Cause for Alarm by Eric Ambler
Review by Matt B. (BuffaloSavage)
In this 1938 thriller, Ambler uses the familiar situation of an innocent bystander thrust into the twisted world of espionage.
Nick Marlowe is an engineer, not exactly a stable job in the 1930s, when manufacturers were laying off everybody, no matter the color of their collar. After being fired and with marriage on the horizon, Nick takes a job in Italy as a replacement for another engineer.
Nick arrives in the first fascist state and soon discovers the truth of his predecessor’s untimely demise. He is approached by two spies, one from Hitler’s side and the other from Stalin’s. The Nazi spymaster is repellent. The Soviet agent is the lively Russian-American Andreas Zaleshoff, who appeared in other Ambler novels of the Thirties.
This novel feels real, has well-drawn characters, and the action is like an action-adventure novel in the tradition of John Buchan. Fans of Alan Furst should read this.
