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A Coffin for Dimitrios/Judgement on Deltchev/Passage of Arms: Three Complete Novels in One Volume
Three personally selected favorites by a master of the suspense genre portray the deceit and chicanery behind the actions of an industrialist gun-runner, a playwright-turned-reporter, and a murdering drug dealer and spy.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1992
About the author
Eric Ambler
115 books507 followersSuspense novels of noted English writer Eric Ambler include
Passage of Arms
(1959).
Eric Ambler began his career in the early 1930s and quickly established a reputation as a thriller of extraordinary depth and originality. People often credit him as the inventor of the modern political thriller, and John Le Carré once described him as "the source on which we all draw."
Ambler began his working life at an engineering firm and then at an advertising agency and meanwhile in his spare time worked on his ambition, plays. He first published in 1936 and turned full-time as his reputation. During the war, people seconded him to the film unit of the Army, where he among other projects authored The Way Ahead with Peter Ustinov.
He moved to Hollywood in 1957 and during eleven years to 1968 scripted some memorable films, A Night to Remember and The Cruel Sea, which won him an Oscar nomination.
In a career, spanning more than six decades, Eric Ambler authored 19 books, the crime writers' association awarded him its gold dagger award in 1960. Joan Harrison married him and co-wrote many screenplays of Alfred Hitchcock, who in fact organized their wedding.
Eric Ambler began his career in the early 1930s and quickly established a reputation as a thriller of extraordinary depth and originality. People often credit him as the inventor of the modern political thriller, and John Le Carré once described him as "the source on which we all draw."
Ambler began his working life at an engineering firm and then at an advertising agency and meanwhile in his spare time worked on his ambition, plays. He first published in 1936 and turned full-time as his reputation. During the war, people seconded him to the film unit of the Army, where he among other projects authored The Way Ahead with Peter Ustinov.
He moved to Hollywood in 1957 and during eleven years to 1968 scripted some memorable films, A Night to Remember and The Cruel Sea, which won him an Oscar nomination.
In a career, spanning more than six decades, Eric Ambler authored 19 books, the crime writers' association awarded him its gold dagger award in 1960. Joan Harrison married him and co-wrote many screenplays of Alfred Hitchcock, who in fact organized their wedding.
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January 5, 2010
Well, I finished A Coffin for Dimitrios. There are two other novels in the book by Eric Ambler, and I have started Judgement on Deltchev. I found A Coffin... interesting, but the characters were not engaging particularly. It was only the details of the story that really kept me going. I found the ending disappointing and abrupt, and if the second of the three novels is not an improvement, I won't bother with the third. As espionage novels go, I don't think it holds a candle to the things I've read by Alan Furst in terms of history. A Coffin was basically a crime story without the really direct participation of the police, and the history was absolutely incidental. Hope the second and third novels in the book improve.
Well, I liked the second novella a bit less than the first, but the third was the best of the lot. It was the setting that caught me here. It takes place between Singapore and what presently is Indonesia. I haven't read much set in this part of the world in relatively modern times, and I found that part of it interesting.
I still stick by my original assessment in comparison to Alan Furst. I'm going to move on to Koestler's Darkness at Noon, which so many seem to regard as the gold standard of this genre, and after that, I'm going to finish up everything else I can get by Furst. Don't plan on reading any more Eric Ambler.
Well, I liked the second novella a bit less than the first, but the third was the best of the lot. It was the setting that caught me here. It takes place between Singapore and what presently is Indonesia. I haven't read much set in this part of the world in relatively modern times, and I found that part of it interesting.
I still stick by my original assessment in comparison to Alan Furst. I'm going to move on to Koestler's Darkness at Noon, which so many seem to regard as the gold standard of this genre, and after that, I'm going to finish up everything else I can get by Furst. Don't plan on reading any more Eric Ambler.
Displaying 1 of 1 review