Arthur Abdel Simpson är en mycket ovanlig thrillerhjälte. Som namnet antyder är han en förbluffande blandning av engelsk gentleman och orientalisk skojare. Han försörjer sig som taxichaufför i Aten och åtar sig ett extraknäck att forsla en elegant Lincoln Continental från Aten till Istanbul. Det är bara det att hans uppdragsgivare - och dennes uppdragsgivare i sin tur - är likadana skojare som Arthur Abdel Simpsons sämre jag.

"The Light of Day" was a treat. Ambler's protagonist was not as naive as the majority of his hapless heroes who fall into dangerous scenarios. He was a petty crook who was portrayed as the ordinary man. It was very cleverly done. Also, Ambler used the thoughts of his not-so-innocent innocent to analyse the situations he found himself in and to comment on events. There is one passage where he describes the interrogation process. This involves his telling the truth, which is never believed, then having a fall-back story which is partially believed, and then continuing with a modified fall-back story, and on and on, until he works out the story the interrogator wants him to tell and which they chose to believe. It was passages like this that show me why John Le Carré and Graham Greene said they found inspiration for their own work in Ambler's stories.

Would I read more stories by this author?
Yes!

Would I recommend this book?
Yes.

Who would I recommend it to?
Anyone who likes well written mystery novels involving espionage, criminality, adventure, intrigue, counter-espionage, etc...

Did this book inspire me to do anything?
Yes. It has strengthened my resolve to read all of Eric Ambler's stories. It has also pushed me to dig out the book I have on Kemal Atatürk. ( )

Fun and clever book, this. Arthur Simpson is simply one of the most endearing anti-heroic rogues in mid century thrillers. His sardonic and ironic sense of humor makes the read a page turner. And the idea of putting an Englishman with a bit of a proper background in Athens, holding an Egyptian passport, and finding himself involved in a plot to engage in a high profile crime in Istanbul, all couldn't help but produce a combination of exotic intrigue and high comedic possibilities.

The Light of Day is also published as Topkapi in order to take advantage of the 1964 movie based on the book, with Melina Mecouri, Maximilian Schell, Robert Morley, and Peter Ustinov as Arthur. The film lacks the flashbacks and witty humor of the book. Ustinov's Arthur is too much of a bumbler and without the instinctual cleverness to survive Ambler's original Arthur displays. Yet both film and book are of a similar era, the early 1960s. And time with the film is not a waste either.

This is my second Ambler novel, and I see there is at least one more Arthur Simpson novel out there. Well worth chasing down, I think. ( )

Bel romanzo, scritto bene e svolto benissimo: tutti hanno uno spazio, tutti hanno una propria dignità letteraria, tutto ha un perchè. Forse scivola sul finale, troppo veloce: oggi avrebbe almeno cinquanta pagine in più, una conclusione più lenta e con qualche colpo di scena in più. ( )

Sono di parte ma Ambler è proprio uno dei miei preferiti:riesce perfino a farmi amare quel meschino, alitoso, petulante, flaccido e pasticcione di Artur Simpson (detto anche "la pecora indignata")
[audiolibro] ( )