Regular marked price: $12.00Discount Price: $9.60
Cost Savings: $2.40 (20%)Price fluctuation possible.
How soon does it ship: Normal ship time within one day
Shipping? Absolutely FREE if you qualify for Super Saver Shipping.
Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.912
EAN num: 9780375726798
ISBN number: 0375726799
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 224
Printing Date: December 07, 2004
Publishing house: Vintage
Release Date: December 07, 2004
Sale Popularity Level: 111336
Studio: Vintage
Other books you might be interested in perusing:
Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
The Light of Day was the basis for Jules Dassin’s classic film, Topkapi.
When Arthur Abdel Simpson very 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.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
-
The Light of Day by Eric Ambler is a tale of two cities; Athens and Istanbul. The narration is provided by Arthur A. Simpson a middle aged, petty criminal who presently calls Athens home. Early on in this thoroughly delightful novel, Arthur is caught blue handed in an act of larceny and is subsequently blackmailed into becoming part of an infinitely larger caper to be carried out in Istanbul.
The most interesting aspect of The Light of Day is the complexity of the Arthur Simpson character. He possesses an innate intelligence yet his ability to advance in the world has been severely limited by his own feeling of inferiority. When interacting with others, he invariably finds himself in a subservient role. Savvy and street smart, he is also paradoxically naive and overly sensitive to slights. It seems that Arthur's sad lot in life is less a result of his dishonesty than it is his lack of confidence in his own abilities.
Consequently, the reader cannot help but root for Arthur as he must overcome his many weaknesses to outwit a sophisticated gang of criminals who have as little respect for Arthur as he does for himself.
This is a fast paced, well plotted story featuring a remarkably interesting protagonist. Highly recommended.
Rated by buyers -
Arthur Abdel Simpson leads an undistinguished, monotonous life as a car driver and abusive tourist guide in Athens. He fancies himself a journalist but we'll soon learn he's little more than a small-time crook. But the subsequent client he tries to swindle traps him in his own game...a very risky and mysterious game, in which our anti-hero will be revealed in all his human failings and resourcefulness. Albeit of little morals, Arthur learn to play his cards in this international game between turkish espionage services and international criminals, and earns the respect, if not the sympathy, of the reader.The art of Ambler of creating suspense reaches his peak, here. Think what Hitchcock could have made of this story.
Rated by buyers -
if he will be in all respects a good subject of the Turkish government." Henry David Thoreau
In many respects, Eric Ambler was to the modern British suspense novel what Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett were to the American detective novel. Ambler transformed the suspense novel from a simplistic grey and white world of perfect good guys versus nefarious bad guys into a far more realistic world where sometimes the difference between good and evil is not all that great. Typically, Ambler takes an unassuming, unsuspecting civilian and immerses him in a world of mystery and intrigue in pre and post-World War II Europe. The result was a series of highly entertaining and satisfying books that many believe set the stage for the likes of Ian Fleming, John le Carre, Len Deighton, and, most recently the highly acclaimed Alan Furst. The Light of Day finds Eric Ambler at the top of his game.
The protagonist and narrator is one Arthur Abdel Simpson who may, if his luck holds, grow rich in Turkey. Unlike his typical protagonists Simpson is far from an innocent person. Simpson is something of a hustler. Part English and part Egyptian Simpson makes a living hustling tourists arriving at the Athens airport. He drives a car for hire and passes himself off as a tour guide. Simpson has no aversion to fleecing those tourists he runs into at the airport. He very first spots Harper in the Athens airport and thinks he has found a new source of ill-gotten funds. However, it quickly becomes clear that Simpson has met his match in Harper. Harper quickly sees through Simpson and almost before you can say "taxi, sir?" Harper has caught Simpson trying to rob him. Rather than have him arrested, Harper blackmails Simpson into working with Simpson on some sort of mysterious and quite unlawful plan. Simpson is directed to drive a fancy new American car cross the Greek border into Turkey and to await further instructions once he arrives in Istanbul. Simpson is quickly caught by Turkish secret agents who then blackmail him again into reporting on Harper's activities. As Simpson continues to narrate the actions of Harper and his gang on the one side and the Turkish authorities get ever closer to each other. Simpson is forced to walk a tightrope (literally and figuratively) that may just keep him from death or jail and may just net him a few thousand dollars in ill gotten gains if he plays his cards right.
Ambler is masterful when it comes to setting up a plot. He is not ham-handed or overly verbose but he does manage to convey a good sense of the inner workings of the principal characters in his stories. Ambler writes with a light touch when it comes to violence. It is more implicit than explicit. Yet the reader can sense violence `in the air' or at least the threat of violence as the plot thickens. He also has a keen eye for the various geographic settings in which his stories are set. You invariably get a feel for the streets and alleyways his characters come across. The Light of Day is no exception. Simpson is, as noted, no angel. He is a hustler and something of a con-man. Yet Ambler portrays him in such a clever way that you cannot help but hope he gets himself out of the mess he made for himself.
There was a critically acclaimed film version of The Light of Day made in 1964. Peter Ustinov won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Simpson.
I am a great admirer of Ambler's work and highly recommend any of his books to anyone not familiar with his work. They make for a nice read on hot summer days or long winter nights. The Light of Day is as good a place to start for anyone interested in discovering the author who shares no small bit of `genetic code' with le Carre, Fleming, Deighton, and Furst.
Highly recommended. L. Fleisig
Rated by buyers -
This story was very good for a number of reasons. The best is probably the introduction of the despicable scoundrel, Arthur Ahmed Simpson. Peter Ustinov was a very good choice to play this charlatan. Unfortunately, the movie didn't follow the book that closely, and this detracted from my enjoyment of the book, as I focused on what was different in the movie. Since the book came first, the fault is obviously with the movie. Simpson is a great character, up there with Flashman and Fenwick Travers. The hard-to-find "Dirty Story" follows up Simpson's activities, and is also very good.
Rated by buyers 
-
In my opinion, Eric Ambler is at his very best when writing about the intersection of politics and crime. Unlike many writers of his time, he understood the danger of very first facism and then later communism. He best books were written before the Second World War "A Coffin for Dimitrios" and just right after "Judgment on Deltchev". His books about the end of Colonialism in Southeast Asia, "State of Seige" and "Passage of Arms" are also gems written while these events were happening.
Eric Ambler created the modern espionage novel and this is the genre where he shines. His crime novels like "The Light of the Day" are very good but in my view are second tier works. I can see why many reviewers gave this novel five stars. Ambler's writing style is so strong and Athens and Instanbul are exotic locations. While Ambler's lead character is very interesting, I found the plot to be too formulaic. He systematically goes from point A to point B and then to point C. There are none of the great plot twists which the best Ambler novels are known. Although a superior stylist, Ambler plods his way through this novel.
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard seems to be re-releasing all of Eric Ambler's novels. If you are new to Eric Ambler, he is defintely worth reading. He is a master of the espionage genre. However, start with another one of his more political novels. "The Light of Day" should be read after all the really great novels have been consumed.
Find other books like this one:
