Journey Into Fear

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

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.

This is an excellent story that will keep you enthralled throughout! The main character Graham is an ordinary fellow who gets caught up in the struggles of WWII Europe. Ambler does a fine job of developing Graham's predicament. The amazing thing, however, was how believable it was! Without resorting to superhuman feats or gratuitous sex and violence, Ambler draws you into the story and characters with amazing skill. Sadly this is becoming a lost art. All modern day "thriller" and "mystery" writers should read this book before putting ink to paper!

This is definetely one of Eric Ambler's best! It is a story about an English engineer, Graham, who is being chased all over Europe,on the Italian streamer,"The Sestri Levante" by people who would like to kill him! On the streamer he makes good friends, enemies, meets a spy, meets his assassin and falls in love. The brilliant thing about this book is that there seems to be a twist in every new chapter that you start, also, another element is that he doesn't stress too much on the details (a la Tom Clancy) and is a very simple writer which keeps things interesting! He is admired all over the world for his books, even by his fellow authors, in fact, John LeCarre described him as "The source on which we all draw." This coming from probably the best Cold War Espionage/Thriller writer! I rate this as one of his best! Highly recommended!

Journey into Fear is one of the handful of novels that Eric Ambler wrote before Word War II. And, like A Coffin for Dimitrios, it is a classic. The protagonist is an English engineer returning from Turkey with valuable knowledge. Axis forces are determined to prevent him from doing so. In order to protect him, Turkish authorities have arranged for him to travel on a cargo ship which carries a few passengers -- all of whom have supposedly been investigated and found to be harmless. Imagine then the terror he experiences when he discovers that one of the passengers is a man who recently tried to kill him. Now the supposedly safe cargo ship has become a trap from which escape seems impossible. His frenzied attempts to save himself are twarted again and again. This is the sort of chilling masterpiece that has made Ambler a legend.