![]() ![]() The plot is Byzantine, but the prose is sparse and gem-hard, at times reading like hard-boiled poetry. If you’ve struggled with Le Carré’s longer or later works, you may be surprised how different The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is from them. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré (1963) ![]() There are no gadgets or volcanic lairs here, and Bond himself is a much more complex and thoughtful character than his popular image his anguished discussions of ethics with the French agent René Mathis are closer to Camus than quips with Q. James Bond’s mission in Ian Fleming’s first novel, set around a casino in northern France, is to defeat the grotesque Le Chiffre at baccarat, thereby putting the man at the mercy of his ruthless Russian paymasters. Ambler expertly seeds political and social commentary through Latimer’s voyage into a frightening world of conspiracy and intrigue. The Mask of Dimitrios by Eric Ambler (1939)Ī prototype for the thriller as a quest, Eric Ambler’s masterpiece follows the crime novelist Charles Latimer’s obsessive attempts to trace the life of a murdered gangster through the grimy streets of Istanbul, Sofia, Athens, Belgrade and Paris. ![]()
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