Thrilling story with a plot that kept me turning the pages, really well written with great characters. Highly recommend to everyone who is a fan of this genre.

This book gives the impression Ambler couldn't make up his mind which of three stories he wanted to tell. There is a generational saga of a family engineering and shipping business trying to prosper in a rapidly changing middle east. There's an everyman stumbling on a massive plot gritty thriller and there's a seafaring action tale. None of them is satisfactory on their own, and they don't mesh well. There's way too much attention to moving the many pieces around, not enough on character, dialog or atmosphere.

For all the complaints, this is Eric Ambler and the book contains some very good stuff. Several minor characters and gems, and there's a lot of convincing detail about doing business in unstable and corrupt middle eastern countries. The family business aspect is not developed in sufficient depth and could be cut. But the everyman plot needs only a bit of work to plug up the obvious, "why doesn't he just. . .," questions; moreover it is darkly humorous with some original twists. The big problem is it is neither set up properly nor resolved.

The exciting action at sea at the end is just tacked on to the book, with some of the best scenes happening off page and described as afterthoughts. It is too short and sudden. In an action thriller, it would take the last third of the book.

If you read this a page at a time without thinking where the story is going, it's a four star book. With some extensive editing and additional material it could have been three four or five star books. But as is, I can't give it more than three stars.

First published in 1972; published by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard on December 11, 2012; published digitally by Agora Books on August 23, 2015

Eric Ambler is one of the fathers of the modern thriller. The Levanter was published near the end of his writing career. The novel won the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger Award.

Lewis Prescott is a foreign correspondent based in Paris. On a trip to Lebanon, he is offered the opportunity to interview a Palestinian leader named Salah Ghaled. The invitation comes from Melanie Hammad, who met Prescott and his wife in Paris. Ghaled leads a splinter group that has been condemned by the PLO, the PFLP, and the governments of Jordan and Lebanon. Prescott worries that profiling him will elevate the stature of a man who is unrepresentative of the Palestinian guerrilla movement, but his editor is curious to know how Ghaled’s group is being financed.

As the interview is being conducted, Michael Howell is in Syria, dealing with his family business, a wide-ranging enterprise that deals in agriculture, shipping and international trade. Howell’s Syrian assets have been frozen. He makes a number of business deals with the Syrians in an effort to recoup his losses. I don’t have a head for business but I enjoyed reading about Howell’s strategies. Ambler adds credibility to the story with details about mundane topics such as ceramic production, the differences between dry and wet batteries, and how to clean barnacles from a large schooner. How Ambler managed to make all of that interesting I can’t explain, but he does.

Howell eventually discovers that his difficulty earning a profit is the least of his problems. Circumstances beyond his control place Howell and one of his factories under the control of terrorist Ghaled. Howell soon finds himself in the middle of a plot against Israel. Whether he cooperates or not, his future does not look bright. The novel’s tension builds with Howell’s frustration as people who should show an interest in helping him appear to be indifferent to whether he lives or dies.

Most of the novel is focused on Howell, a character who finds himself caught in an impossible situation. Prescott’s contribution to the story is to offer an objective view of Howell’s actions, given that Howell’s primary concern (apart from staying alive) is the future of his family business.

The plot is not overtly political but it does take a pointed view of how nations and groups seek to blame each other, and to seek reprisals against nations, for private actions taken by individuals that are not sanctioned by any government. That isn’t fair to anybody and it isn’t useful, but it is how the world worked when The Levanter was written and it remains an accurate view of how the world works today.

The novel’s pace increases steadily as it moves from a story of thought to one of action. I enjoyed The Levanter for its wealth of detail and for its conflicted characters, while the plot stands up nicely given the continuing relevance of stories about terrorism.

RECOMMENDED

I have not read other Levanter novels, which, I understand, are more often set in the Balkans.than the Middle East. For me the interest here is the historical one of tensions that are still not resolved, and also the influence that Levanter exercised over later writers like Le Carre. This book takes a while to hit its stride But there is enjoyment in his turn of phrase.. it isn’t my favourite Crime sub-genre, but interesting for its place in its development.

The Levanter by Eric Ambler was first published in the early 1970s but don't let that put you off as the writing and storyline have aged well like a fine wine.

This is a political thriller of the highest order that keeps you hooked from the first page until the last one.

If you've never read anything before by Ambler then this is as good a place to start. You'll be reading the rest of his back catalogue very quickly afterwards

Thoroughly recommended

Committee Man
One of Ambler’s later offerings, set in the middle east, mainly Syria, during the Arab-Israeli conflict of the 1970s when aeroplane hijackings and bombings were rife, this, as usual, is an inventive and entertaining adventure story which also serves as a persuasive commentary on the context and the times.
Lead character is a ‘Levanter’, part English, part Greek, part Lebanese, a wheeler-dealer from a family of astutely commercial wheeler-dealers. His personality traits draw from the various racial characteristics of his natural make-up and equip him to fight back with the murderous Palestinian gang into whose snares he unwittingly falls. Ambler’s socialist and humanitarian sensibilities are very evident in this ingenious and topical thriller.

Thanks to Agora Books for a review copy.

This is my first foray into Eric Ambler's work so I was not sure what to expect. The story is clearly being told to us from narrators writing after the events they describe. As such they are happy to colour their narrative with their own views and, in some cases, wry comments on how they could have better handled the events they describe.

The story concerns Michael Howell, a company director largely based in Syria, who finds himself in the unenviable position of having the company assets slowly but surely being taken over by the newly formed Syrian regime. Rather than see this happen he attempts to form a partnership with the government in the form of Dr Hama - a excellent player of the political game - and all seems to be going well until Michael mistress spots some untoward goings on at one of the factories which he decides, somewhat unwisely, to investigate.

What follows is a fast moving retelling of a surprisingly relevant story of how innocent people can get tangled up with terrorists who firmly believe that what they are doing is fully justified and struggle to believe why others cannot see this point of view. Michael and his mistress Theresa get pulled into a plan and find themselves increasingly involved.

As Michael and Theresa tell us their tale it is easy to see how they have found themselves where they are. My only issue with the book is that I found Michael to be a very unlikeable character. Whilst his motives are sound he does seem bit of a whiner as he feels he has been unfairly judged and seeks to make excuses for his every action, particularly those which, with hindsight, were perhaps not the best.

The story is definitely grounded in the real world - this is not a James Bond tale, and it is not really action packed with shoot outs and hair's breadth escapes every few pages. It is a much more thoughtful portrayal than that and all the better for it as we believe in and sympathise (to a certain extent) with the characters.

I would recommend this as a story to be read over a few days rather than something to be consumed quickly. If you can cope with Michael's constant self pity then the story he tells is both entertaining and up to date. I will be interested to read more of Eric Ambler's body of work to see how this compares.

Excellent book. I had to keep checking when it was written as many of the themes are still unfortunately of interest today.

Although not my normal genre I really enjoyed this novel. I did I find the chapters to be very long with some lasting 90 minutes in length. The book is based on Michael Howell and his business interests in the Middle East and how he recovers after several military coups and his businesses bring nationalised. All is going well until he discovers bombs being made in one of his factories and he is forced to cooperate with a breakaway faction of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) and how he eventually foils them.

Real world and gripping, this book rattles with intensity and intrigue. Eric Ambler establishes both the characters and setting deftly. I hope to read something again by this author — very soon.

A great read that I really enjoyed. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes Golden Age Crime. Now for the next one.

An entertaining read, written from several viewpoints, and evoking life in Syria and the Middle East in the 1970s, with an inevitable comparison to the political situation now. Eric Ambler writes concise, well structured thrillers and this is no exception.

The Levanter is set in 1970 Syria and involves Middle East political intrigue. Michael Howell, international businessman has his main manufacturing base in Syria and has for a while been working closely with the government in a cat and mouse game to try to release the business capital that has been locked in the bank since a previous coup. We are given the whole back story in a first person narrative in order to set the scene for the ensuing story.
Michael has returned to Syria from Europe to be confronted by his office manager and mistress Teresa with some odd invoices which show the business has been paying for some strange items. Rather than confront his head man Issa the following day Michael decides to go to his warehouse that night. They stumble upon members of the Palestinian Action Force producing unauthorised bombs. Michael and Teresa are drafted in and so begins a bigger game of cat and mouse as Michael tries to extricate himself from the highly charged political situation and avoid killing hundreds of people. He tries a bit of sabotage and double crossing but really in such a volatile political world of the Middle East who can you really trust.
There are three main narrators in the book - Michael, Teresa and a journalist Lewis Prescott who only comes in at the start and the end of the book to set the scene with Salah Ghaled (the leader of PAF)and to conclude the story. I am not the biggest fan of books set in the first person. We get to read of Michaels' thought processes and technical stuff which slightly went over my head. I had sympathy for the lead character at the start but the more I read him the more I wanted to throttle him. Why does he not cut his losses in Syria and move back to Europe where his head office is. By the time of the start of the book we find out that with some careful business acumen and aligning himself with the Syrian government he has made in profits the majority of the money belonging to the Howell business locked in the Syrian bank. He could so easily walk away and take a small hit financially.
Although this Eric Ambler book was written in 1972 it is as current now as it was then. There are still problems in Israel and Palestine over territory. Syria is once again unstable. Ambler has written a highly charged political thriller which I would recommend to fans of that genre. Having read one other book, Judgement On Deltchev, by this author I found this better which may be due to it being based around real countries and a very real political reality so it is much more believeable.

I enjoyed The Levanter. It is (to my shame)the forst Eric Ambler that I have read, and I’m impressed. It’s a good story, well told.

Set in Syria 1970 (and first published in 1972), this is the story of Michael Howell, a businessman whose factory is taken over by very radical terrorists who are manufacturing the means of a terror attack. Howell is compelled to go along with this and the story becomes very tense and gripping as the planned attack approaches.

I found the first 30 pages or so rather unengaging, but it got much better quite quickly, so do persist if you’re not immediately gripped. Ambler’s style is quiet, detailed and more about building tension than violent action, which he does extremely skilfully. It is largely narrated by Howell himself, with two other voices to help set the scene and who also imply that Howell himself may not be an entirely reliable narrator. It all adds up to an interesting, gripping story.

I can see why Ambler was so highly regarded in his day and on this evidence I’ll be happy to try some more of his books. Recommended.

(My thanks to Agora Books for an ARC via NetGalley.)