Customer Reviews

Espionage: Three Great Spy Novels in One Volume: A Coffin For Dimitrios, Judgement On Deltchev and Passage of Arms

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I bought this omnibus in order to read A Coffin for Dimitrios, on some lists of the best mystery/ suspense novels of all time. However, I found it to be more wordy than I like. The very pleasant surprise was Passage of Arms, a less famous book but faster paced than Coffin, and with more deeply drawn characters, even the shady ones, and with a lighter tone throughout.

The three novels in this volume are among the better ones by Ambler, but not the best. "Journey Into Fear" and "The Light of Day" are perhaps better, and "Deltchev" is too much stuck in the 1950s. "A Passage of Arms" may appeal more to the current readers, even though it was written a half-century ago. It seems to depict the Southeast Asian atmosphere perfectly, and the characterization is better than in many of his other books.

You can also read the reviews of the individual books which are listed elsewhere in Amazon. This volume, offered at a very low price by second hand dealers, is a good bargain for Ambler fans.