Judgment on Deltchev

Rating:
Summary: The Aftermath of Post-War East Europe
Review: Foster had been hired by an American publisher to attend a treason trial in an eastern European state. He researched the history of this country before he left London. When he arrived, his contact Pashik warned him against offending the authorities, and their censorship. Foster goes to interview Madame Deltchev, and her daughter asks him to hand-deliver a letter (Chapter 7). Deltchev was accused of being a member of the "Officer Corp Brotherhood", a secret organization that used terrorism for its political ends (Chapter 8). Many members were Government officials, or from every class except ordinary workmen. Foster is approached by an agent-provocateur who offers a secret way to send out a message; forewarned, Foster declines. When Foster tries to hand-deliver that letter, he finds a dead body! Next he is found there by Pashik! Pashik tells Foster to tell no one, or return to the Deltchev home.

Foster continues to blunder about, and finds Sibley in Pashik's apartment. Foster tells Sibley all he knows, and finds out that Sibley knows more (Chapter 17)! Pashik helped to roll-up the Brotherhood; and who was the hidden owner of Pashik's agency. Upon his return to the hotel Foster is arrested and interrogated by the Minister of Information, who tells him to leave the country, or else. In the last chapters we find this plot is a riddle wrapped in a mystery. Foster can't reveal the plot without bringing harm to himself or his contact. And so the planned events occur, but as a surprise to some, and unhappy for Deltchev. As in other revolutions, there was a sorting out among the victors into cliques. [Some parts of this story remind me of "The Manchurian Candidate" by Richard Condon.] The earlier book "A Coffin for Dimitrios" provides a background to these dangers.


Rating:
Summary: Master of the Espionage Story
Review: Having finished all of the Alan Furst novels, I wanted to read Eric Ambler, one of the creators of the Espionage Novel. Ambler began writing his spy novels in the 1930's and continued through the 1970's. Most of his early work was set in Europe as the dark shadow of facism was falling on the Continent.

Judgment on Deltchev was in written in 1949. With the end of the Second World War, Facism had been defeated and the new spectre of Communism was beginning to fall over Eastern Europe. This tale is set in an un-named Eastern European country shortly after the end of World War Two. The Communist Party has recently seized power and they are putting the respected leader of an opposition party on trial. With the backdrop of a political show trial, an underground stuggle is taking place to determine who will really run the country. It is into this highly charged atmosphere that Foster, an English journalist covering the political trial arrives.

Eric Ambler is a master stylist. His writing is economical and he effortly produces a story of complicated political intrigue. Ambler's writing is a great example of how less can be more. There are many contemporary writers producing espionage tales set during the Second World War and the years immediately following it. Ambler was the first master of this genre and he set a very high bar.

Rating:
Summary: Master of the Espionage Story
Review: Having finished all of the Alan Furst novels, I wanted to read Eric Ambler, one of the creators of the Espionage Novel. Ambler began writing his spy novels in the 1930's and continued through the 1970's. Most of his early work was set in Europe as the dark shadow of facism was falling on the Continent.

Judgment on Deltchev was in written in 1949. With the end of the Second World War, Facism had been defeated and the new spectre of Communism was beginning to fall over Eastern Europe. This tale is set in an un-named Eastern European country shortly after the end of World War Two. The Communist Party has recently seized power and they are putting the respected leader of an opposition party on trial. With the backdrop of a political show trial, an underground stuggle is taking place to determine who will really run the country. It is into this highly charged atmosphere that Foster, an English journalist covering the political trial arrives.

Eric Ambler is a master stylist. His writing is economical and he effortly produces a story of complicated political intrigue. Ambler's writing is a great example of how less can be more. There are many contemporary writers producing espionage tales set during the Second World War and the years immediately following it. Ambler was the first master of this genre and he set a very high bar.

Rating:
Summary: Eric Ambler - Master of Espionage and Spy Genre
Review: In the aftermath of WWII the Soviets tightened their grip on Eastern Europe. Outwardly legal processes were observed. Witnesses were summoned and evidence was presented before the leaders of opposition parties were condemned. Nikolai Petkov in Bulgaria was hung while Julius Maniu and Ion Mihalache in Romania were condemned to solitary confinement for life. In this historical context Eric Ambler produced his fictional novel Judgment on Deltchev (1951), a story of the trial of Yordan Deltchev.

Foster, a successful London playwright, accepted an unexpected job offer to attend the trial and write articles for an American newspaper publisher. Foster was not naïve. He expected to have difficulty properly covering Deltchev's sham trial. He rationalized that his inexperience might help him develop a fresh view.

Ambler has layers of surprises awaiting Foster. From the beginning Foster dislikes and mistrusts his employer's local representative, a disheveled, smelly man named Georghi Pashik. He is wary of other correspondents. And, of course, he totally disbelieves the government's information minister. He soon finds himself even questioning whether Deltchev the liberal is so innocent after all. We readers become unable to distinguish between the truth and carefully fabricated lies. In this convoluted, complicated plot Ambler illustrates the dangers of preconceived notions.

Graham Greene, Len Deighton, and John LeCarre all credit Eric Ambler for his influence on their writings. I highly recommend Judgment on Deltchev. It compares favorably with other Ambler novels like A Coffin for Dimitrios, Passage of Arms, and Journey into Fear. I have yet to encounter an Eric Ambler story that has disappointed me.

Rating:
Summary: The Slippery Nature of Reality
Review: It's easy for a person to begin to confuse their subjective perceptions with reality. Do this long enough, and the person becomes convinced that anyone who disagrees with them is either perverse or stupid. Naturally, a successful person is more likely to fall into this trap. That syndrome is one that Eric Ambler deftly explores in Judgment on Deltchev in such an effective way that the book actually transcends the spy thriller genre into universality. This is one of my three favorite Eric Ambler novels. If you haven't read it yet, you're in for a major treat!

At the height of the Cold War, Foster, a London West End dramatist is invited to write a series of articles in what seems to be a political show trial of Yordan Deltchev behind the Iron Curtain. Deltchev had been a moderate leader in the revolution that brought the currrent government into power. The charges against him are assumed by Foster to respresent a final way to liquidate Deltchev's party, because Deltchev is accused of conspiring with the group that he had personally opposed. Like the protagonists in many of Eric Ambler's best novels, Foster is hopelessly naive and inexperienced for the challenges he is about to face. Only his good intentions can hope to save him . . . but too often his good intentions put him into dangerous situations. In the background are numbers of people who accommodate the current government in a variety of ways such as Georghi Pashik, the local press representative whom Foster relies on, and Sibley, the reporter.

As the trial develops, many unexpected events occur and Foster finds himself unpeeling the onion of a complex mystery concerning what the real agendas behind the trial are. In the process, he learns a lot about himself and human nature in general. He faces important ethical challenges, ones that will leave you wondering what you would have done in the same situation. As a result, you'll find yourself walking in Foster's steps and sharing his reality. It's a chilling trip.

One of several fascinating areas this book explores is the connection between whom we trust and whom we do not. Foster, like most, is attracted to those whose views he understands and approves of, those who are physically attractive, and those who he enjoys being with. Yet the information he receives that is helpful often comes from what would appear to be obviously untrustworthy or discredited sources. He gradually learns to cross-check his information, and digs to the bottom of many cross-currents of plots and subplots among the competing characters in the political tempest of a totalitarian regime. We can all learn a lot of good lessons from this story in overcoming out own shortsightedness about finding the truth.

Learn to appreciate the fragile and delicate beauty of truth . . . and how to seek it...

Rating:
Summary: One of the most remarkable writers in this genre!
Review: When you account the reduced list of best writers about the underworld of spies and hidden secrets in the WW2 , your selection should turn around three names : Graham Green , Eric Ambler and Artur Koestler , among the most remarkable , obviously .
The economic writing of Ambler is enough to translate us to the real stage of the War in the middle of the drama .
Deltchev reveals once more the sinister intrigue and nasty interests of the Status Q in that age.
Fascinating all the way .