Epitaph for a Spy by Eric Ambler is included on the list of 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read, while on The Greatest Books of All Time we see it on the 4229th place, however, on the latter site, The Mask of Dimitrios is 765th…Eric Ambler has another oeuvre within the 1,000 Novels, Journey into Fear, which is on the to read list, seeing that I enjoyed Epitaph – now for my advertising: there are more than five thousand reviews of magnum opera from the aforementioned compilations and others, together with notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html

 

Epitaph for a Spy by Eric Ambler is included on the list of 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read, while on The Greatest Books of All Time we see it on the 4229th place, however, on the latter site, The Mask of Dimitrios is 765th…Eric Ambler has another oeuvre within the 1,000 Novels, Journey into Fear, which is on the to read list, seeing that I enjoyed Epitaph – now for my advertising: there are more than five thousand reviews of magnum opera from the aforementioned compilations and others, together with notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html

 

 

9 out of 10

 

I have found The Mask of Dimitrios https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-mask-of-dimitrios-by-eric-ambler-10.html by Eric Ambler exhilarating, or at least we could presume that, seeing that I gave it 10 out 10, although it was at a time when I decided I need to be positive, because it means living longer, more successful lives

Epitaph for a Spy could have been handicapped by the wonderful impression made by The Mask of Dimitrios, because of the high expectations, still, it delivered, the story is captivating, long enough, well told, surprising, Josef Vadassy, the hero who is also the narrator is likeable and I felt I want him to succeed and escape…

 

In a manner of speaking, but first let me introduce a spoiler alert, I do not know what I will reveal, but it is possible that I venture off the subject, I often, or always do – from the start, we see that the main character, Josef Vassady, is in trouble, he is a teacher, with a penchant for photography, and he takes this film to get the pictures

Only to be arrested by the French police, taken to the station, where he is accused of…espionage, maybe the man (it could have been a woman actually) from the title of the novel, this is because on the film, we have some lizards and then something else, which our hero is surprised to find, photos of some guns which he did not take

 

I am thinking now that he could (the author as god that is) have played a trick on readers, pretending to be innocent and then revealing he has done it, in the manner of the doctor in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/02/the-murder-of-roger-ackroyd-by-agatha.html I wonder what Kingsley Amis thought about this

In the interrogation, naval intelligence officer Beghin explains the situation to the suspect – like Chili Palmer in Get Shorty – if you cooperate, maybe we can help you, and if you do not play the game, then you are in trouble, we will deport you, so the authorities want Josef Vassidy to help in getting the spy who took the pictures

 

It looks as if there was a mistake, the real bad character must have taken the wrong camera, and now we have a list of suspects, almost all with the appearance of being guilty, there are those two people, brother and sister, who turn out to be cousins and living ‘in sin’, they have to stay for thee months, until they can get married

Most of these truths are revealed gradually, like the situation in this other couple, where the man has a scene, witnessed by the guests of the hotel, wherein he clashes with his brother-in-law, and we get the background, how he eloped with his wife, then he would not have the means to support them and this brings trouble

 

Something I know of, and I will deviate from the topic – after saying that this was an excellent read – to relate what my spouse said a couple of hours ago – and then multiple times before that – you are a hoarder, no good, you need to fix the roof, put solar panels, stop bringing in garbage, aka carton boxes home

‘God save you, if I find any carton in the garage’, I mean it is like BDSM now, she gets to be the punisher, admittedly, I have done a world of bad shit, but about the carton, we have a fireplace, it is cold, we need a fire, there is none without something to start it

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence

Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

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