London: William Heinemann, (1956) dj. Hardcover first edition - The ninth novel by this author whom Graham Greene called "our greatest thriller writer" - and who is credited with creating the modern thriller, and in introducing a new realism to the espionage novel. As is many of his best books, the main character in this novel is an ordinary person who finds himself in an extraordinary - and dangerous - situation. In this case, a British consulting engineer had spent three years working on a dam in a newly independent small island nation which had been part of the Dutch East Indies. Now ready to return to England, instead he is unwillingly involved in a military coup. 233 pp. Wrap-around cover art by Judith Bledsoe.