earnest and somewhat simple man who is hopelessly out his league as his follows the life history of a corpse he's been shown for laughs in a Turkish morgue.

This is the real deal in terms of mystery/spy novels. It's a delightfully intelligent and engaging page turner by the author who invented the modern spy genre. The roiling, ethnically and politically complex Europe of the 1930 is nearly another character of the novel, but unlike the work of more contemporary authors, the reader never feels bludgeoned over the head with historical trivia.

This is a fun, interesting, page-turning thriller. Great beach reading, but intelligent enough not to insult the serious reader of literature.

Ordinarily, I don't read thrillers, but since this was one of my mother's favorite books, I thought I would give it a try. What a surprise!

Instead of some overblown macho stud like James Bond, the protagonist is Charles Latimer, a quiet English academic, who becomes intrigued by the death of an arch-felon, Dimitrios Makropoulos. He decides to find out more about this Dimitrios, and winds up traversing Europe from Istanbul to Paris.

There are no gimmicks in Ambler's writing; he presents a mystery and unravels it. Supposedly, Ambler is responsible for the "modern" spy thriller. If so, he did it well, but the genre devolved after him. A Coffin for Dimitrios is a superb book whether it is classified a mystery, thriller, or whatever.

To read or not to read the great espionage novels of Eric Ambler? That is the question most people ignore because they are not familiar with Mr. Ambler and his particularly talent.

Mr. Ambler has always had this problem. As Alfred Hitchcock noted in his introduction to Intrigue (an omnibus volume containing Journey into Fear, A Coffin for Dimitrios, Cause for Alarm and Background to Danger), "Perhaps this was the volume that brought Mr. Ambler to the attention of the public that make best-sellers. They had been singularly inattentive until its appearance -- I suppose only God knows why." He goes on to say, "They had not even heeded the critics, who had said, from the very first, that Mr. Ambler had given new life and fresh viewpoint to the art of the spy novel -- an art supposedly threadbare and certainly cliché-infested."

So what's new and different about Eric Ambler's writing? His heroes are ordinary people with whom almost any reader can identify, which puts you in the middle of a turmoil of emotions. His bad guys are characteristic of those who did the type of dirty deeds described in the book. His angels on the sidelines are equally realistic to the historical context. The backgrounds, histories and plot lines are finely nuanced into the actual evolution of the areas and events described during that time. In a way, these books are like historical fiction, except they describe deceit and betrayal rather than love and affection. From a distance of many years, we read these books today as a way to step back into the darkest days of the past and relive them vividly. You can almost see and feel a dark hand raised to strike you in the back as you read one of his book's later pages. In a way, these stories are like a more realistic version of what Dashiell Hammett wrote as applied to European, Middle Eastern and Central American political intrigue and espionage.

Since Mr. Ambler wrote, the thrillers have gotten much bigger in scope . . . and moved beyond reality. Usually, the future of the human race is at stake. The heroes make Superman look like a wimp in terms of their prowess and knowledge. There's usually a love interest who exceeds your vision of the ideal woman. Fast-paced violence and killing dominate most pages. There are lots of toys to describe and use in imaginative ways. The villains combine the worst faults of the 45 most undesirable people in world history and have gained enormous wealth and power while being totally crazy. The plot twists and turns like cruise missile every few seconds in unexpected directions. If you want a book like that, please do not read Mr. Ambler's work. You won't like it.

If you want to taste, touch, smell, see and hear evil from close range and move through fear to defeat it, Mr. Ambler's your man.

Doctor Frigo was first published in 1974 by Antheneum, and is one of Mr. Ambler's most psychologically nuanced works. In Doctor Frigo we have the contrast between the reserved, self-contained man living in exile and his connection to the popular movement in a Central American country where his father was assassinated. The book opens with Doctor Frigo's musings about his father, Clemente Castillo Borja, and the assassination. "The gunmen were blown to pieces long before there was even a chance of their being caught and questioned." "Police records had both men down as, 'Wanted for armed robbery. No known political connections.'" The truth of the motives behind those bare facts is much more complicated, as the story evidences. Doctor Frigo's nickname comes from his reputation as being a cold fish, seemingly uninterested in his father's fate and political heritage. Is that the case, or is it merely window-dressing? With a new group planning to come to power, they feel that they need to find out. As a result, Ernest Castillo (Doctor Frigo's real name) finds himself invited to join a new political effort aimed at that same country.

Will he stay as Doctor Frigo? Will he become his father's son? Will he play a mere role as a puppet? Who is he, really? Doctor Frigo finds out as he moves out of the quiet hallways of the hospital into the maelstrom of political intrigue.

The book raises a very nice question of what would happen if we tried to walk in the steps of a person who had had wide influence. Could we handle the role? Who are we?

As you read the book, you should also think about someone you admire and how you could play a constructive role similar to theirs in a way that feels comfortable to you. Be inspired to do more!