The Thirty-Nine Steps

By John Buchan

Hanney, an expatriated Scot, returns from a long stay in South Africa to his flat in London. One night he is buttonholed by an American who appears to know of an anarchist plot to destabilise Europe, and claims to be in fear for his life. Hannay lets the American hide in his flat, and returns later to find that another man has been found shot dead in the same building, apparently a suicide. Four days later Hannay finds the American stabbed to death...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Booklassic
• Release date: Jun 22, 2015
• ISBN: 9789635245017

John Buchan

John Buchan was a Scottish diplomat, barrister, journalist, historian, poet and novelist. He published nearly 30 novels and seven collections of short stories. He was born in Perth, an eldest son, and studied at Glasgow and Oxford. In 1901 he became a barrister of the Middle Temple and a private secretary to the High Commissioner for South Africa. In 1907 he married Susan Charlotte Grosvenor and they subsequently had four children. After spells as a war correspondent, Lloyd George's Director of Information and Conservative MP, Buchan moved to Canada in 1935. He served as Governor General there until his death in 1940. Hew Strachan is Chichele Professor of the History of War at the University of Oxford; his research interests include military history from the 18th century to date, including contemporary strategic studies, but with particular interest in the First World War and in the history of the British Army.

Book preview

The Thirty-Nine Steps

John Buchan

Booklassic

2015

ISBN 978-963-524-501-7

TO

THOMAS ARTHUR NELSON

(LOTHIAN AND BORDER HORSE)

My Dear Tommy,

You and I have long cherished an affection for that elemental type of tale which Americans call the 'dime novel' and which we know as the 'shocker' — the romance where the incidents defy the probabilities, and march just inside the borders of the possible. During an illness last winter I exhausted my store of those aids to cheerfulness, and was driven to write one for myself. This little volume is the result, and I should like to put your name on it in memory of our long friendship, in the days when the wildest fictions are so much less improbable than the facts.

J.B.

Chapter 1

The Man Who Died

I returned from the City about three o'clock on that May afternoon pretty well disgusted with life. I had been three months in the Old Country, and was fed up with it. If anyone had told me a year ago that I would have been feeling like that I should have laughed at him; but there was the fact. The weather made me liverish, the talk of the ordinary Englishman made me sick, I couldn't get enough exercise, and the amusements of London seemed as flat as soda- water that has been standing in the sun. 'Richard Hannay,' I kept telling myself, 'you have got into the wrong ditch, my friend, and you had better climb out.'

It made me bite my lips to think of the plans I had been building up those last years in Bulawayo. I had got my pile — not one of the big ones, but good enough for me; and I had figured out all kinds of ways of enjoying myself. My father had brought me out from Scotland at the age of six, and I had never been home since; so England was a sort of Arabian Nights to me, and I counted on stopping there for the rest of my days.

But from the first I was disappointed with it. In about a week I was tired of seeing sights, and in less than a month I had had enough of restaurants and theatres and race-meetings. I had no real pal to go about with, which probably explains things. Plenty of people invited me to their houses, but they didn't seem much interested in me. They would fling me a question or two about South Africa, and then get on their own affairs. A lot of Imperialist ladies asked me to tea to meet schoolmasters from New Zealand and editors from Vancouver, and that was the dismalest business of all. Here was I, thirty-seven years old, sound in wind and limb, with enough money to have a good time, yawning my head off all day. I had just about settled to clear out and get back to the veld, for I was the best bored man in the United Kingdom.

That afternoon I had been worrying my brokers about investments to give my mind something to work on, and on my way home I turned into my club — rather a pot-house, which took in Colonial members. I had a long drink, and read the evening papers. They were full of the row in the Near East, and there was an article about Karolides, the Greek Premier. I rather fancied the chap. From all accounts he seemed the one big man in the show; and he played a straight game too, which was more than could be said for most of them. I gathered that they hated him pretty blackly in Berlin and Vienna, but that we were going to stick by him, and one paper said that he was the only barrier between Europe and Armageddon. I remember wondering if I could get a job in those parts. It struck me that Albania was the sort of place that might keep a man from yawning.

About six o'clock I went home, dressed, dined at the Cafe Royal, and turned into a music-hall. It was a silly show, all capering women and monkey-faced men, and I did not stay long. The night was fine and clear as I walked back to the flat I had hired near Portland Place. The crowd surged past me on the pavements, busy and chattering, and I envied the people for having something to do. These shop-girls and clerks and dandies and policemen had some interest in life that kept them going. I gave half-a-crown to a beggar because I saw him yawn; he was a fellow-sufferer. At Oxford Circus I looked up into the spring sky and I made a vow. I would give the Old Country another day to fit me into something; if nothing happened, I would take the next boat for the Cape.

My flat was the first floor in a new block behind Langham Place. There was a common staircase, with a porter and a liftman at the entrance, but there was no restaurant or anything of that sort, and each flat was quite shut off from the others. I hate servants on the premises, so I had a fellow to look after me who came in by the day. He arrived before eight o'clock every morning and used to depart at seven, for I never dined at home.

I was just fitting my key into the door when I noticed a man at my elbow. I had not seen him approach, and the sudden appearance made me start. He was a slim man, with a short brown beard and small, gimlety blue eyes. I recognized him as the occupant of a flat on the top floor, with whom I had passed the time of day on the stairs.

'Can I speak to you?' he said. 'May I come in for a minute?' He was steadying his voice with an effort, and his hand was pawing my arm.

I got my door open and motioned him in. No sooner was he over the threshold than he made a dash for my back room, where I used to smoke and write my letters. Then he bolted back.

'Is the door locked?' he asked feverishly, and he fastened the chain with his own hand.

'I'm very sorry,' he said humbly. 'It's a mighty liberty, but you looked the kind of man who would understand. I've had you in my mind all this week when things got troublesome. Say, will you do me a good turn?'

'I'll listen to you,' I said. 'That's all I'll promise.' I was getting worried by the antics of this nervous little chap.

There was a tray of drinks on a table beside him, from which he filled himself a stiff whisky-and-soda. He drank it off in three gulps, and cracked the glass as he set it down.

'Pardon,' he said, 'I'm a bit rattled tonight. You see, I happen at this moment to be dead.'

I sat down in an armchair and lit my pipe.

'What does it feel like?' I asked. I was pretty certain that I had to deal with a madman.

A smile flickered over his drawn face. 'I'm not mad — yet. Say, Sir, I've been watching you, and I reckon you're a cool customer. I reckon, too, you're an honest man, and not afraid of playing a bold hand. I'm going to confide in you. I need help worse than any man ever needed it, and I want to know if I can count you in.'

'Get on with your yarn,' I said, 'and I'll tell you.'

He seemed to brace himself for a great effort, and then started on the queerest rigmarole. I didn't get hold of it at first, and I had to stop and ask him questions. But here is the gist of it:

He was an American, from Kentucky, and after college, being pretty well off, he had started out to see the world. He wrote a bit, and acted as war correspondent for a Chicago paper, and spent a year or two in South-Eastern Europe. I gathered that he was a fine linguist, and had got to know pretty well the society in those parts. He spoke familiarly of many names that I remembered to have seen in the newspapers.

He had played about with politics, he told me, at first for the interest of them, and then because he couldn't help himself. I read him as a sharp, restless fellow, who always wanted to get down to the roots of things. He got a little further down than he wanted.

I am giving you what he told me as well as I could make it out. Away behind all the Governments and the armies there was a big subterranean movement going on, engineered by very dangerous people. He had come on it by accident; it fascinated him; he went further, and then he got caught. I gathered that most of the people in it were the sort of educated anarchists that make revolutions, but that beside them there were financiers who were playing for money. A clever man can make big profits on a falling market, and it suited the book of both classes to set Europe by the ears.

He told me some queer things that explained a lot that had puzzled me — things that happened in the Balkan War, how one state suddenly came out on top, why alliances were made and broken, why certain men disappeared, and where the sinews of war came from. The aim of the whole conspiracy was to get Russia and Germany at loggerheads.

When I asked why, he said that the anarchist lot thought it would give them their chance. Everything would be in the melting- pot, and they looked to see a new world emerge. The capitalists would rake in the shekels, and make fortunes by buying up wreckage. Capital, he said, had no conscience and no fatherland. Besides, the Jew was behind it, and the Jew hated Russia worse than hell. 'Do you wonder?' he cried. 'For three hundred years they have been persecuted, and this is the return match for the pogroms. The Jew is everywhere, but you have to go far down the backstairs to find him. Take any big Teutonic business concern. If you have dealings with it the first man you meet is Prince von und Zu Something, an elegant young man who talks Eton-and-Harrow English. But he cuts no ice. If your business is big, you get behind him and find a prognathous Westphalian with a retreating brow and the manners of a hog. He is the German business man that gives your English papers the shakes. But if you're on the biggest kind of job and are bound to get to the real boss, ten to one you are brought up against a little white-faced Jew in a bath-chair with an eye like a rattlesnake. Yes, Sir, he is the man who is ruling the world just now, and he has his knife in the Empire of the Tzar, because his aunt was outraged and his father flogged in some one-horse location on the Volga.'

I could not help saying that his Jew-anarchists seemed to have got left behind a little.

'Yes and no,' he said. 'They won up to a point, but they struck a bigger thing than money, a thing that couldn't be bought, the old elemental fighting instincts of man. If you're going to be killed you invent some kind of flag and country to fight for, and if you survive you get to love the thing. Those foolish devils of soldiers have found something they care for, and that has upset the pretty plan laid in Berlin and Vienna. But my friends haven't played their last card by a long sight. They've gotten the ace up their sleeves, and unless I can keep alive for a month they are going to play it and win.'

'But I thought you were dead,' I put in.

'Mors janua vitae,' he smiled. (I recognized the quotation: it was about all the Latin I knew.) 'I'm coming to that, but I've got

Reviews for The Thirty-Nine Steps

[haloedrain · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I was expecting more of a thriller, but after a while I stopped worrying about Hannay because the author keeps throwing him exactly what he needs, no matter how improbable.

[lisamorr · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Bored Richard Hannay has already had enough of London, after returning from a life abroad. But then a neighbor drops by and Richard's life becomes very exciting, very fast. The coincidences are unbelievable at times in this espionage thriller as Richard becomes embroiled in trying to stop a secret plot to undermine the British war effort as Europe marches towards WW1. Still it was a fun ride as Richard races across Scotland by train, car and on foot as he tries to shake his pursuers and expose the plot.

[jayne_charles_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book got me thinking about the way technology has developed over the years - to such a degree that a story like this could not really happen in the modern age. The main character would have been caught on so many CCTV cameras, and mobile phones would have been buzzing..... Not having modern communications made it possible to have chase stories like this, and whilst it's probably a bit far fetched even still it's all good fun.

[onlyhope1912 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very exciting book about a man accused of a murdering the only person who knew the secrets of the black stone and the thirty nine steps. Running from the police and the German spies, he tries to decipher a notebook written in code. This book is one exciting adventure to another, as he runs for his life. Can he manage to save England from the black stone and find the 39 steps before it's too late?

[mrsplum_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

At some future date, I will dedicate some time to writing the more detailed review this work deserves. In the interim, I will summarise by highly recommending this corking, ripping, absolutely spiffing yarn.

[reannon_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Having seen three different movie versions of this story (my favorite being the one with Robert Powell and David Warner) I wanted to read the book to see what the original story was. So I did, and frankly I like the movies better...it wasn't bad, just not great.It is the story of Richard Hanney, mining engineer, who has lived in Africa. Now he's made money and has come to London to see the sights, but is frankly bored until a spy named Scudder confides in him and is the murdered. Hannay is accused of the murder and runs until he can figure out how stop the enemy spies and clear his name.

[jeffome · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Nice, neat little book that moderately kept my interest. The constant focus on successful disguises kept it slightly out of my realm of believability. And I did also have a little trouble following the political crisis and what it was everyone was actually trying to stop.....but i may have been distracted. If nothing else, it makes me want to take a bike ride throughout England and Scotland to experience first-hand the scenery very vividly described.

[ponsonby_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Difficult to know what to say about this book, one of the first espionage 'thrillers'. As often observed it does contain a few racist lines (against Jewish people) but no more so than many other books of 19th and early 20th century period (cf Trollope). Its main flaws are (1) the unlikelihood of the chase situation which is set up (if you really wanted to disappear after a murder would you really go off to a lonely country area where you stick out like a sore thumb?) (2) the claim that the police would be on his track so efficiently when they would have no idea where he had gone, and (3) the schoolboy explanations of politics, national interest etc. Particularly funny is that the book envisages as a main plot driver that Britain would have shared its naval dispositions with France before WWI, as it actually did its army planning. Having read the book I can see why the various film versions have been based on substantial adaptations to the original plot. Worth reading if you have seen one of those adapatations, but probably not otherwise.

[cbl_tn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Even though I've always enjoyed espionage novels, for some reason I had never read Buchan's classic. I had only experienced it through the Hitchcock movie. With a new version airing on PBS's Masterpiece in a couple of weeks, I decided to do what I should have done a long time ago: read the book. Even though I had recently seen the Hitchcock version on TV, the movie plot had been altered enough that it didn't serve as a spoiler for the action in the book. I didn't have any more idea of what was coming next than the first person narrator did. If anything, I probably felt more dread than the narrator did. As the action started in May of 1914, he only feared what might happen given the current state of world affairs. I knew what happened just weeks later in the summer of 1914 that launched the world into a Great War. Buchan doesn't waste a lot of words in telling this story, so reading it doesn't involve a huge time commitment. I would encourage all mystery, thriller, and espionage fans to read this classic of the genre.

[furriebarry · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Fast paced and short. OK espionage pulp.

[michael8xolotl · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

2.75 stars. Contrived and repetitious but fairly entertaining in places. The play's better. ;)

[bzedan_2 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This is a classic, I think? I can see why. Average dude, who's luckily good at rolling with the death-punches, caught up in mystery! OMiG, state of England at stake!

[gammie_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book was chosen by our book club as we were looking for a mystery to read and what better place to start than with an original. I can't say that I found it terribly enjoyable, but considering that it was the first of it's kind and the starting point for future spy thrillers and mysteries it was worth reading. The best part, for me, was reading the dialogue as it was written "in accent". Can't beat the Scottish brogue!

[ggarfield_4 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is simply a fabulously atmospheric yarn which starts with a murder in London, is followed by a suspenseful chase through the moors, mountains and streams of Scotland and ends with a nail biting evening on the coast on England – but you’ll just have to read it to find out.

[nickelini · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

A series of endless and boring chase scenes set to terribly dated colloquialisms. I read it because it is the original spy thriller. They could only get better. (And this guy was made Governor General of Canada? Yikes.)

[ricday_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Classic. One of the first crime novels I can recall reading and one I thoroughly enjoyed.

[souloftherose · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

According to the dedication, John Buchan wrote this book whilst ill one winter when he had exhausted his supply of what he described as 'shocker' novels - 'the romance where the incidents defy the probabilities and march just inside the borders of the possible'. As a result he decided to write a 'shocker' novel himself and the result is one of the finest thriller/spy stories I've read. Published in 1915 the outlook of the colonial Richard Hannay can seem quaint and somewhat dated (and occasionally a little racist) but despite this The Thirty Nine Steps runs rings around most modern novels in this genre. Highly recommended.

[carl_alves_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Thirty-Nine Steps was written and is set in World War 1 era Europe, where conspiracies of worldwide war are at work. The story’s main character, Richard Hannay is leading a typical middle class life when he gets thrust in the middle of it all as a stranger shows up telling him of this conspiracy. When the stranger winds up dead, Richard takes it upon himself to bring the killers to justice and prevent the war from happening.This novel is part thriller, part spy novel. In comparison to other novels from that era, this is written at a fairly fast pace. Although conspiratorial in nature, it was interesting how many of the things written in the book came to pass and how true to life the novel was. Buchan shows a high skill-level in his writing. Richard Hanney is a bit of an everyman—someone who gets thrust into a crazy situation and rises to the occasion. My only real complaint is that the villains in the story weren’t terribly well-developed and their motives seemed a bit shaky. The final confrontation made me feel a bit ambivalent. This was a good read. I’m generally not into fiction written over a century ago, but I think this novel works.Carl Alves – author of Two For Eternity

[dorritt_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wow! This lovely, compact spy tale could well be the ur-text for all spy tales that have followed! It has everything – international conspiracy, adventure, villains, secret codes, disguise, foot/car/airplane chases, mistaken identity … even the requisite innocent outsider drawn into situation beyond their control. All stripped of unnecessary garnish and delivered at a breathtakingly brisk clip – so brisk that, by the end of the second chapter, our resourceful everyman protagonist, Richard Hanney, is already on the run from seemingly omnipotent villains intent upon killing him before he can reveal what he knows. When it comes to courage and resourcefulness, Jason Bourne has nothing on Hanney, but Ludlum could have learned a thing or two about pacing from John Buchan, the author of this suspenseful tale. Seriously, when was the last time you read a novel that was only 112 pages long? Nor should you be scared off by the novel’s 1915 publication date … believe me, this reads as briskly as a James Patterson and the international conspiracy at the core of the tale is as relevant today as it was back at the turn of the century. A terrific tale, well told … what more could you ask for?

[kristelh_15 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A classic, published in 1915, It is 100 years old this year. I've always wanted to read it and it is very quick, an easy one to get off the list of 1001 Books. It is an espionage novel, written by John Buchan during a time when he was sick in bed and had read everything he could get his hands on. It's fast paced, you really never know why or what is really going on but the main character is running from the police and trying to avoid capture by the spies that killed a man in his apartment. He had been bored until this adventure overtook him.

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I had read this years ago, but I literally didn't remember one word of it. According to the preface, it was written as a lark by a gentleman who had been ill and became bored reading dime novels. He thought he could write his own and went on to write several more. As a first effort, it was far more than just serviceable. It was entertaining and a bit suspenseful. You definitely could identify with the protagonist Richard Hannay. I look forward to reading Buchan's later Hannay works.

[drled_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Synopsis: Scottish born Hanney comes back from South Africa to his flat in London only to be confronted by an American who appears to know about an anarchist plot to destabilize Europe. After an apparent suicide and the murder of the American, Hanney flees for his life and ends up hiding in the Lake Country of England. Never knowing who to trust, Hanney must break up the plot and try to capture the anarchists.Review: This is one of the earliest novels about spies and plots to overthrow governments. While there are sections that are overly detailed, the story is involving.

[anniemod · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I am not sure why it took me so long to get around to reading Buchan - I had always known about his novels and they had always been somewhere on my TBR list but somehow I never got to them. I guess it was time to rectify that. Meet Richard Hannay - 37 years old, just back from Rhodesia (and now technically retired) and really bored. After all the excitement in South Africa, London and Britain are boring in the spring of 1914 (working out the year is not hard once you read the novel because the reference to the impeding and starting war is there but it is also as easy to figure it out in the first chapter when Hannay mentions the Balkan Wars and we know it is May - it cannot be 1913 because they are still raging and it cannot be 1915 because WWI had not started yet).Hannay is ready to catch a train to somewhere, anywhere if nothing happens... and then something does happen - a guy he had never met before confides in him about a huge conspiracy involving the powerful men of the day and within days, the guy is dead in Hannay's flat. The story is so outlandish that our hero is not sure how much to believe of it... but after the murder, he decides that the story must have merit and goes on a run in Scotland. Of course he manages to do it in a way that makes sure that he is blamed for the murder and our bored man is not on the run from both the police and the murderers. And somewhere along the way, it turns out that the conspiracy is not just real but that it is a lot more complicated than he thought. During his run Hannay meets all kind of different people - from a road worker to a politician wannabe to an old acquaintance; he manages to stumble right into the spies house (because the conspiracy involves foreign spies)- of course he does, there is no reason not to. Add to this a plane, a big explosion and Scotland Yard not just believing him but helping him at the end and the story is complete. It is a spy story from the times before every spy had to have a beautiful woman on his arm; before the time when a woman was mandatory for a novel and especially a spy novel. It is called one of the first novels with a man on a run and it is - the description of the run and the places where he goes through are done very well and make you want to read more. Buchan himself compares the novel to the dime novels so popular in the States at the time. And it really is very similar in tone to those pulp novels. But it is also very British in the way that only authors from the empire can make it. And despite its brevity, it makes you want to read about Hannay more - at least to see what else happens to him when he is bored... and what happens when he is not.

[kvrfan9 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is one of those rare instances where the movie was definitely better than the book. I can't remember much from the Hitchcock version, but PBS Masterpiece broadcast an updated version of The 39 Steps which was engaging, witty, and fun.

The original source material has plenty of movement--it certainly doesn't bother with character--but it strangely lacks much excitement. Though fully the first half of the story involves one long chase, the circumstances are reported so matter-of-factly that they lack any tension.

The 39 Steps, written in 1915, is recognized as the book that launched the whole genre of spy thrillers. As such, it is to be respected for its historical import. But as a "good read" almost a century later, I would search for an alternative among its many descendents.

[nmhale_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This adventure story is probably best known for its various movie adaptations, including Hitchcock's famous version. However, the story is significantly different. The main character has a different background and characterization, and the adventure is very focused on a rugged escapade in nature and matching wits against criminals.In essence, the story is about a young English Riched Hannay who is finding life in England unbearably stifling after his South African residence. This ennui is eradicated when a man living in a different floor in his building and asks for help. The American man reveals that he has stumbled upon an intricate plot to destabilize European government and power structure, starting with an attack against the British government. The man learned about a group of German spies called the Black Stone and he has been working on uncovering and thwarting them. He even faked his own death to throw his enemies off track. He has recently seen a dangerous adversary in town, however, and fears that he may be killed before he finishes his mission. He shows Richard his notebook full of encrypted clues, and asks for the favor of staying in Richard's flat for a few days.Richard thinks the man is a bit mad, but he allows him to stay with him.

[santhony_35 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

For Christmas, I ordered an mp3 player (Library of Classics) that was pre-loaded with 100 works of classic literature in an audio format. Each work is in the public domain and is read by amateurs, so the quality of the presentation is hit or miss. The Thirty Nine Steps is a suspense/mystery novel dealing with intrigue leading up to World War I. The British narrator receives a strange visitor who gives him sensitive information involving a possible assassination attempt on a Balkan dignitary. When the visitor is soon killed, the narrator realizes he is not only in trouble with the authorities (suspected of having murdered the victim), but even more so from the shadowy German organization who must silence him in order to proceed with their plans. The narrator leads the Germans on a merry chase, all the while trying to piece together their ultimate plan.This is not a bad piece of work, though it is relatively unremarkable. Very average in all respects.

[hardlyhardy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"The trouble about him was that he was too romantic. He had the artistic temperament, and wanted a story to be better than God meant it to be." -- John Buchan, "The Thirty-Nine Steps"John Buchan's words above, from his most famous novel, "The Thirty-Nine Steps," describe one of his characters, not himself. Buchan was not one to try to make a story "better than God meant it to be." His 1915 novel, in the version I read, is just 120 pages long, a fraction of what most espionage thrillers run today. Buchan, a pioneer in the genre, told just the basic story. A full century later the story still makes exciting reading, even if for anyone who has seen Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 movie based on the book, it feels like something is missing.That's because Hitchcock, who had an artistic temperament, added embellishments that Buchan, who was still living at the time, may have considered an attempt to make it better than God meant it to be. There's no woman, no character for Madeleine Carroll to play, in Buchan's novel. Nor is there a character called Mr. Memory, who reveals the 39 steps at the climax of the film. In Buchan's story, the 39 steps are, in fact, 39 steps, a staircase leading down to the beach, where spies plan to rendezvous.The basic plot remain unchanged in the film version. Richard Hannay learns of a German plot to learn British secrets before the outbreak of war. A murder in his flat sends him on the run, both to escape the German spies and to escape the police, who consider him the prime suspect in the murder. The story is mostly a long chase, with several narrow escapes.Hitchcock's movie would probably not be regarded as the classic it is today had it not been for the embellishments the director added. Yet the original novel reads just fine the way it is, as God, or at least John Buchan, intended.

[troyka-3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

very hard going when trying to understand dialect. it made it a chore for me, but its still a good book, just not dyslexia friendly.

[aront-2 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I heard this book read as an audio book on the best audio books' classic tales podcast. That's the only thing that made it bearable (check out the podcast it's excellent). Well the mercifully short ending helped. The fact that Hitchcock managed to make this into a fantastic film proves once again that books and their films are as closely related as a man and his fifth cousin twice removed.

[joe8dane · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A fun, quick read.