exuberance and poetry in the writing which the reviewer noted was then very rare in British fiction. Williams remained a favourite of the critics over the years. Books & Bookmen called Williams "the natural successor to Ian Fleming." British Book News said "Alan Williams is a thriller writer who has conspicuously succeeded in the rare feat of combining a novelist's art with a journalist's training." The New York Times critic Martin Levin said, "If you were to ask me who were the top ten writers of intrigue novels, I would list Alan Williams among the first five." His fellow writers also lauded him. Williams was a firm favourite of spy novelist John Gardner who said The Beria Papers and Gentleman Traitor "were both ahead of their time" and described Williams as "one of the important figures in the change and development of the espionage novel." Gardner subsequently called The Beria Papers one of the ten greatest spy novels ever written. Author and critic H.R.F. Keating praised the "authentic feel" of his novels, adding "their pacy excitement derives from their author's writing skill." And according to crime author Mike Ripley, "a good thriller can take you to an entirely foreign environment, as in the books of Alan Williams." Bestselling author Robert Ludlum was a devotee. He especially admired Holy of Holies, insisting that it "will glue you to your chair with suspense." Film adaptations The Pink Jungle is an adaptation of Snake Water. The film, which starred James Garner, Eva Renzi and George Kennedy was neither a critical or financial success. Williams deemed it the worst film he'd ever seen in his life. He complained that the film-makers took the characters' names and nothing else from his novel. Dirk Bogarde had hoped to make a film of Barbouze co-starring Orson Welles with Bryan Forbes directing, but this came to nothing. A proposed film of Long Run South, to have been filmed on location in 1967, never materialised. Richard Burton purchased film rights to The Tale of the Lazy Dog. Shillingford Productions currently holds film rights. Bibliography Novels Long Run South [1962] Barbouze [1964] US title: "The False Beards" Snake Water [1965] The Brotherhood [1968] US title and UK paperback reprint title: "The Purity League" The Tale of the Lazy Dog [1970] The Beria Papers [1973] Gentleman Traitor [1975] Shah-Mak [1976] US paperback retitled "A Bullet for the Shah" The Widow's War