Judgement on Deltchev

This story just seemed to start out slow and then tried hard to make a come back late into the book. Ambler writing is always strong, the narration was strong on voices but somewhat monotone on the main narrative. Not my favorite narrator of an Ambler book. I would not start listening to Ambler with this book, many others are better. If you are an Ambler fan though this will be worth the credit.

Just not up to the usual Ambler standard: this doesn't even begin to compare with, say, "The Mask of Demetrios".

The narrator does such a good job of emphasis in the speech patterns of the characters--really makes them come alive. He puts stress where I did in my head while reading the book for the first time. In short, he reads the book aloud very like the way I imagined it ought to sound.

Sibley, the drunken newspaper reporter who is indiscreet. I like his character VERY much. One of Eric Ambler's best bit characters.

Again, aside from doing female voices, he's got a distinct voice for each character in the book--if you lost your place, you'd probably know which character was speaking just from his voice.

Yes, where Foster is discussing his wife's death.

Judgment on Deltchev, along w/The Schirmer Interitance & The Night Comers, are 3 of my all-time favorite Ambler novels, and I like almost everything he wrote. Deltchev & Schirmer were his first post-war novels & really brought him back, and signaled that he WAS back, as a mystery/spy writer after WWII.