The Complete Richard Hannay: The Thirty-Nine Steps / Greenmantle / Mr Standfast

Richard Hannay #1-3

by John Buchan

Major General Sir Richard Hannay is the fictional secret agent created by writer and diplomat John Buchan, who was himself an Intelligence officer during the First World War. The strong and silent type, combining the dour temperament of the Scot with the stiff upper lip of the Englishman, Hannay is pre-eminent among early spy-thriller heroes. Caught up in the first of these five gripping adventures just before the outbreak of war in 1914, he manages to thwart the enemy's evil plan and solve the mystery of the 'thirty-nine steps'. In Greenmantle, he undertakes a vital mission to prevent jihad in the Islamic Near East. Mr Standfast, set in the decisive months of 1917-18, is the novel in which Hannay, after a life lived 'wholly among men', finally falls in love; later, in The Three Hostages, he finds himself unravelling a kidnapping mystery with his wife's help. In the last adventure, The Island of Sheep, he is called upon to honour an old oath. A shrewd judge of men, he never dehumanises his enemy, and despite sharing some of the racial prejudices of his day, Richard Hannay is a worthy prototype hero of espionage fiction.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Espionage, Historical Fiction, Classic Literature, Classics, Adventure

831 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1919

About the author

Librarian 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.

Reviews

[Lewis Weinstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Island of Sheep," the last novel in this collection, was actually read by both Admiral Canaris and Reinhard Heydrich shortly after it was published in 1936. In my sequel to A FLOOD OF EVIL, I have Canaris recommend it to my fictional character Berthold Becker, after which they discuss the book. My evaluation, which I guess will be Berthold's but I haven't written the scene yet, is that Buchan's action sequences are superb but the analysis of the evolving plot is almost incomprehensible.

[Louie the Mustache Matos · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm almost always going to give a five-star rating to book collections, simply for the fact that they offer more for the price of one. However, this collection of Richard Hannay novels is not just exceptional but also classic. Buchan invented the espionage genre with The Thirty-Nine Steps, which in my humble opinion has not aged well, not due to poor writing, but because it has been copied so much that the story beats have become spy novel tropes.

The 39 Steps begins with a regular dude getting involved in a mystery due to being gullible by inviting a woman back to his place. He then has to flee his home because he is suspected of being a contact for the beautiful (femme fatale) female spy. On her deathbed, she talks about her actual contact and avoiding the man with a missing finger. The story is basically paradigmatic of all spy novels, but that's not Buchan's fault.

Greenmantle further expands the spy genre by including code-speak. Then there is also a trip through the Middle East which might be read with an Atlas in-hand. I had an issue with the rather insensitive language, but I don't hold it against him because most writers of the time period (over 100 years ago) wrote using such unkind language.

The last book of the collection, Mr. Standfast, blends mystery novel elements with the newest tropes to the espionage genre, like going undercover as a pacifist, conscientious objector, Cornelius Brand. His contact is the lovely Mary Lamington, who he falls in love with and gets herself in danger. He must rescue her while continuing the mission and of course there's a ticking clock.

I disliked the constant exposition, but I really believe that is more a storytelling style that is outdated, and I think everything else was not just great, but perfect. Recognize that the inventors always get copied and in that copying, the story devices become cliche. I loved this collection.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are Buchan's three best WW1 titles, featuring the ex-South African mining engineer, turned general in the British army, Richard Hannay. The Thirty-Nine Steps is one of the best suspense novels - none of the film versions comes close. Greenmantle and Mr Standfast are set later in the war, with lots of espionage and derring-do. Mr Standfast also captures the growing war-weariness and grimness of the war of attrition on the Western Front. Politically incorrect certainly, but true to its time.

[Alex Crowther]

This fiction series about British patriot Richard Hannay was recommended to me by some of my British counterparts when I was assigned to NATO. It is a wonderful series that captures many of the aspects of the runup to WWI and the execution thereof. Concentrating on the lesser-known aspects of WWI such as espionage and the Middle East, this series is a good, fun read that will also provide you with some context of why this was a World War, not just a series of bloodbaths on the Western Front.

[Jim Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I avoided this at high school in the 1970s, where it was a go-to at the boys private school I attended. Since then, it’s often cited as a classic thriller, but I don’t really see what the fuss is about.

This is another of the ‘England-rules-the-world’ public schoolboy fantasy novels of the early 20th century that positioned upper middle class white-male London as the centre of civilisation.

Perfect novel for an English schoolboy reading this under the covers in his 1950s dorm room. But literature? No.

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read these books only last year awakened in me a sense of appreciation for the World War I period. The plots are heroic, engaging the reader with excitement and suspense. Rather than focus on one dashing figure, the stories, especially Greenmantle, which I liked the very best, bring in a coterie of stalwart individuals and thrust them into incredibly difficult circumstances which test their mettle to the ultimate degree. The integrity and determination of the British and American protagonists makes one admire the gumption and stamina of an earlier era. These books are terrific reads, absorbing and thrilling. It's almost impossible to believe Buchan wrote them so quickly; they must be based on incidents of which he had knowledge as an intelligence officer in the Great War. The author has his biases and makes no attempt to disguise them. He gives the German foe, whom he collectively calls The Bosch no quarter at all. Anyway, these novels are really grand.

[Randy Compton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered John Buchan a couple of years ago and really enjoy him--pre-WWI British action-adventure-espionage--good fun stuff.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

First book I read on Droid/Kindle! Liked it very much. Hitchcock loosely based his first thriller (1935) on this story.

[Bobby Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good old-fashioned British wartime adventure stories.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite authors. I love the Richard Hannay character. My favorite by far is Mr. Standfast, although they are all excellent.

[Abigail H. Leskey]

http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.321060... Link.

[Terence · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the earliest 'man-on-the-run' books which became a common theme in books and movies. A large portion of each book is a chase scene.

Four movies have been made of the 39 steps, most notably one by Alfred Hitchcock.

Written as much as a 100 years ago, these books are not as good as more modern spy books.

The best of the three in my opinion is Mr. Standfast.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I somehow made it through this trilogy of books, although I'm not really sure how. I think that I only made it through it because I had wanted to read the entire series. It's actually part of a 5 book series. I could have rated it higher but I just felt that it was dull at times.

[Amir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good fun and hilariously out of sync on political correctness

[Magdalena Tosteson · Rating 5 out of 5]

very interesting

and compelling read. a fascinating story of second world war vividly recounted and,strangely as it may sound, beautiful in its totality

[Les Holloway · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh dear, what dreadful tosh. Buchan does not wear well, and his casual racism (“big buck nigger”, “greasy Jew”) grates on modern ears. The plots are thin, relying on endless coincidences, and the so-called threats to the nation are always mysteriously vague. Hannay rushes aimlessly about remote areas of Scotland, where every cottage or castle he chances on contains either a nest of German spies or a British aristocrat who happens to be head of the secret service. Sorry, but this does not begin to compare with more recent thrillers by people like Frederick Forsyth and Ken Follett, which rely on meticulous research and careful plotting.

[Alyssa Bohon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant, inspiring fun. Just go read them now. The amazing thing is how gritty and intense they are, and yet how wholesome, clean and Christian, and funny too.
Helps if you know a little about World War I.

I was glad I had the kindle version so I could use the dictionary click for the delightful obscure vocabulary that popped up on about every other page