Why are Eric Ambler's novels so popular? Why are they timeless and even now, more than half a century after they were written, are read with unflagging interest? It's not so much the style of these works, but the unusualness of their heroes. They are not “James Bonds”, not supermen, not super spies and often not even professional intelligence officers, but the most ordinary people who happened to live in the era of the pre-war decade. Some actually work for the intelligence services, others simply turn out to be random participants in the Great Game. They are not without human weaknesses and are capable of both mistakes and miscalculations, as well as extraordinary manifestations of intelligence and courage, necessary for everyone who finds themselves drawn into an intelligence confrontation.