Judgment on Deltchev by Eric Ambler

My review of Judgment on Deltchev by Eric Ambler.

Fans of Alan Furst, Attention!, July 5, 2009



Although this book is set in post-World War Two, Alan Furst's debt to Eric Ambler jumps off the page in Judgment on Deltchev. Ambler's protagonist is an amateur at the cloak-and-dagger game, a game that he never really intended to play. Foster (we never learn his first name) is a playwright sent by an American newspaper publisher to cover a show trial in an unnamed Eastern Bloc country. Deltchev, the former leader of the People's Party and the government, now stands accused of treachery, treason and conspiracy to assassinate the new leader.

Foster slowly allows himself to be drawn deeper and deeper into the behind the scenes machinations until he finds himself in very deep trouble indeed. His minder, Pashik, tries to keep him in check, but Foster only sees that as an effort to control what he writes. A former (?) British spy turned journalist lurks around the edges. Can he be trusted? Doubtful. Good old Pashik turns out to be a bit more complex than he first seems, but is he dangerous? Has the reactionary Officer Corps Brotherhood come back to life? At first convinced of Deltchev's innocence, Foster's doubts grow as the trial proceeds. Surely there must be *something* behind the outlandish charges.

In addition to spinning out a fascinating tale of intrigue, on the very first page Ambler lays out an excellent and concise explanation of the purpose and methods of the political show trial. "Where treason to the state is defined simply as opposition to the government in power, the political leader convicted of it will not necessarily lose credit with the people....[H]is death at the hands of a tyrannical government may serve to give his life a dignity it did not before possess....His trial, therefore, is no formality, but a ceremony of preparation and precaution. He must be discredited and destroyed as a man so that he may safely dealt with as a criminal."

Ambler also creates the feel of life under a dictatorship (returning to my thesis of Furst's debt to Ambler). Freedom of movement is constrained and access to information is tightly controlled. For Foster to meet with citizens is pregnant with risks. The triumvirate of life (food, booze, and tobacco) is scarce. (Women aren't exactly abundant either.) The place is gray and bland by day with dark corners and long shadows by night. Are you paranoid or are you really being followed? Or both?

Highest recommendation.



Check out this fascinating piece Beyond the Balkans – Eric Ambler and the British Espionage Novel, 1936-1940 by Brett F. Woods from the Californa Literary Review.