(Drivebycuriosity) - I am usually sceptical about book recommendations because the taste of the crowd does not agree with me. But a recommendation on the blog Marginal Revolution, a bag of miracles (Wundertüte) that I scroll weekly, got my attention. Tyler Cowen, a polymath and owner of the blog, praised Eric Ambler´s novel "Cause for Alarm" and claims that the author "redefines what it means to be a good writer of thrillers" (marginalrevolution ). Since I enjoyed some of Cowen´s recommendations in the past and Eric Ambler is famous, I gave it a try.
Unfortunately, the novel ( amazon) did not work for me. The plot reads a like theater of the absurd, for instance Ionesco`s "The Bald Soprano". The plot starts in England during the 1930s recession, when an engineer loses his job. The protagonist found another job, now as a sales representative for a English manufacturer in Italy, which was ruled by Mussolini and the Fascists. In Milan he makes the acquaintance with two shady men, who talk him into politically risky activities, which starts a chain of events (this is a spoiler free blog).
I find the naivety of the protagonist unbelievable, his actions incredible and the other important characters bizarre. Maybe the ridiculous story was shaped by the left-wing world view of Ambler, who was famous for his thrillers with a Marxist touch ( web.archive).
In future I will be more skeptical with book recommendations on Cowen´s Marginal Revolution.
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