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What Members Thought
Ambler has an elegant, quote-worthy prose style and a gift for characterization, not just in inventing distinct, memorable characters, but a real ear for the telling detail in expression or feature that brings a place or person vividly to mind. Speaking of which, this was one of my favorite bits:
A man's features, the bone structure and the tissue which covers it, are the product of a biological process; but his face he creates for himself.... It is a screen to hide his mind's nakedness.
That come ...more
A man's features, the bone structure and the tissue which covers it, are the product of a biological process; but his face he creates for himself.... It is a screen to hide his mind's nakedness.
That come ...more
I liked this book a lot. Published in 1937, it was about a master criminal roaming around the Mediterranean, and the detective novelist who usedh is vacation to hunt the guy down. There is a passage near the end where one of the bad guys describes how someone gets hooked on heroin. It's succinct and powerful. Extremely well written. More Eric Ambler for me!
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This book originally hit shelves in 1939, a time when very few would have focused on books. Ambler's abilities are clearly prodigious...he masterfully blends a nuanced plot with a larger commentary about the war clouds gathering over Europe. Dimitrios, ostensibly that antagonist, becomes Europe's troubles personified. I greatly enjoyed Ambler's use of letter, eyewitness reports, and other seemingly circumstantial testimonies to build Dimitrios up into a very sinister bad guy who doesn't appear u
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Dec 15, 2008
Pranav Mehta
marked it as to-read
Oct 15, 2009
Inna
marked it as to-read
Feb 02, 2011
Nicole
marked it as to-read
Jun 23, 2011
Heather (DeathByBook)
marked it as to-read
Nov 05, 2023
Lianna
marked it as to-read
