Arthur Abdel Simpson is middle-aged, stateless and desperately in need of a new passport. Neither the Egyptians want him, the land of his mother, nor the British, the land of his father and where he was educated. As Her Britannic Majesty's Vice-Consul in Athens says, "You're a disgusting creature, Mr Simpson. Your life is nothing but a long, dirty story." There's something in that. As a 'soldier of fortune', which he somewhat grandly and euphemistically refers to himself, Simpson has a long history making a living on the seamier side. He doesn't hesitate to take a job facilitating an illegal porno movie shoot to earn the drachmas he needs, but when the whistle's blown finds himself on the run again. Simpson likes a good drink and chat like the next man, is wont to exaggerate and is ever ready to quote one of the many coarse axioms his late father bestowed on him, such as "Why hurt your fists on a man's jaw when it's easier to knee him in the balls?"But a combination of desperation and lies leads to a shady assignment in the fictional North African country of Mahindi, a 'one-party democracy' republic in a border dispute with it's western neighbor over a highly valuable piece of land. Another what you would call 'solid' if entirely unspectacular thriller an old hand at the genre, where the writing is economical, every detail is no doubt entirely accurate, but nothing beyond the mere telling of the dirty story itself is being attempted.Fine enough but instantly forgettable.
Eric Ambler wrote classic spy fiction, long before John LeCarre, and his books, although they deal with an era now long gone by, still excel in atmosphere and texture. Ambler's world is centered mainly around central Europe, and is a gritty place which smells of cigarettes and stale coffee most of the time. "Dirty Story" is a departure from his usual writing, and is one of only two novels featuring a wonderful main character, Arthur Abel Simpson. Peter Ustinov played Simpson in the movie version of the second novel, Topkapi, which is better known. But Dirty Story is Simpson at his best, working as a mercenary in central Africa. It's colorful, funny, highly observant, and a damned good read.
