3 August 2008
The Night Comers and The Light of Day
Posted by Miroslav under: Books .
In the last week i finished re-reading two books by one of my favourite authors, Eric Ambler.
One was first published in 1956 and is called “The Night-Comers” (also called “State of Siege”) and the other is “The Light of Day” that was first published in 1962.
The Night-Comers
All in all Steve Fraser had enjoyed his three-year stint in the former Dutch Southeast Asian colony of Sunda, and he’d been well compensated. But now he was looking forward to a last weekend in the capital before heading home.
But Sunda was newly independent, and not entirely stable. An opposition faction with fundamentalist Islamic leanings was set on overthrowing the provisonal government. And instead of enjoying a sybaritic weekend with the Eurasian beauty Rosalie, Fraser finds himself trapped with her by a fanatical group who’ve taken over the country’s radio station and made their headquarters in his friend Jebb’s apartment.
As the government launches a counterattack, the couple’s survival depends on their ability to dodge bullets and the shifting loyalties of the coup’s liuetenants.
The Light of Day
When Arthur Abdel Simpson first spots Harper in the Athens airport, he recognizes him as a tourist unfamiliar with city and in need of a private driver. In other words, the perfect mark for Simpson’s brand of entrepreneurship. But Harper proves to be more the spider than the fly when he catches Simpson riffling his wallet for traveler’s checks.
Soon Simpson finds himself blackmailed into driving a suspicious car across the Turkish border. Then, when he is caught again, this time by the police, he faces a choice: cooperate with the Turks and spy on his erstwhile colleagues or end up in one of Turkey’s notorious prisons.
The authorities suspect an attempted coup, but Harper and his gang of international jewel thieves have planned something both less sinister and much, much more audacious.
Note: The Light of Day was the basis for the 1964 Jules Dassin classic film, Topkapi (IMDB - wikipedia). You can watch the trailer to the movie below and over at this YouTube page.
Most of my Eric Ambler collection is made up with books from the “Fontana Books” publishing house, and I adore all of the covers :)
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