The Thirty-Nine Steps

By John Buchan

John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir; 26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation. John Buchan wrote The Thirty-Nine Steps while he was ill in bed with a duodenal ulcer, an illness which remained with him all his life. The novel was his first "shocker", as he called it — a story combining personal and political dramas. The novel marked a turning point in Buchan's literary career and introduced his famous adventuring hero, Richard Hannay. He described a "shocker" as an adventure where the events in the story are unlikely and the reader is only just able to believe that they really happened. (Excerpt from Wikipedia)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Otbebookpublishing
• Release date: Jan 31, 2016
• ISBN: 9783958644281

John Buchan

Author of the iconic novel The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan filled many roles including barrister, colonial administrator, publisher, Director of Intelligence, and Member of Parliament. The Thirty-Nine Steps, first in the Richard Hannay series, is widely regarded as the starting point for espionage fiction and was written to pass time while Buchan recovered from an illness. During the outbreak of the First World War, Buchan wrote propaganda for the British war effort, combining his skills as author and politician. In 1935 Buchan was appointed the 15th Governor General of Canada and established the Governor General’s Literacy Award. Buchan was enthusiastic about literacy and the evolution of Canadian culture. He died in 1940 and received a state funeral in Canada before his ashes were returned to the United Kingdom.

Book preview

J.B.

CHAPTER ONE

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 to put you wise about a lot of things first. If you read your newspaper, I guess you know the name of Constantine Karolides?'

I sat up at that, for I had been reading about him that very afternoon.

'He is the man that has wrecked all their games. He is the one big brain in the whole show, and he happens also to be an honest man. Therefore he has been marked down these twelve months past. I found that out—not that it was difficult, for any fool could guess as much. But I found out the way they were going to get him, and that knowledge was deadly. That's why I have had to decease.'

He had another drink, and I mixed it for him myself, for I was getting interested in the beggar.

'They can't

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.

[thornton37814 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It’s 1914, and World War I is eminent. Richard Hannay (a Scot) sets up house in London, having returned from Rhodesia. He meets a fearful American spy named Franklin P. Scudder who believes a plot is afoot to assassinate the Greek premier when he visits London. Scudder claims to be following a German spy ring. He allows him to stay with him. Soon two deaths, including Scudder’s occur in the building. Hannay worries he will be next for the assassins, but he must investigate himself, since he is the chief suspect. Hannay pores over Scudder’s notes, once he has broken the cipher. They mention “39 steps.” After being introduced to the Foreign Office by a local aspiring politician, his heroic actions prevent England from divulging secrets to the Germans. I listened to an audio version taken from the Golden Age of Radio with an introduction by Orson Wells and performed by a theatrical company. One had to listen quite carefully over the crackles to hear the soft voices of the actors. The recording quality is quite bad, and I recommend that persons wanting to listen to this one do so sitting in their living room as the original radio broadcasts were heard.

[encephalical · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I commend Keegan's introduction to the Penguin Classics edition for not only not containing any spoliers, but for calling out those which do.

[mrsrk-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent book, and I enjoyed it from beginning to end. This is actually a series of five books. Following this one are: Greenmantle (1916), Mr. Standfast (1919), The Three Hostages (1924) and The Island of Sheep (1936). What led me to read “The 39 Steps” was James Hawes’ 2008 movie version starring Rupert Penry-Jones. I tried to watch Hitchcock’s version but couldn’t finish it, it was THAT bad. Although I enjoyed the modern movie, both fell very far from Buchan’s plot; there are so many changes the original story is barely recognizable. I can’t find a reasonable explanation for both directors adding female characters to the story; there were none in the book and no need for their addition. In fact, the Victoria Sinclair character of Hawes actually pushed Richard Hannay’s almost to second fiddle, when in the original story he was always the main character—and a very good one. Oddly, in the 2008 movie, all the glory goes to her—who did not even grace the original story. (Makes me wonder why the new 007 movies have a woman embodying “M,” when he was clearly a male in the original books…)

[julesjones_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Written in 1915 and definitely of its time regarding social attitudes, but enormous fun.

[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.

[meredy_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Six-word review: Preposterous spy story furnishes lightweight diversion.Extended review:I'd call this very short novel a goofy romp, secret codes and murders and conspiracies and all. The wonder of it is that after a century it still has an audience. And it has.My only prior acquaintance with this yarn was the 1935 Hitchcock movie, which turns out not to have much in common with the novel. I recently read the author's first, Prester John, and this does have a lot in common with that, not surprisingly. In his dedication he affectionately likens it to the then-familiar American genre "the dime novel," what we would probably now call pulp fiction: sensational thrillers without much meat to them that deliver easy escapist entertainment.Published early in the second year of the first World War, the story takes place in the months leading up to it, when suspicion, fear, and paranoia on an international scale must have been very high indeed. The hero, Richard Hannay, is a daring adventurer who takes up the challenge of a spy mission after an agent is killed in his apartment. His escapades across the English countryside are as boldly executed as they are reliant on surpassingly mad coincidence and what must be an entire pantheon of friendly, or at least highly amused, deities. There is something of substance here, though, and it may be in part the hero's frank appetite for action, in part the sustained theme of imposture and disguise. There is also the better-than-competent prose, ensuring that despite the laughable improbabilities of plot, it remains exciting and absorbing. If you're in the right mood for it, it'll give you a few cheerful hours.

[shrubbery_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Incredibly dated and laughably bad.

[charlotten_23 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

** spoiler alert ** If you like spy stories and political thrillers, this is the grandaddy of them all! Set in the lead-up to World War One, it chronicles the adventures of Richard Hannay in his quest to defend Britain's state secrets against German spies. Having been written in 1915, this was obviously a very topical subject at the time and the narrative is, understandably, anti-Germanic to a point that modern readers may have trouble identifying with. This goes also for hinted viewpoints on Jews and imperialism w...moreIf you like spy stories and political thrillers, this is the grandaddy of them all! Set in the lead-up to World War One, it chronicles the adventures of Richard Hannay in his quest to defend Britain's state secrets against German spies. Having been written in 1915, this was obviously a very topical subject at the time and the narrative is, understandably, anti-Germanic to a point that modern readers may have trouble identifying with. This goes also for hinted viewpoints on Jews and imperialism which sit unconfortably in the 21st century. However, don't let this take away from the books merits, of which there are many. It is certainly thrilling and very exciting, though it is not without its flaws. Firstly, much of the plot depends on some quite unlikely coincidences; for example, out of anywhere where Hannay could have chosen to hide as a fugitive, he picks the place where his enemies have their headquarters. Not only that but he quite by chance runs into someone who happens to be the godson of a high-ranking civil servant who is exactly the person Hannay needs to be in contact with. This must be why film adaptations often deviate quite significantly from the book. Also, the ending is a bit of an anti-climax. All in all though, this is worth reading and I would recommend it.

[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.

[helenliz_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was brilliant. Never seen any of the adaptions, although I did know something of what went on, but not the whole story. So I came to it very new. It's all a bit convolouted, and trying to describe the plot does tend to sink into melodrama, but somehow, when reading it, is seems entirely sensible. Richard Hannay has made his money in mining in the colonies and comes back to the UK - only to be bored out of his mind by London. He's just resolved to leave when he is accosted by a fellow flat holder and told a fable about a plot that sounds rather far-fetched. But he thinks the fellow is for real, so helps him out - only to have him murdered. whoops. So he's now wanted by the police and trying to foil a feindish plot all at the same time. It's not very long, but it packs an awful lot of narative into a small package. The climax is a grat piece of the study f human nature, and how you can start to doubt yourself when faced with what seems to be overwhelming evidence against you. Thrilling adventure and some great character studies throughout.

[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.

[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.

[pilgrimjess · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is yet another book that I find rather hard to write a review for and again it is mainly because I am of an age where I remember watching the film. I distinctly remember watching this movie at school and I guess that is the real problem, the book not only shows it's age but mine too.For those who do not know the plot, the book is told in the first person by Richard Hannay an ex-pat who has recently returned to the old ancestral homeland with a fair amount of money but with no friends or other ties and his is bored rigid. Then a neighbour is killed in his flat and the finds himself thrust into a spy mystery persued not only by the baddies but the police also.The book written nearly 100 years ago and is set in the run up to WW1. This book is important because it was one of the first real spy stories and as such marks a shift in literary trends but also touches on the prevailing class differences of the time. Hannay was a mine-engineer in Rhodesia, so reasonably working class, but has made some money abroad and now finds himself rubbing shoulders with the upper classes.With a long line of mis-adventures and disguise changes along the way ala Jason Bourne in the Bourne series but as this barely 100 pages long so there is little fleshing out of the various characters within. On the whole the book felt rather insubstantial and the ending a little rushed but you can certainly see why it has stood the test of time. A book of it's time hence 3 stars but perhaps it would have been better if I could get the image of Robert Powell racing across the country out of my mind

[carltonc_5 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Two short novels in this Folio edition.The Thirty-Nine Steps was as exciting as when read last time, although as I have seen the 1978 Robert Powell film version many times in between with my family, coming back to the original story was somewhat different, especially the character of Scudder at the start. An enjoyable old-fashioned adventure yarn that might have far too many coincidences, but still rattles along at a lovely pace.The second novel, The Power-House, was first published in 1913 and has Edward Leithen as the main character, a barrister early on in his career in this first book. Although this novel is a thriller, the next in the Edward Leithen series, the excellent John MacNab, is much more a hunting, shooting, fishing book.Both novels are understandably dated, but they give an interesting view into upper class (or upper-middle class) English society at the beginning of the twentieth century, as well as being rattling good reads.

[maggiecraig_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Re-read this classic tale of adventure and derring-do a few months ago. Still think it's a terrific yarn in its depiction of one man being hunted through the moors and hills of Galloway in south-west Scotland, pursued by the agents of a foreign power. We're building up to World War I, and tensions in Europe are rising.There's the occasional throwaway remark illustrating the casual prejudices of the time which can bring the modern reader up short but there's much to admire too, particularly the terrific sense of place and the great characterisation.

[joe8dane · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A fun, quick read.

[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.

[figgles_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Reading one Richard Hannay adventure is like taking a chocolate from a box, it's hard to stop at just the one. Brief and thrilling, if you can get over some of the cringworthy references to Jews (autre temps etc) it's the perfect read for a lazy afternoon. All JB's themes are there but the essence of a thriller is the working out of the formula and there is a magical sense of time and place.

[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!

[elliepotten · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Richard Hannay is bored out of his skull in London, and about ready to head abroad again in search of a more diverting life. But lo! In the first of many amazing coincidences, his American neighbour accosts him in the hallway that very day and begs him for help. He has discovered a cunning plot to start a war between Germany and Russia, and since he knows too much, the men in question want him dead.A day or two later, when Hannay finds said neighbour on his smoking room floor with a knife through his heart, he realises he must run - so run he does! With the police behind him for murder, and the warmongers out to stop him hijacking their plans at any cost, the book becomes a helter-skelter race against time as Hannay fights to stay alive long enough to act on his late friend's information and stop the dastardly German plot.There's a whole lot of running across moors and splashing through streams, improvised disguises and quick thinking, and, of course, hiding from that iconic aeroplane full of baddies. Buchan wrote that he meant this to be a "shocker' - the romance where the incidents defy the probabilities, and march just inside the borders of the possible' - and that is exactly what he delivers. It is fast and absorbing, faintly amusing and utterly absurd at times - and well worth a couple of hours of guilty-pleasure reading time!

[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.

[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.

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

A slight disappointment given this book is on so many "must read" lists. More Ian Fleming than John le Carre, with a shallow plot and even shallower protagonist. That said, the book was written in 1915 and arguably established the genre.

[ken1952 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Rather tame spy adventure. But without it there would have been no highly entertaining Alfred Hitchcock version. And without that there would have been no extraordinary stage version. It's a man-on-the-run tale that made me happy our hero was in shape.

[dbsovereign · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The classic later filmed by Alfred Hitchcock, this book is an adventure/romance whose hero/narrator exposes a spy ring and saves Britain from an invasion.

[furriebarry · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Fast paced and short. OK espionage pulp.

[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.)

[wendyrey · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An early version of the spy thriller.The hero and the story races round pre first world UK, from the south of England to the Scottish borders, pursued by the forces of evil - in this case Imperial German plotters and spies - through a series of implausibly lucky encounters and events. Boys Own stuff but a good read.