 | |
| Author | Eric Ambler |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Heinemann |
Publication date | 1962 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | |
| OCLC | 926820526 |
| Preceded by | Passage of Arms |
| Followed by | A Kind of Anger |
The Light of Day is a 1962 novel by Eric Ambler.
| | |
| Author | Eric Ambler |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Heinemann |
Publication date | 1962 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | |
| OCLC | 926820526 |
| Preceded by | Passage of Arms |
| Followed by | A Kind of Anger |
The Light of Day is a 1962 novel by Eric Ambler.
Arthur Abdel Simpson, the narrator, was born in Egypt to an Egyptian mother and a British soldier father. After the premature death of his father he was sent to a British boarding school, a formative experience to which he refers throughout the story. Simpson identifies as British, although his career as a petty criminal has gotten him barred from both Egypt and the United Kingdom.
At the opening of the story Simpson lives in Athens, acting as a guide and taxi-driver so that he can steal from tourists. One of his targets, a man named Harper, catches him, and blackmails him into driving a car across the border from Greece into Turkey. The Turkish authorities find that the car is loaded with concealed illegal weapons, and Simpson faces the terrifying prospect of a long term in a Turkish prison. However, the authorities offer him a chance to earn leniency: he must deliver the weapons according to Harper's instructions, and then somehow ingratiate himself with Harper's gang, learn their goals and plans, and report regularly to the government's agents. The government suspects an attempt at terrorism or insurgency against the National Unity Committee, but it turns out that Harper and his gang actually have an audacious plan to steal valuable gems from the treasury museum of the Topkapı Palace. While preparing for the robbery, one of the gang suffers a disabling injury, and Simpson is forced to take his place and participate in the commando-type raid on the museum, despite having no relevant experience whatsoever.
Kirkus Reviews described it as "an impeccable international intrigue... this is a suave, scapegrace and often very funny entertainment." [1] A review on Reaction.life described it as "a psychological sketch of brutal acuity, wrapped in a comic masterpiece." [2]
It was nominated for the 1962 Gold Dagger award. It won the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Allan Poe Award for best novel in 1964. [3]
It was filmed in 1964 as Topkapi . This was the most successful adaptation of one of Ambler's books. [4]
Topkapi is a 1964 American Technicolor heist film produced by Filmways Pictures and distributed by United Artists. The film was produced and directed by the émigré American film director Jules Dassin. The film is based on Eric Ambler's novel The Light of Day (1962), adapted as a screenplay by Monja Danischewsky.
The caper story is a subgenre of crime fiction. The typical caper story involves one or more crimes perpetrated by the main characters in full view of the reader. The actions of police or detectives attempting to prevent or solve the crimes may also be chronicled, but are not the main focus of the story.
Passage of Arms is a 1959 novel by Eric Ambler.
Eric Clifford Ambler OBE was an English author of thrillers, in particular spy novels, who introduced a new realism to the genre. Also working as a screenwriter, Ambler used the pseudonym Eliot Reed for books co-written with Charles Rodda.
Topkapı, sometimes spelled Topkapi outside of Turkey, is a Turkish word that may refer to:
Johnny and the Bomb is a 1996 novel by Terry Pratchett. It is the third novel to feature Johnny Maxwell and his friends, and deals with the rules and consequences of time travel. The first two novels in the Johnny Maxwell Trilogy are Only You Can Save Mankind (1992) and Johnny and the Dead (1993).
The Indian in the Cupboard is a low fantasy children's novel by the British writer Lynne Reid Banks. It was published in 1980 with illustrations by Robin Jacques (UK) and Brock Cole (US). It was later adapted as a 1995 children's film of the same name. Later books in the series were illustrated by Piers Sanford.
Cemal Gürsel was a Turkish military officer and politician who was the 4th president of Turkey, serving from 1960 to 1966 after taking power in a coup d'état.
The Dark Frontier (1936) is Eric Ambler's first novel. Based on the development of weaponry in the year 1936, The Dark Frontier was one of the first novels to predict the invention of a nuclear bomb and its consequences.
Checkmate (1930) is one of the many popular novels written by Englishman Sydney Horler in the first half of the 20th century. Forgotten today, the book describes the exciting lifestyle of the wealthy social elite. Checkmate adds an element of crime and adventure to that atmosphere, but the countless coincidences throughout the plot guarantee a thoroughly predictable happy ending, complete with a double wedding.
Journey into Fear is a 1940 spy thriller novel by Eric Ambler. Film adaptations were released in 1943 and 1975.
The Baseball Card Adventures is a novel series written by Dan Gutman. There are 12 books in the series, published by HarperCollins between 1997 and 2015. The books feature a boy, Joe Stoshack, who can travel through time when he touches old baseball cards. When he holds a baseball card, he feels a tingling sensation, and when it gets strong, is transported to the year that card was made and somewhere near the ballplayer on the card. Later he discovers that this power also works on very old photographs. He tries to use this power wisely, and he attempts to change history several times, but the result is always something different from his original goal.
The Wreck of the Mary Deare is a 1959 Metrocolor British-American thriller film directed by Michael Anderson and starring Gary Cooper and Charlton Heston, and featuring Michael Redgrave, Cecil Parker, Richard Harris and John Le Mesurier. The screenplay by Eric Ambler was based on the 1956 novel of the same name by Hammond Innes.
Rough Shoot, released in the USA as Shoot First, is a 1953 British thriller film directed by Robert Parrish and written by Eric Ambler, based on the 1951 novel by Geoffrey Household. The film stars Joel McCrea, in his only postwar non-Western role, with Evelyn Keyes as the leading lady, and featuring Herbert Lom, Marius Goring and Roland Culver. The scenario is set in Cold War England when tensions ran high regarding spying.
Dirty Story: A Further Account of the Life and Adventures of Arthur Abdel Simpson is a 1967 novel by Eric Ambler. It was also published as This Gun for Hire.
The Wanderers is a novel by the American author Richard Price. It was first published as a book in 1974. The plot is set in the Bronx, New York City, from mid-1962 to mid-1963.
Reservoir Pups is the first novel of the Eddie & the Gang with No Name trilogy by Northern Irish author, Colin Bateman, published on 13 November 2003 through Hodder Children's Books. It is Bateman's first young adult novel.
Only Lovers Left Alive is a 1964 dystopian fiction novel by Dave Wallis. It describes a near-future society in which all adults have committed suicide and teenagers are able to run wild. With its theme of youth in charge and out of control, the book hit a chord with the emerging counter-culture, and a film adaptation starring the Rolling Stones and directed by Nicholas Ray was planned in the mid-1960s.
A Kind of Anger is a novel by British thriller writer Eric Ambler, first published in 1964. Like many of Ambler's post-war novels the thriller plot is laced with elements of comedy.
Doctor Frigo is a 1974 novel by Eric Ambler.