Eric Ambler's Epitaph For A Spy And Journey Into Fear
I went to a London event last year to celebrate the work of classic crime fiction novelists Eric Ambler and Margery Allingham, and I've finally gotten around to reading two of Ambler's best-known novels, 'Epitaph for a Spy' and 'Journey into Fear,' which were reissued as Penguin Modern Classics in 2009 to commemorate his centenary. 'Epitaph for a Spy' follows Joseph Vadassy, a Hungarian refugee and language teacher on vacation in the south of France. When his camera is exchanged for one containing sensitive photos of secret naval installations in Toulon, Vadassy is suspected of being a Gestapo agent. To prove to the police that he is not an espionage suspect, he must determine which of the guests staying at the Hôtel de la Réserve is the true spy.
'Journey into Fear,' Ambler's sixth novel, is one of his best-known works, thanks in part to the 1943 film adaptation starring Orson Welles. At the start of World War II, British engineer Howard Graham was involved in high-level talks with the Turkish government about arms manufacturing, an alliance that irritated German spies. Graham changes his route home to England after surviving an assassination attempt in his hotel room in Istanbul, and boards a passenger steamer across the Mediterranean to Genoa. However, while Graham initially believes he is safe, it soon becomes clear that the other passengers on board are not all as they appear.
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'Epitaph for a Spy' and 'Journey into Fear' were written and set in 1938 and 1940, respectively, during a period of great uncertainty for Europe, which Ambler captures very effectively in his writing. The realism of Ambler's plotting, which typically involves an ordinary person in an extraordinary situation, was a novelty in spy fiction at the time, and it accounts for his work's enduring popularity, which influenced many other authors. Vadassy and Graham are neither professional spies nor enthusiastic about their new roles as amateur sleuths. Even when they are unwittingly caught up in events beyond their control, their enemies vastly underestimate Vadassy and Graham's abilities. Certain elements of the two books' structure and plots are very similar, such as when both Vadassy and Graham must sneak into a guest's room without permission to find a suspected piece of evidence. However, Ambler's formula works extremely well. Despite the fact that the protagonists must act as detectives to figure out who the true villain among the guests is, Ambler's novels are first and foremost tautly written thrillers rather than detective stories.
The narrow, claustrophobic settings of a passenger steamer and a small hotel on the French Riviera heighten the psychological suspense, as does the knowledge that the soon-to-be identified adversary is always nearby, leading to a tense showdown in the final pages.
'Epitaph for a Spy' and 'Journey into Fear' are enjoyable and satisfying thriller classics, and I'm looking forward to reading 'A Mask for Dimitrios,' which is regarded as Ambler's best novel. Thank you to Peters Fraser + Dunlop for providing review copies.
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