Background to Danger

I'm am surprised I enjoyed this as much as I did! It's not the typical type of story I read. The mysteries I'm used to reading are far more "fluffy" than this. However, the characters in "Background to Danger" were so intriguing and - oddly enough, warm - that I found myself sucked into the characters as much as the mystery. I've only given this four stars because, really, of my own personal tastes and lack of knowledge on the countries and foreign relationships the story deals with. I'm sure the book is worthy of 5 stars for anyone who knows more about this era, and is more used to this kind of mystery. Being the squimish person that I am, I was very pleased that the book isn't very graphic. Yes, people get killed, but, happily, Ambler doesn't go into much detail. I also appreciated the good guy/bad guy, somewhat blurred lines of right and wrong... the story presents interesting circumstances that place our protagonists in situations where what would appear to be "wrong" is, perhaps, actually "right." This said, the story focuses on the mystery and the "messages" aren't overly apparent and really just a subtext for those wishing to seek them. This is a very interesting read and I'd be more than happy to read it again and partake of another Ambler adventure.

One of three of the best novels by Ambler, the others "Coffin for Dmitrios" and "Cause for Alarm." Written in 1937, Ambler weaves a suspensful story about a down on his luck journalist who stumbles into a web of intrigue. I personally enjoy this type of novel; in addition to a good yarn, the background is contemporaneous. It's like stepping into a time machine.

Background to Danger is an anomoly for pulp spy novel. Ambler provides a fantastic critique of western capitalism's covert dealings on the international stage. The plotline is also unique, because he has a British national teaming up with Russian spies in pre-cold war Europe. This novel is a must for those of us interested in history and archived worldviews.

It's amazing how quickly the books of second-rate writers become dated. I'm partial to thrillers, and my bookshelf groans with stories, set in the Cold War, that I will never read again. Their settings are as strange to me now as the Roman Empire or renaissance Europe. Their time is past. No so Ambler. 'Dimitrios' is based on people, not place. He created so many memorable characters: the Turkish secret policeman, clownish off-duty, ruthless and cold-eyed at his work; the Bulgarian good-time girl, whose head and heart told her different things; the hen-pecked offical in Belgrade, with his greedy wife; the respectable cafe-owner who slides, without resistance, into the lucrative world of prostitution and drug-smuggling; the successful Swiss businessman whose business just happened to be selling secrets. These are not people I have come across in real life, but they all strike me as flesh-and-blood characters. I could imagine having a fascinating conversation with any of them. In terms of place, the end of the Cold War has actually helped Ambler. We (I'm British) seem to have returned to the Europe of the inter-war years: corrupt, amoral, nervy, and prone to occasional outbursts of horrific violence. The significant difference, of course, is that we have no Hitler around now. In 'Dimitrios', Hitler is never mentioned by name, but he is always there, hovering, as it were, just out of the corner of your eye. Ambler's prose is wonderful. He tells a complicated story so well, lingering just long enough to sketch in profiles of people and places, before getting on with the plot. Three passages linger in my memory: the massacre of the inhabitants of Smyrna; the entrapment of the Yugoslav offical; and Peters' description of how intelligent and worldly-wise people become addicted to heroin. Ambler's prose is spare and cynical, yet there is a dash of pity as well. Unlike so many novelists today who give the impression that their characters are no more than specimens on the lab bench, you feel that Ambler saw his characters as people. For a novel whose subject-matter is so dark, the reader finishes it feeling satisfied and enriched. An enjoyable and profitable read.

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.