A Coffin for Dimitrios

By: Eric Ambler

Narrated by: Alexander Spencer

An early classic of espionage fiction.

Through the cafés, trains, and nighttime cities of Europe, Charles Latimer follows a twisting trail of drug-smugglers, thieves and assassins that will lead him to Dimitrios.

©1967 Eric C. Ambler (P)1981 Recorded Books, LLC

Raymond Chandler of European espionage fiction

It is hard not to like Eric Ambler's amateur spies. They aren't reluctant, just lucky and persistent. They seem to have seeded an entire generation of suspense novelists. Reading Ambler I see exactly what inspired le Carre, Furst, Steinhauer, etc.

Ambler has a voice and style which are matched by his ability to capture a reader's interest with characters and setting. He is like a magician that spends an elaborate amount of time carefully setting a formal table just so at the very end he can pull the cloth out -- leaving the characters shaking from the movement, but readers stuck within their own inertia.

It is hard to judge Ambler once you realize every reference point you have to judge him by contains a fragment of Ambler. He is the Raymond Chandler of European espionage fiction. The genre doesn't exist separate from the author and 'A Coffin for Dimitrios' is one of his greatest works.

outstanding

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, well written, great story. Narration was top not notch. If you enjoy detective novels this is one I would highly recommend.

A really perfect spy novel

A fantastic book that outlines the art of intelligence and the general tradecraft of spycraft in beautiful and highly revenant way. I found this book to be developmental and maturative for a young man coming of age like myself and I further highly recommend this book.

Needs 4.5

Though I can’t describe this as a real classic it is an excellent work and the narration adds to it tremendously. The writing, character development, plot, and ethical dilemma all contribute to a wonderful read. I plan to listen to it again soon - ｖｅｒｙ　ｕｎｕｓｕａｌ

OG of the International Espionage Thriller

Wasn’t quite sure what I was getting into when I first started it, I just knew I loved the title lol, but I’m glad I gave it a shot. For what’s essentially just a spy/espionage story the subject matter is very interesting & entertaining, especially when one considers it was written back in the 1930s (at least I think that’s right…). I also really like the prose style, efficient & to the point. Anyway, people that enjoy John Le Carre, Graham Greene, or even police and p.i. stories, of a certain type at least, should find plenty to like here. All & all an interesting 8 hr listen, in the humble opinion of this narrator ; )