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Richard Hannay #1
The Thirty-Nine Steps
A Shocking Adventure Novel
“I believe everything out of the common. The only thing to distrust is the normal.” ― John Buchan, The 39 Steps
John Buchan's The Thirty-Nine Steps is a fast-paced adventure novel featuring Richard Hannay, a Scottish hero with a knack for getting himself into and out of trouble. The Thirty Nine Steps has been adapted many times, most notably by Alfred Hitchcock.
136 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1915
About the author
John Buchan
1,777 books479 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
John Buchan was a Scottish novelist, historian, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation.
As a youth, Buchan began writing poetry and prose, fiction and non-fiction, publishing his first novel in 1895 and ultimately writing over a hundred books of which the best known is The Thirty-Nine Steps. After attending Glasgow and Oxford universities, he practised as a barrister. In 1901, he served as a private secretary to Lord Milner in southern Africa towards the end of the Boer War. He returned to England in 1903, continued as a barrister and journalist. He left the Bar when he joined Thomas Nelson and Sons publishers in 1907. During the First World War, he was, among other activities, Director of Information in 1917 and later Head of Intelligence at the newly-formed Ministry of Information. He was elected Member of Parliament for the Combined Scottish Universities in 1927.
In 1935, King George V, on the advice of Canadian Prime Minister R. B. Bennett, appointed Buchan to succeed the Earl of Bessborough as Governor General of Canada and two months later raised him to the peerage as 1st Baron Tweedsmuir. He occupied the post until his death in 1940. Buchan promoted Canadian unity and helped strengthen the sovereignty of Canada constitutionally and culturally. He received a state funeral in Canada before his ashes were returned to the United Kingdom.
John Buchan was a Scottish novelist, historian, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation.
As a youth, Buchan began writing poetry and prose, fiction and non-fiction, publishing his first novel in 1895 and ultimately writing over a hundred books of which the best known is The Thirty-Nine Steps. After attending Glasgow and Oxford universities, he practised as a barrister. In 1901, he served as a private secretary to Lord Milner in southern Africa towards the end of the Boer War. He returned to England in 1903, continued as a barrister and journalist. He left the Bar when he joined Thomas Nelson and Sons publishers in 1907. During the First World War, he was, among other activities, Director of Information in 1917 and later Head of Intelligence at the newly-formed Ministry of Information. He was elected Member of Parliament for the Combined Scottish Universities in 1927.
In 1935, King George V, on the advice of Canadian Prime Minister R. B. Bennett, appointed Buchan to succeed the Earl of Bessborough as Governor General of Canada and two months later raised him to the peerage as 1st Baron Tweedsmuir. He occupied the post until his death in 1940. Buchan promoted Canadian unity and helped strengthen the sovereignty of Canada constitutionally and culturally. He received a state funeral in Canada before his ashes were returned to the United Kingdom.
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October 28, 2023
I enjoyed both the 1935 and 1959 film adaptations, so figured it was time to finally read this classic from 1915!
The Thirty-Nine Steps follows Richard Hannay who is bored with life, and soon finds himself framed for murder and involved in a complex assassination plot. He goes on the run and seems to enjoy himself, despite the perils of being pursued by Scotland Yard and other mysterious enemies. It was undeniably British and gave me a few laughs.
“I was getting worried by the antics of this nervous little chap.”
It simultaneously felt ahead of its time, preceding the likes of Bond and le Carre, while also feeling dated, unable to avoid problematic language of the era. Ciphers, murder, intrigue. It’s all there. I occasionally found myself confused, as the plot veered into the far-fetched. One character, Sir Walter, described it best:
“But all this about war and the Black Stone - it reads like some wild melodrama.”
The Thirty-Nine Steps is fast-paced. In fact, it only knows one pace, and almost becomes tedious, despite the short length. Hannay basically just runs around the Scottish countryside borrowing clothes from people and embracing new roles – road worker, milkman, chauffeur – to name a few.
While some characters were under-developed, Scotland was not. John Buchan’s love for his home country was evident throughout. It was the highlight. The descriptions, the people, the use of Scots language. Brilliant. If the whole book had been like that, I would’ve been happy.
“We rumbled slowly into a land of little wooded glens and then to a great wide moorland place, gleaming with lochs, with high blue hills showing northwards.”
For me, The Thirty-Nine Steps is a case of the films being better than the book - but it’s clear to see the influence John Buchan’s novel had on the genre. Despite this, I was entertained and intrigued as to what the rest of the series has in store for Richard Hannay. Now to rewatch the films!
The Thirty-Nine Steps follows Richard Hannay who is bored with life, and soon finds himself framed for murder and involved in a complex assassination plot. He goes on the run and seems to enjoy himself, despite the perils of being pursued by Scotland Yard and other mysterious enemies. It was undeniably British and gave me a few laughs.
“I was getting worried by the antics of this nervous little chap.”
It simultaneously felt ahead of its time, preceding the likes of Bond and le Carre, while also feeling dated, unable to avoid problematic language of the era. Ciphers, murder, intrigue. It’s all there. I occasionally found myself confused, as the plot veered into the far-fetched. One character, Sir Walter, described it best:
“But all this about war and the Black Stone - it reads like some wild melodrama.”
The Thirty-Nine Steps is fast-paced. In fact, it only knows one pace, and almost becomes tedious, despite the short length. Hannay basically just runs around the Scottish countryside borrowing clothes from people and embracing new roles – road worker, milkman, chauffeur – to name a few.
While some characters were under-developed, Scotland was not. John Buchan’s love for his home country was evident throughout. It was the highlight. The descriptions, the people, the use of Scots language. Brilliant. If the whole book had been like that, I would’ve been happy.
“We rumbled slowly into a land of little wooded glens and then to a great wide moorland place, gleaming with lochs, with high blue hills showing northwards.”
For me, The Thirty-Nine Steps is a case of the films being better than the book - but it’s clear to see the influence John Buchan’s novel had on the genre. Despite this, I was entertained and intrigued as to what the rest of the series has in store for Richard Hannay. Now to rewatch the films!
November 11, 2022
Scotsman John Buchan’s fabulous The Thirty-Nine Steps is rightly considered a seminal classic in the Adventure/Spy genre, and it is for good reason it was on The Guardian’s Best 100 English Novels list at #42.
This exciting tale of espionage defined the man-on-the-run tale in breathless fashion, and was the first of the author’s Richard Hannay tales. What remains remarkable is the contemporary prose. Though it takes place before the first World War, offering insight into the view of what was happening at the time, the tale is timeless, and with minor changes, could easily be a thrilling espionage adventure told in our day. Books need to be judged within their context, and while most do, some don't. This classic has a solid four-star average after hundreds of reviews on Amazon in the US, which accurately reflects how much fun this is to read.
That's not to say some of what happens isn't implausible, almost Cornell Woolrich level implausible, but with a style and pace which makes Robert Ludlum (another great writer who was no pretentious critic's darling) seem lethargic; no easy task. The reader is having so much fun they simply don’t care that it's hardly plausible. It is, after all, fiction. Reading The Thirty-Nine Steps is fun and exciting, which is what it is supposed to be. Watching Hannay escape time after time until the thrilling confrontation and conclusion is exhilarating.
Buchan writes as though using lighting bolts rather than a pen, taking readers along for the electric-charged ride. The Thirty-Nine Steps is the quintessential can’t-put-down read. That thrill you got as a youngster reading a mystery adventure by flashlight beneath the covers was captured by Buchan, but it was moved forward into adulthood. On that level it doesn't just succeed, it shines. It's on The Guardian's list for good reason.
The book differs from Hitchcock’s famous British film adaptation in that there is no love interest for Hannay here; frankly because as a boys adventure story brought forward into adulthood, it isn’t needed. A rollicking good old-fashioned tale that set a bar seldom reached since it was written. The 39 Steps is fabulous fun and quite enjoyable when read, if you don't make comparisons with spy novels written many decades later, and why would you do that? This edition of this seminal work has an excellent biography at the end readers will most likely enjoy. Highly recommended.
This exciting tale of espionage defined the man-on-the-run tale in breathless fashion, and was the first of the author’s Richard Hannay tales. What remains remarkable is the contemporary prose. Though it takes place before the first World War, offering insight into the view of what was happening at the time, the tale is timeless, and with minor changes, could easily be a thrilling espionage adventure told in our day. Books need to be judged within their context, and while most do, some don't. This classic has a solid four-star average after hundreds of reviews on Amazon in the US, which accurately reflects how much fun this is to read.
That's not to say some of what happens isn't implausible, almost Cornell Woolrich level implausible, but with a style and pace which makes Robert Ludlum (another great writer who was no pretentious critic's darling) seem lethargic; no easy task. The reader is having so much fun they simply don’t care that it's hardly plausible. It is, after all, fiction. Reading The Thirty-Nine Steps is fun and exciting, which is what it is supposed to be. Watching Hannay escape time after time until the thrilling confrontation and conclusion is exhilarating.
Buchan writes as though using lighting bolts rather than a pen, taking readers along for the electric-charged ride. The Thirty-Nine Steps is the quintessential can’t-put-down read. That thrill you got as a youngster reading a mystery adventure by flashlight beneath the covers was captured by Buchan, but it was moved forward into adulthood. On that level it doesn't just succeed, it shines. It's on The Guardian's list for good reason.
The book differs from Hitchcock’s famous British film adaptation in that there is no love interest for Hannay here; frankly because as a boys adventure story brought forward into adulthood, it isn’t needed. A rollicking good old-fashioned tale that set a bar seldom reached since it was written. The 39 Steps is fabulous fun and quite enjoyable when read, if you don't make comparisons with spy novels written many decades later, and why would you do that? This edition of this seminal work has an excellent biography at the end readers will most likely enjoy. Highly recommended.
August 18, 2012
I am currently working my way through the list of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die and decided to read Buchan's short mystery/spy novel because it seemed like a quick and easy option to take me a step closer to maybe one day completing the list. I never imagined it would be such a painfully boring slog.
Some books made the big list because they are actually good, some because they are (or were) scandalous, some because they are so far away from pretty much everything else that's been written, and some because they kick-started something or opened up a new type of genre and/or storytelling. I believe The Thirty-Nine Steps falls into this last category. It arguably introduced the world to the "spy" genre and has resulted in many attempted imitations over the years since its publication in 1915. But in terms of plot, writing and characters it just seems to me to have very little to offer. It may be one of the first of its kind, but many other authors have bettered the genre, in my opinion. I would use John le Carré as a prime example.
The novel begins with the bored Richard Hannay who is determined to give London just one more day to hold his interest before he leaves for a more exciting alternative abroad. Richard, however, gets way more than he bargained for when a new American acquaintance is murdered in Hannay's flat just a few days after the pair meet. Realising he is now likely the main target of the group who assassinated his new friend, and realising he will be the police force's main suspect for the murder, Richard takes off on the run around Scotland.
Richard is given very little characterization or development, he has no personality and the novel focuses on what happens to him, instead of who he is, why he acts in a particular way, or what he cares about - apart from the desire to avoid capture by the police or the assassins. Though he is being chased by two groups who either want to kill him or lock him up, I got no sense of his fear, desperation or urgency. The novel lacked emotion and I felt like I could be reading a cold, uncaring police report of events, rather than a first-hand account of them. This whole mess seemed like a little inconvenience in Richard Hannay's life, not something that was a real danger to him.
Most of all, it was boring. The conclusion wasn't satisfying enough to be worth putting up with the sequence of boring events for. I think this review says a lot about the novel's plot: "He runs around in the fields. A lot. He hides in this field. He hides in that field. Some shadowy figures close in, and off he goes, running again." An excellent and accurate summary, in my opinion.
Some books made the big list because they are actually good, some because they are (or were) scandalous, some because they are so far away from pretty much everything else that's been written, and some because they kick-started something or opened up a new type of genre and/or storytelling. I believe The Thirty-Nine Steps falls into this last category. It arguably introduced the world to the "spy" genre and has resulted in many attempted imitations over the years since its publication in 1915. But in terms of plot, writing and characters it just seems to me to have very little to offer. It may be one of the first of its kind, but many other authors have bettered the genre, in my opinion. I would use John le Carré as a prime example.
The novel begins with the bored Richard Hannay who is determined to give London just one more day to hold his interest before he leaves for a more exciting alternative abroad. Richard, however, gets way more than he bargained for when a new American acquaintance is murdered in Hannay's flat just a few days after the pair meet. Realising he is now likely the main target of the group who assassinated his new friend, and realising he will be the police force's main suspect for the murder, Richard takes off on the run around Scotland.
Richard is given very little characterization or development, he has no personality and the novel focuses on what happens to him, instead of who he is, why he acts in a particular way, or what he cares about - apart from the desire to avoid capture by the police or the assassins. Though he is being chased by two groups who either want to kill him or lock him up, I got no sense of his fear, desperation or urgency. The novel lacked emotion and I felt like I could be reading a cold, uncaring police report of events, rather than a first-hand account of them. This whole mess seemed like a little inconvenience in Richard Hannay's life, not something that was a real danger to him.
Most of all, it was boring. The conclusion wasn't satisfying enough to be worth putting up with the sequence of boring events for. I think this review says a lot about the novel's plot: "He runs around in the fields. A lot. He hides in this field. He hides in that field. Some shadowy figures close in, and off he goes, running again." An excellent and accurate summary, in my opinion.
April 6, 2017
”I know what it is to feel lonely and helpless and to have the whole world against me, and those are things that no men or women ought to feel.” Richard Hanney in The 39 Steps.
In the edition that I read Toby Buchan, grandson of John Buchan, wrote an introduction that was almost an apology. About half way through the book I understood the need for an apology. The book pales in comparison to the movie. The writing is jaunty and for a while sustains the reader, but soon I was searching desperately for the dialogue or the scenes that I loved most about the movie.
They are not there.
Charles Bennett adapted the novel to the screen and Ian Hay wrote the dialogue. They took a Buchan framework and turned it into an entertaining and exciting movie. I recently rewatched The 39 Steps (1935) during one of the Hitchcock weekends on TCM which made me that much more interested in reading the book that inspired the movie. Most of the book is one long chase scene involving motor cars, planes, bicycles, and leg races over hill and dale. There are numerous disguises, car crashes, and one rather large explosion. No overtones of sexual attraction or for that matter... women. It is a boy’s adventure played by a 37 year old man who has made his fortune in Rhodesia and found himself in dire circumstances when he decides to see London.
Indulge me while I plug the movie.
I had three favorite scenes from the movie that I hoped would be in the book or at least that there would be other memorable scenes that Bennett and Hay decided not to use. None of these scenes are in the book unfortunately.
The scene with the farmer’s wife that the writers and Hitchcock managed to convey to the watcher in so brief a span of time how lonely and desperate her life is married to a jealous, older, crusty man with no hope of respite. When the Richard Hanney character played by Robert Donat kisses her as he scrambles out a back door with her husband’s coat and hat I felt like cheering. That kiss, so easy to give, might be the very thing she needs to sustain herself or to break free.
The scene where Richard Hanney has made it to what he feels is a safe haven only to discover that his benefactor is the very man he has been trying to thwart.
In the course of the movie Richard Haney ends up cuffed to a hostile female named Pamela played by Madeleine Carroll. They escape from police custody and end up wet and very annoyed with each other in a room over a bar. They have the police and a pair of henchmen looking for them. In the room she sits down to peel her wet stockings off her legs and because he is cuffed to her his hand travels down each leg with her hands. It is one of the most sensual, sexy scenes in movie history and no one is naked.
Toby Buchan did provide me with a tidbit of information in his introduction to the book that was interesting. The character of Richard Hanney was based off the exploits of Lord Edmund Ironside, 1st Baron Ironside who had a long distinguished British military career. He commanded forces in WWI and WWII ending his career as a Field Marshal. John Buchan when he was writing this book in 1914 was only aware of Edmund “Tiny” Ironside’s exploits during the Boer War.
At the end of the war, he was part of the small force which escorted Jan Smuts to the peace negotiations. He then disguised himself as an Afrikaans-speaking Boer, and took a job as a wagon driver working for the German colonial forces in South West Africa. This intelligence work ended unsuccessfully, however; he was identified, and escaped shortly before being caught. This escapade later led to claims that he was the model for Richard Hannay, a character in the novels of John Buchan; it is interesting to note that Ironside himself enjoyed these novels, reading Mr Standfast in the implausibly romantic setting of the passenger seat of an open-cockpit biplane flying from Iraq to Persia. Wikipedia
You can probably guess which one is Edmund “Tiny” Ironside.
I prefer my armchair traveling where I can experience escaping captivity or flying in an open-cockpit biplane from Iraq to Persia from the safety of my oversized leather reading chair, but it does make me feel like my life is...well...a bit pedestrian.
My advice is to skip the book and go watch the movie.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
In the edition that I read Toby Buchan, grandson of John Buchan, wrote an introduction that was almost an apology. About half way through the book I understood the need for an apology. The book pales in comparison to the movie. The writing is jaunty and for a while sustains the reader, but soon I was searching desperately for the dialogue or the scenes that I loved most about the movie.
They are not there.
Charles Bennett adapted the novel to the screen and Ian Hay wrote the dialogue. They took a Buchan framework and turned it into an entertaining and exciting movie. I recently rewatched The 39 Steps (1935) during one of the Hitchcock weekends on TCM which made me that much more interested in reading the book that inspired the movie. Most of the book is one long chase scene involving motor cars, planes, bicycles, and leg races over hill and dale. There are numerous disguises, car crashes, and one rather large explosion. No overtones of sexual attraction or for that matter... women. It is a boy’s adventure played by a 37 year old man who has made his fortune in Rhodesia and found himself in dire circumstances when he decides to see London.
Indulge me while I plug the movie.
I had three favorite scenes from the movie that I hoped would be in the book or at least that there would be other memorable scenes that Bennett and Hay decided not to use. None of these scenes are in the book unfortunately.
The scene with the farmer’s wife that the writers and Hitchcock managed to convey to the watcher in so brief a span of time how lonely and desperate her life is married to a jealous, older, crusty man with no hope of respite. When the Richard Hanney character played by Robert Donat kisses her as he scrambles out a back door with her husband’s coat and hat I felt like cheering. That kiss, so easy to give, might be the very thing she needs to sustain herself or to break free.
The scene where Richard Hanney has made it to what he feels is a safe haven only to discover that his benefactor is the very man he has been trying to thwart.
In the course of the movie Richard Haney ends up cuffed to a hostile female named Pamela played by Madeleine Carroll. They escape from police custody and end up wet and very annoyed with each other in a room over a bar. They have the police and a pair of henchmen looking for them. In the room she sits down to peel her wet stockings off her legs and because he is cuffed to her his hand travels down each leg with her hands. It is one of the most sensual, sexy scenes in movie history and no one is naked.
Toby Buchan did provide me with a tidbit of information in his introduction to the book that was interesting. The character of Richard Hanney was based off the exploits of Lord Edmund Ironside, 1st Baron Ironside who had a long distinguished British military career. He commanded forces in WWI and WWII ending his career as a Field Marshal. John Buchan when he was writing this book in 1914 was only aware of Edmund “Tiny” Ironside’s exploits during the Boer War.
At the end of the war, he was part of the small force which escorted Jan Smuts to the peace negotiations. He then disguised himself as an Afrikaans-speaking Boer, and took a job as a wagon driver working for the German colonial forces in South West Africa. This intelligence work ended unsuccessfully, however; he was identified, and escaped shortly before being caught. This escapade later led to claims that he was the model for Richard Hannay, a character in the novels of John Buchan; it is interesting to note that Ironside himself enjoyed these novels, reading Mr Standfast in the implausibly romantic setting of the passenger seat of an open-cockpit biplane flying from Iraq to Persia. Wikipedia
You can probably guess which one is Edmund “Tiny” Ironside.
I prefer my armchair traveling where I can experience escaping captivity or flying in an open-cockpit biplane from Iraq to Persia from the safety of my oversized leather reading chair, but it does make me feel like my life is...well...a bit pedestrian.
My advice is to skip the book and go watch the movie.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
June 20, 2025
What Hitchcock does with this novel is what Italy did for ground meat with the first lasagna. The meat is here - a race against time and up to Scotland and back - but it might, if you love the Robert Donat film, think it needs . . . something. Salt? Pepper? A blonde? Perhaps a scene where the hero handcuffs himself to a woman in a bedroom. That just might do it.
The 1935 film has all the hallmarks of its era. There is suspense and tension, romance, and light comedy. All of it a welcome respite for Depression audiences. The story line of world affairs in the balance is vague yet would be familiar to anyone at the time hearing the rumblings from Europe. It may not be clear what is afoot but they knew it wasn't good.
John Buchan's The 39 Steps came out in the years before altogether different war. Not the Second World War but the First. The action is contemporary to that summer before the world changed and the twentieth century began its decline into butchery.
Its innocence is reflective of the time. Similarly, Jean Rhys wrote a short story called "'Til September Petronella" about an outing to the country for some young people on the eve of the First World War. If it seems to our current tastes that more should happen in both pieces of literature, it might be good to remember the dates when they are set. It is not merely summer. It is "that" summer. While Rhys wrote her short story after events, Buchan is writing in the immediacy of the time which was rife with rumors of German spies.
For readers who grew up on James Bond films or any with Tom Cruise running/flying here and there across screens, it can seem that more should happen in Buchan's novel. Lovers of the Hitchcock film will also be disappointed there are no scenes with silk stockings on its actual pages. The romance is strictly for Scotland. This is what excites this Scottish author. The landscape is not merely a hiding place for the hero on the run. It is what drives him on. It is part of the mystery that he is trying to uncover. It is rough and wild and exciting as London is not.
"[T]he amusements of London seemed as flat as soda-water that has been standing in the sun," Richard Hannay tells us at the start of Chapter I, The Man Who Died. "[Y]ou have got into the wrong ditch, my friend, and you had better climb out," he tells himself.
Who hasn't felt that? Ruts. We are all susceptible. And it's by confessing his boredom that Richard Hannay won me over. I hate boredom. I often am. That's when life starts to get interesting.
The 1935 film has all the hallmarks of its era. There is suspense and tension, romance, and light comedy. All of it a welcome respite for Depression audiences. The story line of world affairs in the balance is vague yet would be familiar to anyone at the time hearing the rumblings from Europe. It may not be clear what is afoot but they knew it wasn't good.
John Buchan's The 39 Steps came out in the years before altogether different war. Not the Second World War but the First. The action is contemporary to that summer before the world changed and the twentieth century began its decline into butchery.
Its innocence is reflective of the time. Similarly, Jean Rhys wrote a short story called "'Til September Petronella" about an outing to the country for some young people on the eve of the First World War. If it seems to our current tastes that more should happen in both pieces of literature, it might be good to remember the dates when they are set. It is not merely summer. It is "that" summer. While Rhys wrote her short story after events, Buchan is writing in the immediacy of the time which was rife with rumors of German spies.
For readers who grew up on James Bond films or any with Tom Cruise running/flying here and there across screens, it can seem that more should happen in Buchan's novel. Lovers of the Hitchcock film will also be disappointed there are no scenes with silk stockings on its actual pages. The romance is strictly for Scotland. This is what excites this Scottish author. The landscape is not merely a hiding place for the hero on the run. It is what drives him on. It is part of the mystery that he is trying to uncover. It is rough and wild and exciting as London is not.
"[T]he amusements of London seemed as flat as soda-water that has been standing in the sun," Richard Hannay tells us at the start of Chapter I, The Man Who Died. "[Y]ou have got into the wrong ditch, my friend, and you had better climb out," he tells himself.
Who hasn't felt that? Ruts. We are all susceptible. And it's by confessing his boredom that Richard Hannay won me over. I hate boredom. I often am. That's when life starts to get interesting.
November 20, 2023
A quick novella, coming in just under 100 pages of Richard Hannay on the run!
Published in 1914 and set in the same era, pre-war Britain, it is recognised as the origin story of all espionage thrillers.
What can be said that has not already about a book rated by 39000 GR readers and reviewed by over 3000? No real need to outline the plot, but I will say the German plot that was exposed was complicated enough that I never really grasped it, but the book so short that it was east to move on from that detail to watching Mr Hannay change disguises every chapter and stumble upon unlikely circumstance after crazy coincidence!
While it was a bit dated, with some racial and class distinctions identified, taken in context it was a fast, amusing and clever enough novella, which I am glad I read.
I picked up my paperback edition along with a copy of Hannay's second adventure, the slightly longer Greenmantle, which I might just crack on with now, since I developed a taste and the Thirty-Nine Steps was over so quick!
3.5 stars, rounded up.
-------
Book #2 Greenmantle
Published in 1914 and set in the same era, pre-war Britain, it is recognised as the origin story of all espionage thrillers.
What can be said that has not already about a book rated by 39000 GR readers and reviewed by over 3000? No real need to outline the plot, but I will say the German plot that was exposed was complicated enough that I never really grasped it, but the book so short that it was east to move on from that detail to watching Mr Hannay change disguises every chapter and stumble upon unlikely circumstance after crazy coincidence!
While it was a bit dated, with some racial and class distinctions identified, taken in context it was a fast, amusing and clever enough novella, which I am glad I read.
I picked up my paperback edition along with a copy of Hannay's second adventure, the slightly longer Greenmantle, which I might just crack on with now, since I developed a taste and the Thirty-Nine Steps was over so quick!
3.5 stars, rounded up.
-------
Book #2 Greenmantle
November 24, 2020
Run-of-the-mill outmoded thriller. With conventions that pile on & on like wretched clichés, "The 39 Steps" is somewhat thrilling, somewhat entertaining. A sure predecessor to "The Fugitive," it has our main man running from the law while hiding and acting the parts of the British "lower" classes. The theme being that camouflage is the best defense, while you're out on the offense.
There's reverse psychology, the usurping of identities, and the amateur loss of evidence (here, a motor-car, a bicycle). Stupid, gullible people, drunk sometimes, also stumble upon the protagonist just when he needs them, the pre-W.W.I Good Samaritans, the most.
Simply: It's a hide-and-seek in the British countryside.
Tame, slightly engrossing, a tad too unspecial in a world filled with more complex and superior stories of detection. Yes, it being a prewar novel, it has some historical value. But still.
There's reverse psychology, the usurping of identities, and the amateur loss of evidence (here, a motor-car, a bicycle). Stupid, gullible people, drunk sometimes, also stumble upon the protagonist just when he needs them, the pre-W.W.I Good Samaritans, the most.
Simply: It's a hide-and-seek in the British countryside.
Tame, slightly engrossing, a tad too unspecial in a world filled with more complex and superior stories of detection. Yes, it being a prewar novel, it has some historical value. But still.
September 30, 2025
سی و نه پله همونجور که از اسمش پیداست، قصهایه که پلهپله میره بالا، گاهی با نفسنفسزدن و گاهی با یک جهش هیجانانگیز. 😎🥸رمان در ژانر ماجراجویی_جاسوسی نوشته شده و ساختار رواییش خطی و سادهست، راوی همهچیز رو مستقیم و بیدور زدن برای خواننده تعریف میکنه.
داستان با یک قتل و ورود راوی (ریچارد هنی) به ماجرایی بزرگتر از خودش شروع میشه. از همون اول حس تعقیبوگریز و معما، آدم رو کنجکاو میکنه که صفحه بعدی رو بخونه. فرارها، تغییر مکانهای سریع و اتفاقهای پشت سر هم باعث میشه کتاب، بهخصوص در نیمهی اول، ریتم خوبی داشته باشه. حتی لابهلای این هیجان، رگههای طنز و شوخیهای ظریف نویسنده باعث میشه سنگینی فضای جاسوسی کمی سبکتر بشه.
روایت ساده و قابلفهم داستان باعث میشه که حتی وقتی اسمها و شخصیت های مختلف به داستان اضافه میشه و از جغرافیا و مناظر طبیعی اسکاتلند برای تنوع فضایی داستان استفاده میشه، باز هم مخاطب سردرگم نشه و بتونه هر شخصیتی رو با فضای خودش به خوبی به یاد بیاره.
اما شخصیتها گاهی هم کاریکاتوری باقی میمونن، حتی خود هنی، با همهی فرارهای شگفتانگیزش، کمی بیش از حد ابرقهرمان بهنظر میرسه، که البته بخاطر ماهیت فانتزی داستان، بنظرم باعث جذابیت کتاب شده، اما شاید نقطه ضعف داستان این باشه که بعضی صحنهها خیلی سریع و بدون پرداخت کافی حلوفصل میشن، انگار نویسنده عجله داشته به پله بعدی برسه، گاهی هم تعقیبها شبیه هم درمیاد.
لحن کتاب هم حالوهوای بریتانیایی اوایل قرن بیستم رو خوب منتقل میکنه، ی جور ترکیب خشک انگلیسی با چاشنی طنز که گاهی خندهدار و گاهی سرد به نظر میرسه.
در مجموع، سی و نه پله مثل ی فیلم کلاسیک اکشن-جاسوسی دهههای قدیمه. جذاب، کمی اغراقشده، با قهرمانی که همیشه ی راه فرار پیدا میکنه. کتاب برای ی بار خوندن بانمک وسرگرمکنندهست، اما برای امتیاز بالاتر از ۳ باید شخصیتها عمق بیشتری پیدا میکردن و پایانبندی کمی پراثرتر میبود...🕵♂️
داستان با یک قتل و ورود راوی (ریچارد هنی) به ماجرایی بزرگتر از خودش شروع میشه. از همون اول حس تعقیبوگریز و معما، آدم رو کنجکاو میکنه که صفحه بعدی رو بخونه. فرارها، تغییر مکانهای سریع و اتفاقهای پشت سر هم باعث میشه کتاب، بهخصوص در نیمهی اول، ریتم خوبی داشته باشه. حتی لابهلای این هیجان، رگههای طنز و شوخیهای ظریف نویسنده باعث میشه سنگینی فضای جاسوسی کمی سبکتر بشه.
روایت ساده و قابلفهم داستان باعث میشه که حتی وقتی اسمها و شخصیت های مختلف به داستان اضافه میشه و از جغرافیا و مناظر طبیعی اسکاتلند برای تنوع فضایی داستان استفاده میشه، باز هم مخاطب سردرگم نشه و بتونه هر شخصیتی رو با فضای خودش به خوبی به یاد بیاره.
اما شخصیتها گاهی هم کاریکاتوری باقی میمونن، حتی خود هنی، با همهی فرارهای شگفتانگیزش، کمی بیش از حد ابرقهرمان بهنظر میرسه، که البته بخاطر ماهیت فانتزی داستان، بنظرم باعث جذابیت کتاب شده، اما شاید نقطه ضعف داستان این باشه که بعضی صحنهها خیلی سریع و بدون پرداخت کافی حلوفصل میشن، انگار نویسنده عجله داشته به پله بعدی برسه، گاهی هم تعقیبها شبیه هم درمیاد.
لحن کتاب هم حالوهوای بریتانیایی اوایل قرن بیستم رو خوب منتقل میکنه، ی جور ترکیب خشک انگلیسی با چاشنی طنز که گاهی خندهدار و گاهی سرد به نظر میرسه.
در مجموع، سی و نه پله مثل ی فیلم کلاسیک اکشن-جاسوسی دهههای قدیمه. جذاب، کمی اغراقشده، با قهرمانی که همیشه ی راه فرار پیدا میکنه. کتاب برای ی بار خوندن بانمک وسرگرمکنندهست، اما برای امتیاز بالاتر از ۳ باید شخصیتها عمق بیشتری پیدا میکردن و پایانبندی کمی پراثرتر میبود...🕵♂️
February 23, 2017
I LIKE THE CUT OF YOUR JIB
In this mercifully short ur-thriller our hero is the kind of guy who has an inbuilt trustometer which is activated by looking. He looks at another man and instantly can tell if he’s the decent, upstanding, plucky sort or the low, conniving, blackguard sort.
He was very young, but he was the man for my money. P30
I saw by this man’s eyes that he was the kind you can trust p43
Other men also have this impressive power of instant worthiness assessment :
He watched me with a smile. “I don’t want proof… I can size up a man. You’re no murderer and you’re no fool. I believe you are speaking the truth.”
Early on, our man Richard Hannay runs into an odd cove called Scudder and they use their trustometers on each other :
“Just one word, Mr Scudder. I believe you are straight, but if so be you are not, I should warn you that I’m a handy man with a gun.”
Scudder says
“I haven’t the privilege of your name, sir, but let me tell you that you’re a white man. I’ll thank you to lend me a razor.”
I was thinking well, you don’t have to be too perspicacious to see that someone is white and not black, but then I realized that white in this context does not mean white. Of course, it means “good”.
So this is not The Wire. It’s more like the 1914 version of James Bond, meaning no technology, absolutely no girls, but lots of racing around. Even though it’s 1914 cars are written off. This whole novel is one long chase scene.
EXIT PURSUED BY A JEW
Like certain popular songs where the verses are something you have to endure in order to get to the great singalong chorus John Buchan has to provide us with some kind of explanation for all this lying low, adopting disguises, cracking cyphers and running around. So Scudder explains that there is a dastardly German organization operating in England called the Black Stone. They are trying to steal military secrets and assassinate foreign politicians! I think anyway, it’s not awfully clear. And why? Let Scudder explain:
Away behind all the governments and the armies there was a big subterranean movement going on, engineered by very dangerous people… I gathered that most of the people in it were sort of educated anarchists that make revolutions, but that beside them 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. … 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 fortuned by buying up the wreckage. Capital, he said, had no conscience and no fatherland. Besides, the Jew was behind it.
A nice summary of what certain people must have been thinking as Europe did indeed slide into war and the Russian revolution was just around the corner. I bet Adolf was a fan of The Thirty-Nine Steps.
So for the first half the Black Stone is pursuing Richard Hannay, our well-heeled ex-colonial, and for the second half he (and the British government) is pursuing them. This novel is somewhat past its sell-by date. I think its sell-by date was June 1915.
In this mercifully short ur-thriller our hero is the kind of guy who has an inbuilt trustometer which is activated by looking. He looks at another man and instantly can tell if he’s the decent, upstanding, plucky sort or the low, conniving, blackguard sort.
He was very young, but he was the man for my money. P30
I saw by this man’s eyes that he was the kind you can trust p43
Other men also have this impressive power of instant worthiness assessment :
He watched me with a smile. “I don’t want proof… I can size up a man. You’re no murderer and you’re no fool. I believe you are speaking the truth.”
Early on, our man Richard Hannay runs into an odd cove called Scudder and they use their trustometers on each other :
“Just one word, Mr Scudder. I believe you are straight, but if so be you are not, I should warn you that I’m a handy man with a gun.”
Scudder says
“I haven’t the privilege of your name, sir, but let me tell you that you’re a white man. I’ll thank you to lend me a razor.”
I was thinking well, you don’t have to be too perspicacious to see that someone is white and not black, but then I realized that white in this context does not mean white. Of course, it means “good”.
So this is not The Wire. It’s more like the 1914 version of James Bond, meaning no technology, absolutely no girls, but lots of racing around. Even though it’s 1914 cars are written off. This whole novel is one long chase scene.
EXIT PURSUED BY A JEW
Like certain popular songs where the verses are something you have to endure in order to get to the great singalong chorus John Buchan has to provide us with some kind of explanation for all this lying low, adopting disguises, cracking cyphers and running around. So Scudder explains that there is a dastardly German organization operating in England called the Black Stone. They are trying to steal military secrets and assassinate foreign politicians! I think anyway, it’s not awfully clear. And why? Let Scudder explain:
Away behind all the governments and the armies there was a big subterranean movement going on, engineered by very dangerous people… I gathered that most of the people in it were sort of educated anarchists that make revolutions, but that beside them 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. … 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 fortuned by buying up the wreckage. Capital, he said, had no conscience and no fatherland. Besides, the Jew was behind it.
A nice summary of what certain people must have been thinking as Europe did indeed slide into war and the Russian revolution was just around the corner. I bet Adolf was a fan of The Thirty-Nine Steps.
So for the first half the Black Stone is pursuing Richard Hannay, our well-heeled ex-colonial, and for the second half he (and the British government) is pursuing them. This novel is somewhat past its sell-by date. I think its sell-by date was June 1915.
Read
December 13, 2023I read this in one greedy gulp today in a library. It was ok, but silly.
It's non-stop espionage action, but as I said silly - the hero is fleeing the police and dastardly wrong-doers who have evil intentions. Never mind why, for God's sake, this isn't the kind of novel in which you wonder why, this is the kind of novel in which you jump on trains going anywhere, and jump off them to run across fields - you only pause to try decipher the coded information in the black note book that you found in your tobacco box - anyway you've hidden that proto-type McGuffin, and you are moving rapidly across a field, you're being pursued by the police so you dodge inside a house. A mysterious man agrees to hide you, but it rapidly emerges that he is the boss of the dastardly evil-doers who are out to get you. Ah, wait a minute, you had no idea that you were going to go here, because you are just running, and jumping, and making split second instant decisions; but either the dastardly evil-doers can foresee your random movements (which admittedly would be both evil and dastardly) or they just happen to have their secret lair in the middle of no-where because it would be an extremely inconvenient location to have their secret lair (which admittedly would also be both evil and dastardly). Anyway, you've been locked up in a back room of the secret lair. Presumably later the dastardly evil-doers will do something either dastardly or evil to you, or possibly even both, which be dastardly, and coming to think of it evil too. You glance around the back room and notice a cupboard built into the wall, you break it open and find a store of explosives and detonators. Obviously years ago you worked as a mining engineer, as we all do, so you rig some up and blow a hole in the wall and escape.
As I said, it's a bit silly. It's also the kind of book in which decent men can size you up and realise by the cut of your jib that you either are good at running and jumping and blowing things up with explosives, or that you are trustworthy, decent, and generally a good egg. This is very convenient because it saves plot time so you can get on with running and jumping, etc, and minimises the page space that has to be spent on bureaucratic verification and other jibber jabber by Jove.
Luckily the dastardly evil-doers turn out to German masters of disguise rather than the Jewish Anarcho-Capitalists who want to assassinate the Prime-Minister of Greece and cause WWI who threaten to be the principal villains in the early pages.
It's not without humour, has been adapted into film, and interestingly is almost entirely without women, one is named who we never meet, while we meet two who are never named. That's right this is an extremely manly book, so manly that breakfast is even cooked by a man. Well obviously so because in the years before WWI in their long dresses and skirts women wouldn't have been able to do all that running and jumping...but on the other hand their long hair pins might have come in handy to combat dastardly evil-doers.
It's non-stop espionage action, but as I said silly - the hero is fleeing the police and dastardly wrong-doers who have evil intentions. Never mind why, for God's sake, this isn't the kind of novel in which you wonder why, this is the kind of novel in which you jump on trains going anywhere, and jump off them to run across fields - you only pause to try decipher the coded information in the black note book that you found in your tobacco box - anyway you've hidden that proto-type McGuffin, and you are moving rapidly across a field, you're being pursued by the police so you dodge inside a house. A mysterious man agrees to hide you, but it rapidly emerges that he is the boss of the dastardly evil-doers who are out to get you. Ah, wait a minute, you had no idea that you were going to go here, because you are just running, and jumping, and making split second instant decisions; but either the dastardly evil-doers can foresee your random movements (which admittedly would be both evil and dastardly) or they just happen to have their secret lair in the middle of no-where because it would be an extremely inconvenient location to have their secret lair (which admittedly would also be both evil and dastardly). Anyway, you've been locked up in a back room of the secret lair. Presumably later the dastardly evil-doers will do something either dastardly or evil to you, or possibly even both, which be dastardly, and coming to think of it evil too. You glance around the back room and notice a cupboard built into the wall, you break it open and find a store of explosives and detonators. Obviously years ago you worked as a mining engineer, as we all do, so you rig some up and blow a hole in the wall and escape.
As I said, it's a bit silly. It's also the kind of book in which decent men can size you up and realise by the cut of your jib that you either are good at running and jumping and blowing things up with explosives, or that you are trustworthy, decent, and generally a good egg. This is very convenient because it saves plot time so you can get on with running and jumping, etc, and minimises the page space that has to be spent on bureaucratic verification and other jibber jabber by Jove.
Luckily the dastardly evil-doers turn out to German masters of disguise rather than the Jewish Anarcho-Capitalists who want to assassinate the Prime-Minister of Greece and cause WWI who threaten to be the principal villains in the early pages.
It's not without humour, has been adapted into film, and interestingly is almost entirely without women, one is named who we never meet, while we meet two who are never named. That's right this is an extremely manly book, so manly that breakfast is even cooked by a man. Well obviously so because in the years before WWI in their long dresses and skirts women wouldn't have been able to do all that running and jumping...but on the other hand their long hair pins might have come in handy to combat dastardly evil-doers.
February 16, 2025
The classic (and I believe first) 'a secret society is after me and no one will believe me' story line - reminded me of a kind of proto-James Bond novel. You are really invested in the situation; if things continue on the way they are going there will be a war...a war that will 'ripple' out and cover the world. Tense and impactful!
January 26, 2026
I have always enjoyed the Alfred Hitchcock film The Thirty-Nine Steps so I wanted to read the source material for the film. Even though the plot is different in many ways from the movie, the book is extremely enjoyable.
There is lots of action as Richard Hannay tries to escape being caught by both the police and the bad guys and also decipher the solution to a worldwide intrigue with important consequences. Buchan provides lots of humor and this book is a fast read coming in a little more than 100 pages.
I hope soon to watch the movie again.
There is lots of action as Richard Hannay tries to escape being caught by both the police and the bad guys and also decipher the solution to a worldwide intrigue with important consequences. Buchan provides lots of humor and this book is a fast read coming in a little more than 100 pages.
I hope soon to watch the movie again.
April 24, 2017
When it was first published, this novel must have been fascinating reading. At the time the UK was at war with Germany and there were no doubt German spies in the country. The book was initially serialised in a magazine and many chapters end on the proverbial cliff hanger. As a result the story is fast paced and full of action.
In a dedication before the book John Buchan describes the book as a “dime novel” or “shocker” where ‘… the incidents defy the probabilities and march just inside the borders of the possible’. I cannot put it better than that.
The lead character of Richard Hannay is a wealthy man in his late ‘thirties who has recently returned from successful business activities in Africa. Bored with London society he initially relishes the intrigue offered by his chance meeting with Scudder but his situation soon deteriorates.
I found the Hannay and the other leading characters somewhat stereotypical but that is not altogether surprising in an action novel of this length. I suspect Buchan’s target audience did not want depth and sensitivity; they wanted easy to understand characters and lots of action.
I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of country life in Galloway which would then have been a world away from life in an English city.
Yes, it may seem a bit thin and dated but before you question its definition as a Classic novel, consider the thousands of spy thrillers published in the intervening century which follow the same format. I am sure we have all read work from authors who could well have been influenced by John Buchan.
The Thirty Nine Steps deserves a read if only for its historical status. I have awarded it three stars.
Reviewed by Clive on www.whisperingstories.com
In a dedication before the book John Buchan describes the book as a “dime novel” or “shocker” where ‘… the incidents defy the probabilities and march just inside the borders of the possible’. I cannot put it better than that.
The lead character of Richard Hannay is a wealthy man in his late ‘thirties who has recently returned from successful business activities in Africa. Bored with London society he initially relishes the intrigue offered by his chance meeting with Scudder but his situation soon deteriorates.
I found the Hannay and the other leading characters somewhat stereotypical but that is not altogether surprising in an action novel of this length. I suspect Buchan’s target audience did not want depth and sensitivity; they wanted easy to understand characters and lots of action.
I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of country life in Galloway which would then have been a world away from life in an English city.
Yes, it may seem a bit thin and dated but before you question its definition as a Classic novel, consider the thousands of spy thrillers published in the intervening century which follow the same format. I am sure we have all read work from authors who could well have been influenced by John Buchan.
The Thirty Nine Steps deserves a read if only for its historical status. I have awarded it three stars.
Reviewed by Clive on www.whisperingstories.com
January 24, 2018
I hadn't heard of this book until recently, when it made a surprise appearance on The Guardian's Best 100 English Novels list. It's an early spy novel, written in 1915 and set just before WWI, and a smashing and brisk read. It was written by a John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, and I did not make that up. Baron Tweedsmuir.
Baron Tweedsmuir, at your service sirrah
It cites Kipling and Conrad as influences, appropriately, and there's some mention of Holmes as well, but its primary influence is clearly Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped. There's a scene involving hiding and sweltering on top of a dovecote that's a direct play on a similar one in Kidnapped, but above all they share Scottishness, which manifests itself in a love of running about on moors and in a general unawareness of the existence of women. There are zero women in this book. Seriously, you never even pass one on the sidewalk. (Correction: a commenter named Vesna says there is one. I don't remember her but I'm willing to believe it.)
Top Six Literary Works Featuring Moors
6. The 39 Steps
5. Hound of the Baskervilles
4. Kidnapped
3. Return of the Native
2. Othello
1. Wuthering Heights
What Buchan is really, really into is disguises:
like this but no parrot
And very little happens in The 39 Steps that doesn't have to do with them. Buchan's hero, Richard Hannay, is a master of disguise: his transformation into a road worker at one point is wonderfully detailed. His Moriartyesque nemesis is even better, which leads to a denouement that isn't really believable but gets the job done.
This is more of a novella than a novel, and - arguably aside from some semi-interesting talk about the philosophy of disguising oneself - it's not very deep. It's a nonstop thrill ride, is what it is. But it's a hell of a good time.
You know what else is a good time is just saying Baron Tweedsmuir. Hello, Baron Tweedsmuir. We meet again, Baron Tweedsmuir.
Tweedsmuir.
Baron Tweedsmuir, at your service sirrah
It cites Kipling and Conrad as influences, appropriately, and there's some mention of Holmes as well, but its primary influence is clearly Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped. There's a scene involving hiding and sweltering on top of a dovecote that's a direct play on a similar one in Kidnapped, but above all they share Scottishness, which manifests itself in a love of running about on moors and in a general unawareness of the existence of women. There are zero women in this book. Seriously, you never even pass one on the sidewalk. (Correction: a commenter named Vesna says there is one. I don't remember her but I'm willing to believe it.)
Top Six Literary Works Featuring Moors
6. The 39 Steps
5. Hound of the Baskervilles
4. Kidnapped
3. Return of the Native
2. Othello
1. Wuthering Heights
What Buchan is really, really into is disguises:
like this but no parrot
And very little happens in The 39 Steps that doesn't have to do with them. Buchan's hero, Richard Hannay, is a master of disguise: his transformation into a road worker at one point is wonderfully detailed. His Moriartyesque nemesis is even better, which leads to a denouement that isn't really believable but gets the job done.
This is more of a novella than a novel, and - arguably aside from some semi-interesting talk about the philosophy of disguising oneself - it's not very deep. It's a nonstop thrill ride, is what it is. But it's a hell of a good time.
You know what else is a good time is just saying Baron Tweedsmuir. Hello, Baron Tweedsmuir. We meet again, Baron Tweedsmuir.
Tweedsmuir.
July 19, 2025
An immensely entertaining adventure story!
Richard Hannay, a former Scotsman, has been in South Africa for some time working as a mining engineer. Now returned to the UK and living in a small flat in London, he meets journalist Franklin Scudder, a stranger who, claiming to be afraid for his very life, spins him a tale of his discovery of a complex anarachist plot to de-stabilize Europe and plunge it into a multi-national war by assassinating the Greek premier during an upcoming visit to London. With some reservations, Hannay allows Scudder to hide in his flat.
A few days later, when Hannay finds Scudder murdered with a knife in his heart, he realizes the truth behind Scudder's story and takes to his heels. Scotland Yard will be after him as the only plausible suspect in Hannay's murder and Hannay also realizes that the anarchists will be after him next because they won't know what Scudder might have told him. With Scudder's pocket book in hand, the only thing that contains the clues to his research into the plot, Hannay takes a train north planning to take refuge in the wilds of the Scottish Highlands. His only plan is to come out of hiding at the last minute before Karolides' visit in order to reveal the plot to the British government.
There is no doubt that The Thirty-Nine Steps is a staunchly British, well written, exciting and immensely entertaining adventure story that tells the tale of a man on the run in fear of his life. Richard Hannay is also depicted as a courageous patriot who selflessly puts his country's and his government's national interests and security ahead of his own. First published in 1915 with WW I already hotly under way, author John Buchan also took a tiny step into the political arena by obviously criticizing those government officials who had pursued a policy of pacification and negotiation with Germany before the war.
With a significant question in my mind as to what its long term literary values may be, I'll leave the question of whether or not a simple adventure story deserves to be elevated to the status of classic to others to decide. But I will say that its timeless entertainment value and feel-good ending will ensure that The Thirty-Nine Steps will be read by adventure, mystery and thriller lovers for years and years to come.
Highly recommended.
Paul Weiss
Richard Hannay, a former Scotsman, has been in South Africa for some time working as a mining engineer. Now returned to the UK and living in a small flat in London, he meets journalist Franklin Scudder, a stranger who, claiming to be afraid for his very life, spins him a tale of his discovery of a complex anarachist plot to de-stabilize Europe and plunge it into a multi-national war by assassinating the Greek premier during an upcoming visit to London. With some reservations, Hannay allows Scudder to hide in his flat.
A few days later, when Hannay finds Scudder murdered with a knife in his heart, he realizes the truth behind Scudder's story and takes to his heels. Scotland Yard will be after him as the only plausible suspect in Hannay's murder and Hannay also realizes that the anarchists will be after him next because they won't know what Scudder might have told him. With Scudder's pocket book in hand, the only thing that contains the clues to his research into the plot, Hannay takes a train north planning to take refuge in the wilds of the Scottish Highlands. His only plan is to come out of hiding at the last minute before Karolides' visit in order to reveal the plot to the British government.
There is no doubt that The Thirty-Nine Steps is a staunchly British, well written, exciting and immensely entertaining adventure story that tells the tale of a man on the run in fear of his life. Richard Hannay is also depicted as a courageous patriot who selflessly puts his country's and his government's national interests and security ahead of his own. First published in 1915 with WW I already hotly under way, author John Buchan also took a tiny step into the political arena by obviously criticizing those government officials who had pursued a policy of pacification and negotiation with Germany before the war.
With a significant question in my mind as to what its long term literary values may be, I'll leave the question of whether or not a simple adventure story deserves to be elevated to the status of classic to others to decide. But I will say that its timeless entertainment value and feel-good ending will ensure that The Thirty-Nine Steps will be read by adventure, mystery and thriller lovers for years and years to come.
Highly recommended.
Paul Weiss
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June 25, 2018
Read as part of The Infinite Variety Reading Challenge, based on the BBC's Big Read Poll of 2003.
A fairly conceited man gets embroiled in a rather far-fetched murder-cum-political-conspiracy that can only be described as Man Walks Through A Lot Of Heather. Mercifully short, this book could have been even shorter if we didn't have to follow Mr Hannay the length and breadth of Scotland, only to hear about his aching feet.
Fairly regular stuff, adventurous without too much danger to quicken your pace-maker. The only thing that was really missing was a James Bond-style Woman-For-Looking-At-And-Not-Much-Else-(Oh-Yes-Sleeping-With-Too). Not an awful lot of depth even if it was purposefully written that way, though that's hardly an excuse. It was also lacking in any kind of depth in terms of plot (there's a conspiracy, but what it is no-one really knows an awful lot about it: handy).
Short, not that sweet, but a vaguely interesting run-of-the-mill wee read for if you miss the train and don't have Bradshaw to hand. Or the Trainline app. Or Fruit Ninja. Whichever.
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A fairly conceited man gets embroiled in a rather far-fetched murder-cum-political-conspiracy that can only be described as Man Walks Through A Lot Of Heather. Mercifully short, this book could have been even shorter if we didn't have to follow Mr Hannay the length and breadth of Scotland, only to hear about his aching feet.
Fairly regular stuff, adventurous without too much danger to quicken your pace-maker. The only thing that was really missing was a James Bond-style Woman-For-Looking-At-And-Not-Much-Else-(Oh-Yes-Sleeping-With-Too). Not an awful lot of depth even if it was purposefully written that way, though that's hardly an excuse. It was also lacking in any kind of depth in terms of plot (there's a conspiracy, but what it is no-one really knows an awful lot about it: handy).
Short, not that sweet, but a vaguely interesting run-of-the-mill wee read for if you miss the train and don't have Bradshaw to hand. Or the Trainline app. Or Fruit Ninja. Whichever.
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April 19, 2012
How can a classic be so bad? Melodramatic, as expected, but Buchan piles improbability upon improbability insulting your intelligence until by the end you just want to slap him. This is an important book in that it sprung many imitators, and some claim it is the start of the spy genre. It has been filmed three times, adapted for radio and television, inspired the chase film genre, and certainly it gave Alfred Hitchcock his basic subject. Buchan was a political man, and he uses the book for a little bit of political and social satire. Well and good, but the ridiculous plot, narrative short cuts, and silly (but always convincing to the other characters) disguises make this a bad, bad book. It has one of the least credible and least exciting endings I have read in a thriller: no wonder all the films change it. Yet, credit due, Buchan invented a lot narratively that became part of popular culture, and has found a compelling voice for his first person narrator. The book is every bit as readable as it is bad, so readable that I’ll probably look for one of his later books to see if Buchan learned how to plot.
June 28, 2020
A fast paced thriller you are hooked from the first page itself. The chase can be visualized quite vividly and you get immersed in the plot. You do not get any concrete idea about what is the actual sabotage planned but the thrill of chase more than makes up for it. The end is quite a dampener but by then you come to accept that the hero is allowed miraculous escapes, last minute brain waves and lots of luck.
February 23, 2023
Back in 1979 Robert Powell played Richard Hannay in an excellent film version of The Thirty-Nine Steps & here he reads the original 1915 novel by John Buchan.
Buchan's novel is a fast paced adventure & Powell is a superb narrator who brings the story vividly to life. It's great to see that such an old story still has the power to entertain.
And here's the review I posted the last time I read the novel.....
I first read this novel when I was at school in the 1970s. Reading it now, 100 years after it was first published, it stands the test of time very well. Buchan's prose is simple & straightforward & the story was strong enough to inspire versions for the cinema, television & theatre.
Buchan's novel is a fast paced adventure & Powell is a superb narrator who brings the story vividly to life. It's great to see that such an old story still has the power to entertain.
And here's the review I posted the last time I read the novel.....
I first read this novel when I was at school in the 1970s. Reading it now, 100 years after it was first published, it stands the test of time very well. Buchan's prose is simple & straightforward & the story was strong enough to inspire versions for the cinema, television & theatre.
December 2, 2025
This book is like every man's fantasy. Get involved in an adventure that might include stopping sinister people bent on starting a war. Run away into the hills of Scotland and fool your pursuers by assuming various disguises and pretending to be other people. Sleep outdoors. Barge in on farm women when their husbands are away and be the benefactor of their kindness.
The Thirty-Nine Steps is short and thrilling. But I felt like I read a big novel when it was over. Maybe because the thrills are relentless. The ending was shorn of action but is set in a beautiful coastal region. Buchan does a great job describing the Scottish countryside. The descriptions of nature really stirred my imagination. "Glen"is such a beautiful sounding world.
This book definitely inspired writers of "man on the run" novels like Geoffrey Household and Charles Williams.
The Thirty-Nine Steps is short and thrilling. But I felt like I read a big novel when it was over. Maybe because the thrills are relentless. The ending was shorn of action but is set in a beautiful coastal region. Buchan does a great job describing the Scottish countryside. The descriptions of nature really stirred my imagination. "Glen"is such a beautiful sounding world.
This book definitely inspired writers of "man on the run" novels like Geoffrey Household and Charles Williams.
October 29, 2024
I was running around with my hair on fire: we make cider (lots of it - we have lots of apple and pear trees) and it's all hands on deck at times.
Circumstances bring Richard Hannay to Britain where he's suspected of killing someone (with a body on the floor of your apartment, I'd say that was par for the course). He does a runner (I don't blame him).
It's a thrilling chase over much of Britain allowing the reader to see how our Hannay is no ordinary fella (bloke - I refer you to Gisela).
Hannay wins the day: it's how every story ends (not dead in a ditch in Mogadishu - I've seen the film too - I refer you to Jenny. I'm sure she won't mind me stealing her line: we're now buddies).
It's great read.
Circumstances bring Richard Hannay to Britain where he's suspected of killing someone (with a body on the floor of your apartment, I'd say that was par for the course). He does a runner (I don't blame him).
It's a thrilling chase over much of Britain allowing the reader to see how our Hannay is no ordinary fella (bloke - I refer you to Gisela).
Hannay wins the day: it's how every story ends (not dead in a ditch in Mogadishu - I've seen the film too - I refer you to Jenny. I'm sure she won't mind me stealing her line: we're now buddies).
It's great read.
December 19, 2024
کتاب در دستهی رمانهای کلاسیک در ژانر معمایی و جاسوسی است که در سال ۱۹۱۵ منتشر شد. این کتاب به عنوان یکی از نخستین نمونههای رمانهای جاسوسی مدرن شناخته میشود....پایان بینظیری داشت... راوی، ریچارد هانی، یک مرد عادی است که به ناگاه خود را در میانه یک توطئه بزرگ سیاسی میبیند. هانی پس از کشف یک نقشه خطرناک که میتواند به جنگی بزرگ منجر شود، مجبور میشود فرار کند و برای نجات خود و جلوگیری از وقوع فاجعه تلاش کند. او در این مسیر با چالشها و خطرات متعددی روبرو میشود و باید با هوش و زیرکی خود، معماها را حل کند و دشمنانش را شکست دهد....
August 22, 2022
The first time I read this book it was a page turner; this last time it was not quite so awesome but it is a good beginning to a wonderful series of books which do an incredible job of illustrating the concepts of honor.
January 16, 2012
Richard Hannay's been feeling bored with his life in London. Reading the paper one morning, Hannay sees something about a politician he admires, and next thing he knows, he's conjured an anti-semite out of thin air to spin yarns in his parlor and tell him there is a plot to kill the admirable politician and launch Britain and Germany into war. Luckily for Hannay, this anti-semite is murdered mysteriously, leaving Hannay looking pretty suspicious, so what can he do but become the author's wish-fulfillment and go on the run and engage in a little international espionage.
By which I mean he runs around in the fields. A lot. He hides in this field. He hides in that field. Some shadowy figures close in, and off he goes, running again.
I much prefer the move version, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. At least that has good music for all the running around parts.
This book is a series of improbable scenes of a man adopting various disguises to avoid detection while he does next to nothing of any import -- until the final chapter, where he unravels it all in one of the most ridiculous scenes I have ever read. Seriously. He realizes that the man sitting right in front of him with NO DISGUISE ON is a man he met and had a conversation with a few chapters earlier. And it's treated like an ah-ha! moment.
Credit where it's due, I suppose for being one of the first of its kind. Rumor has it this book started the spy genre. If so, I wish they'd had a better blueprint. This is one of the worst books I've ever read. It has little resemblance to the Hitchcock film of the same title.
And they call it a classic ...
By which I mean he runs around in the fields. A lot. He hides in this field. He hides in that field. Some shadowy figures close in, and off he goes, running again.
I much prefer the move version, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. At least that has good music for all the running around parts.
This book is a series of improbable scenes of a man adopting various disguises to avoid detection while he does next to nothing of any import -- until the final chapter, where he unravels it all in one of the most ridiculous scenes I have ever read. Seriously. He realizes that the man sitting right in front of him with NO DISGUISE ON is a man he met and had a conversation with a few chapters earlier. And it's treated like an ah-ha! moment.
Credit where it's due, I suppose for being one of the first of its kind. Rumor has it this book started the spy genre. If so, I wish they'd had a better blueprint. This is one of the worst books I've ever read. It has little resemblance to the Hitchcock film of the same title.
And they call it a classic ...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 17, 2022
“I was not a murderer, but I had become an unholy liar, a shameless impostor, and a highwayman with a marked taste for expensive motor-cars.”
The Thirty-Nine Steps is a 1915 novel that influenced later espionage/ spy adventures and “man-on-the-run stories.
On the brink of war in 1914 Europe, the protagonist and narrator, Richard Hannay becomes entangled unwittingly by a plot to assassinate a political figure. It all started when Hannay’s neighbor visited him and claimed that he was on the run from German spies who wanted him dead because he had discovered their plans. He allowed the neighbor to hide in his flat only to return home a few days later to find the man had been murdered. At first skeptical of the man’s claims, Hannay suddenly realizes their validity and the risk to his life for sheltering the victim. Not to mention that he would likely be charged with the murder of the neighbor. Thus, starts Hannay’s “man-on-the-run” adventure. He proves himself clever and resourceful in escaping and evading the police and the dangerous pursuers.
This is a fast-paced book that relies on Hannay’s intelligence, skill for disguises, and a bit of luck. I enjoyed the frequent suspense, but there was not real danger; everyone acted the part of a “gentleman.” Speaking of gentlemen, if I recall correctly, that all the characters are male.
I made the mistake of watching the 1935 film The 39 Steps directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Noteworthy director and rated 7.6/10, I was surprised at how awful the film was. One of the worse movies I’ve seen. This film (as there are more adaptions) added an extraneous female character(s) (dizzy, ridiculous) and deviated from the book enough that the storyline was more loosely based rather than adapted.
Then I noticed this book was on the 1001 Books to Read list, so I decided to give it a chance. I found it an entertaining and fun adventure romp. The story was improved upon by listening to the audio narrated by David Thorn. What an excellent audio it was and had music between chapters. Definitely recommended.
Lesson learned; don’t judge a book by its film!
The Thirty-Nine Steps is a 1915 novel that influenced later espionage/ spy adventures and “man-on-the-run stories.
On the brink of war in 1914 Europe, the protagonist and narrator, Richard Hannay becomes entangled unwittingly by a plot to assassinate a political figure. It all started when Hannay’s neighbor visited him and claimed that he was on the run from German spies who wanted him dead because he had discovered their plans. He allowed the neighbor to hide in his flat only to return home a few days later to find the man had been murdered. At first skeptical of the man’s claims, Hannay suddenly realizes their validity and the risk to his life for sheltering the victim. Not to mention that he would likely be charged with the murder of the neighbor. Thus, starts Hannay’s “man-on-the-run” adventure. He proves himself clever and resourceful in escaping and evading the police and the dangerous pursuers.
This is a fast-paced book that relies on Hannay’s intelligence, skill for disguises, and a bit of luck. I enjoyed the frequent suspense, but there was not real danger; everyone acted the part of a “gentleman.” Speaking of gentlemen, if I recall correctly, that all the characters are male.
I made the mistake of watching the 1935 film The 39 Steps directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Noteworthy director and rated 7.6/10, I was surprised at how awful the film was. One of the worse movies I’ve seen. This film (as there are more adaptions) added an extraneous female character(s) (dizzy, ridiculous) and deviated from the book enough that the storyline was more loosely based rather than adapted.
Then I noticed this book was on the 1001 Books to Read list, so I decided to give it a chance. I found it an entertaining and fun adventure romp. The story was improved upon by listening to the audio narrated by David Thorn. What an excellent audio it was and had music between chapters. Definitely recommended.
Lesson learned; don’t judge a book by its film!
April 12, 2019
Ο John Buchan έγραψε Τα 39 σκαλοπάτια ενόσω ο Α΄ Παγκόσμιος Πόλεμος είχε ήδη ξεκινήσει. Γι’ αυτό και η συνωμοσία που αποκαλύπτεται στον πρωταγωνιστή του βιβλίου, Richard Hannαy, διά στόματος ενός ανθρώπου που αμέσως μετά θα βρεθεί δολοφονημένος, και αφορά τη σχεδιαζόμενη δολοφονία ενός Ευρωπαίου πολιτικού ηγέτη (του Έλληνα πρωθυπουργού Κωνσταντίνου Καρολίδη!), με σκοπό την έναρξη ενός ακόμη πολέμου στην πολύπαθη ευρωπαϊκή ήπειρο, δεν υπήρξε ακριβώς προφητική. Αποτέλεσε, όμως, μια πρώτης τάξεως ευκαιρία για να χτίσει επάνω της ο John Buchan ένα εμβληματικό θρίλερ κατασκοπείας, που, μετά από ένα ανελέητο ανθρωποκυνηγητό στους ανεμοδαρμένους λόφους της Σκωτίας, θα κορυφωθεί σ’ ένα ασβεστολιθικό ακρωτήρι στο Κεντ (όπου και τα 39 σκαλοπάτια του τίτλου).
Αρχετυπικό αγγλικό θρίλερ, μεταφέρθηκε περισσότερες από μία φορές στον κινηματογράφο, με πρώτη (και καλύτερη) αυτή του Alfred Hitchcock (1935). Όχι τόσο σπουδαίο, όσο η ομώνυμη ταινία του μετρ του σασπένς, αν και ο Guardian το συμπεριέλαβε στη λίστα με τα εκατό καλύτερα μυθιστορήματα στην αγγλική γλώσσα.
Αρχετυπικό αγγλικό θρίλερ, μεταφέρθηκε περισσότερες από μία φορές στον κινηματογράφο, με πρώτη (και καλύτερη) αυτή του Alfred Hitchcock (1935). Όχι τόσο σπουδαίο, όσο η ομώνυμη ταινία του μετρ του σασπένς, αν και ο Guardian το συμπεριέλαβε στη λίστα με τα εκατό καλύτερα μυθιστορήματα στην αγγλική γλώσσα.
October 2, 2013
Just an old-fashioned spy thriller filled with adventure and mayhem. While sometimes ridiculous to a fault with the numerous disguises, I found it very entertaining in a James Bond sort of way. A short fast read with a unique ending. Now I really must see the Alfred Hitchcock version of the movie!
February 24, 2025
Finished off in an hour and 45 minutes. Cracking read with no similarity to any of the films. No women characters- no handcuffs- no music halls nothing. That said very good story and dialogue.
June 6, 2014
This is a novel the literary importance of which I have no trouble appreciating. First published in 1915, it's the ancestor of the espionage thriller genre featuring the rugged-man-of-action-on-the-run style of hero. I would probably have enjoyed it more if I was a regular reader of that genre. I'm not and consequently I was distinctly underwhelmed.
What I didn't like about the work first. For me, the main problem is that the plot pushes the concept of implausibility to its extreme limits. I'm generally quite willing to suspend disbelief - an attitude instilled in me by years of reading crime fiction - but I had a lot difficulty doing so in this instance. The hero, Richard Hannay, who is back in London after a long spell doing this and that in South Africa, gets caught up in a conspiracy relating to a German spy ring. Simultaneously on the run from the police who believe him implicated in a murder and the said German spy ring, Hannay spends a lot of time in disguise - luckily other people's clothes seem to fit him perfectly - and the rest of his time legging it across the Scottish and English landscape. His escapes are frankly ludicrous and the final scene defies any degree of willingness to accept the implausible and go along for the ride.
Another problem is the complete lack of character development. Hannay is a first person narrator who has the potential to be interesting, but he displays little personality and no psychological depth. He's pretty much cardboard-cut-out-man from beginning to end. The villains are suitably evil, but they have no more impact on the reader than the rest of the characters.
There are some positives, though. The prose is good and the pacing is in keeping with the action. And the fact that this is the novel which generated so many fictional and film heroes cannot be disregarded. Indeed, the cultural significance of the work is such that before picking it up I was convinced that I must have read it before. How could I not have done so, when it's so well-known? But I'm pretty sure now that it was a first time read, although I've possibly seen the Hitchcock film adaptation.
In terms of my reaction to novel as a piece of writing it gets two stars. Another one is thrown in because of its iconic status.
March 4, 2021
A classic adventure story and early prototype of the spy/thriller genres. Plenty of action but none of it all that believable. This one wasn't really my style.
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