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.
Secreted in a filthy, cramped cabin on the Italian steamer Sestri Levante, an Englishman begins his terrified flight across wartime Europe. For Graham, an engineer working for an arms company, the inconvenience which began in a hotel room in old Istanbul has become a nightmare from which he fears he may never wake. His pursuers have already wounded him - surely the next time they will not miss. But who are they? And where on the long sea passage to Genoa will they make their move? In his classic tale of the hunted man, thriller master Eric Ambler redefined the boundaries of the spy story and spoke for a generation now bowed by world war.
The Dark Frontier is the debut novel of Eric Ambler, who contributed so much to the espionage and crime genres through such marvelous books as Background to Danger, Epitaph for a Spy, Cause for Alarm, A Coffin for Dimitrios, and Journey into Fear. Written in 1936, it was not published in the United States for several decades. The book varies quite a lot from the rest of his work, and will be less satisfying to almost any reader. Serious Ambler fans, however, would be making a mistake if they passed up this book. Seeing this effort will help them appreciate the mature Ambler talent even more.
In the shadowy areas of international law criminals work hard at figuring loopholes. One such wheelerdealer is Paul Firman. He pursues his own ends in a quiet, unobtrusive way. Why would anyone want to bother about him?
The idea of acting as front man for a Chinese pirate appeals to Nilsen's sense of humor. But what begins as a simple, if not entirely legal, matter of paper-shuffling ends up with Nilsen in an Indonesian jail. "Tops for its picture os Southeast Asia, in all its color and turmoil.
