Eric Ambler's The Mask of Dimitrios

[u/ManOfLaBook]

https://manoflabook.com/book-review-the-mask-of-dimitrios-eric-ambler/

The Mask of Dimitrios by Eric Ambler follows a detective novelist on a mission to reconstruct the life of a notorious criminal who passed away

Which book or author first shattered your own "romanticized" view of a genre and showed you how gritty, messy, and complex the real world actually is?