A Point of View bbc.co.uk | August 23 The characters in Eric Ambler's pre-war spy novels are adrift in a fractured and uncertain Europe, manipulated by forces they neither understand nor control. The books hold an uncomfortable mirror to the modern world, says philosopher John Gray. A once-famous writer recalls making a curious discovery as a small boy: Among the most peculiar memories of my childhood is that of discovering what was inside the ottoman. This was a sofa with a hinged seat covering a trunk-like storage space. Inside, I found dozens of very small human hands and feet. They were beautifully shaped and delicately carved and had been made in beech and boxwood... They were the hands and feet for the new marionettes. The author is Eric Ambler, whose 1930s novels created a new type of thriller. Born in 1909 into a family of music hall entertainers who ran a puppet show, Ambler seems to have become a writer almost by chance. A scholarship boy who trained as an engineer, ...