The Levanter

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.)

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.

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.

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.