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Title: Ambler's Best
Review: I've read almost all of Eric Ambler's novels, and this is my favorite. The plotting is deft and intricate, with a three-level nested storyline showing how one smuggled shipment of arms affects a variety of people with no other connection to one other. The characters in each -- the enterprising Indian foreman who discovers and sells the weapons, the Chinese brothers who arrange their shipment, and the American couple used as straw buyers -- are drawn so distinctly that you almost forget about the other parts of the book when reading a particular section. The only criticism I can think of is that the finale is a bit drawn out and doesn't provide any particularly interesting resolution; the best parts of the book are the characters and the intricate scheming they engage in. Ambler has some good secondary characters here too -- the dissolute Chinese brother, the apparently lesbian ship's passenger who tags along with the Americans, and the Singaporean police superintendent.
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