Eric Rambler
Last night (or, rather, this morning), suffering from jet lag, I finished my current Eric Ambler, Cause for Alarm.
Usually I only manage a handful of pages before I fall asleep, and I have found this series of 1930s espionage novels ideal bedtime reading.
There are generally few characters, a simple plot, and undemanding prose - so I can pick up where I dropped off the previous night, with little back-tracking.
I've been enjoying the insight these stories provide into pre-war Europe, at a time when movement across frontiers was still possible, if risky at times.
Ambler employs a recurring plot, in which a civilian protagonist finds himself embroiled - much to his annoyance - in some form of intelligence-related activity, and having to pit his wits against hardened professionals.
It's a clever device, and has kept me going through 4 books so far.
The latest is perhaps the weakest, a function of a promising first two-thirds that becomes a long and protracted attempt to escape from Italy, with the Fascisti in hot pursuit.
The hero takes refuge in the mountains with an insane mathematician who proceeds to ramble (over many pages!) on his theory of perpetual motion. Even then I could not sleep.
Quite what happened to Ambler when he was finishing this novel, I don't know, but I imagine with hindsight he would have liked to have revisited the last third.
However, I have just downloaded the next one, so no harm done as far as I'm concerned!
Usually I only manage a handful of pages before I fall asleep, and I have found this series of 1930s espionage novels ideal bedtime reading.
There are generally few characters, a simple plot, and undemanding prose - so I can pick up where I dropped off the previous night, with little back-tracking.
I've been enjoying the insight these stories provide into pre-war Europe, at a time when movement across frontiers was still possible, if risky at times.
Ambler employs a recurring plot, in which a civilian protagonist finds himself embroiled - much to his annoyance - in some form of intelligence-related activity, and having to pit his wits against hardened professionals.
It's a clever device, and has kept me going through 4 books so far.
The latest is perhaps the weakest, a function of a promising first two-thirds that becomes a long and protracted attempt to escape from Italy, with the Fascisti in hot pursuit.
The hero takes refuge in the mountains with an insane mathematician who proceeds to ramble (over many pages!) on his theory of perpetual motion. Even then I could not sleep.
Quite what happened to Ambler when he was finishing this novel, I don't know, but I imagine with hindsight he would have liked to have revisited the last third.
However, I have just downloaded the next one, so no harm done as far as I'm concerned!
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