''The Night-Comers'' is a 1956 novel by

Eric Ambler Eric Clifford Ambler OBE (28 June 1909 – 22 October 1998) 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 book ...

. In the United States it was published as ''State of Siege''. The cover artist when the book was reprinted by

Pan Books Pan Books is a publishing imprint that first became active in the 1940s and is now part of the British-based Macmillan Publishers, owned by the Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group of Germany. Pan Books began as an independent publisher, est ...

was S. R. Boldero.

Plot

Steve Fraser is an engineer working on a dam on the Southeast-Asian island of Sunda. Sunda is a former Dutch colony, which has recently become independent. Fraser's period of employment at an end, he goes to town to catch a plane out. He meets a half Dutch, half Sundan girl, Rosalie and both get caught up in a fundamentalist Islamic group's attempt to overthrow the provisional government and the subsequent battle around the radio station. An atmospheric tale of love and adventure.

Reception

The book was inspired by the recent

Indonesian National Revolution The Indonesian National Revolution, or the Indonesian War of Independence, was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between the Republic of Indonesia and the Dutch Empire and an internal social revolution during Aftermath of WWII, postw ...

. ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'' described it as "a sophisticated, circumspect drama of revolution and political terrorism... Not as sinister a chimera of intrigue as his earlier books, but an assured adventure tale to which the shifty, shifting character of this part of the world lends substance."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Night-Comers, The English thriller novels Novels by Eric Ambler 1956 British novels Heinemann (publisher) books