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Lunch » Tags » Books » Reviews » Doctor Frigo

Doctor Frigo

1 rating: 3.0

A book by Eric Ambler

What pleasurable admiration one derives from the fact that in an age, and an area, where most writers become burnt-out cases, Eric Ambler - who after his classic beginnings and less remarkable middle years and books - is now getting better … see full wiki

Tags: Books, Cafe Libri, Politics, Family Relationships, Novels, Crime, see all

Author: Eric Ambler

Genre: Mystery, Literature

Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson

Date Published: November 1974

1 review about Doctor Frigo

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"Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died." Erma Bombeck

Jul 18, 2010

by mikedraper
posted in Cafe Libri: Reviewing Books & More

Rating:

Dr. Frigo is the nickname of Dr. Ernesto Castillo. His father either died or was assassinated and was a leading figure in the Democratic Socialist Party in St. Paul-les Alzes. With his death, leadership in the party would normally fall to Ernesto.

With this in mind, he's summoned to Commissaire Gillon's office to defend himself and assure the Commissaire that he wants no part of politics.

Segura Rojas, a compatriot of Castillo's father and Manuel Villegas, who leads the Mexican group of the party, return to the Island.

Ernesto's mistress, Elizabeth Martens tells him that she believes that the French Secret Service needs a victory and that's why they want Castillo's help.

A CIA agent becomes involved, offering bribes and looking ridiculous.

Gillon persuades Castillo that if he wants to know how his father really died, he should pretend to go along with Rojas and Villegas. Villegas had been in Mexico because he'd been exiled there by the junta that overthrew Castillo's father. His health wasn't good and Gillon and the CIA think that if they could get inside information on his health from Castillo, they would have an advantage.

The story is told in narrative style with little drama or suspense. It's more in the style of learning the facts from reading newspaper articles, simply put to the readers, to draw their own conclusions. The style reminded me of Graham Green in "The Honorary Consul."

The novel was written in 1974 and serves as an interesting account of what was accepted as a crime or mystery novel of that time.