I recently picked up In the Wet. At first I thought, Oh, no, a story about a climate as bad as the one I live in. Then, suddenly, the story shifted into a science-fiction mode to follow a major character through a world, primarily about Britain and Australia, 30 years after the opening chapters set in the early 1950s (which is when Shute wrote and published the novel). At first, so natural was the transition, I didn't know that part of the novel was set so far in the future -- until the lead pulls out some coins dated 1963, 1972, and 1982. I suppose I should have guessed, too, when Shute tells us about airplanes of that time which take only 6-7 hours to cross the Atlantic from London to Ottawa!
I picked up JiF (odd how that acronym comes out!) in my high school years, and I think I've re-read it at least once since then. Very enjoyable read, though it did not turn me into an instant Ambler fan. It's the classic example of the spy novel before Ian Fleming changed the genre: an innocent person, i.e., someone who is not a professional spy or intelligence officer, caught up in spy intrigue and danger.
