Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Thirty Nine Steps
    Thirty Nine Steps
    Thirty Nine Steps
    Audiobook4 hours

    Thirty Nine Steps

    Written by John Buchan

    Narrated by David Thorn

    3.5/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    Richard Hannay, Buchan's hero in this 1915 thriller, stumbles across a terrorist plot to destabilize Europe. A British spy in the mold of James Bond, Hannay is an action man with a polished veneer. After a series of murders, Hannay takes up the cause when he has to go on the run. A thrilling series of events come to an exciting conclusion.

    Table of Contents
    Chapter 01: The Man who Died
    Chapter 02: The Milkman Sets Out on his Travels
    Chapter 03: The Adventure of the Literary Innkeeper
    Chapter 04: The Adventure of the Radical Candidate
    Chapter 05: The Adventure of the Spectacled Roadman
    Chapter 06: The Adventure of the Bald Archaeologist
    Chapter 07: The Dry-Fly Fisherman
    Chapter 08: The Coming of the Black Stone
    Chapter 09: The Thirty-Nine Steps
    Chapter 10: Various Parties Converging on the Sea
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAlcazar Audio Works
    Release dateJan 1, 2006
    ISBN9780975566312
    Author

    John Buchan

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

    Related to Thirty Nine Steps

    Related audiobooks

    Thrillers For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Four Best Audiobooks Of June To Take You Places

      Jun 23, 2020

      Hardboiled mysteries, obscure farming communities, and tales of home and family provide ample entertainment in June’s audiobook roundup.

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Saboteur Of Auschwitz

      Sep 12, 2019

      Author Colin Rushton Publisher Summersdale Publishers Price £8.99 Released Out now When soldier Arthur Dodd returned to England following VE Day on 8 May 1945, he was carrying a heavy burden that extended beyond the hardships of serving in World Wa

      1 min read

    • Article

      A Gun Most Murderous

      May 15, 2020

      A Gun Most Murderous
      8 min read

    • Article

      Books Of 2021

      Dec 29, 2021

      Available from amazon.co.uk Bestselling historian Andrew Lownie reveals the dramatic lives of the Windsors post-abdication. This is a story of a Royal shut out by his family and forced into exile; of the Nazi attempts to recruit the Duke to their cau

      3 min read

    • Article

      A Century Of Christie

      May 13, 2020

      1920 The Mysterious Affair at Styles is published, introducing Hercule Poirot 1922 Christie takes part in the British Empire Exhibition tour with her first husband, Archie Christie, visiting South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Hawaii, w

      1 min read

    • Article

      Top 10 Books

      Dec 4, 2020

      Top 10 Books
      1 min read

    • Article

      The Downfall Of Depp

      Nov 12, 2020

      The Downfall Of Depp
      4 min read

    • Article

      Top 10 Books About Family Secrets | Jyoti Patel

      Jan 18, 2023

      Where there are families there are stories and where there are stories there are always secrets. It’s ripe crop for a writer. In literature, these are a staple of the coming-of-age novel. Family secrets seem to rise to the surface when a protagonist

      4 min read

    • Article

      'Bad Sex In Fiction' Award Goes To Novelist Who Compared Skin To Stained Bathtub

      Dec 1, 2017

      American writer Christopher Bollen received the, uh, honor, which was announced on Thursday. His novel The Destroyers featured a memorable pair of less-than-appealing analogies.

      1 min read

    • Article

      The Trans Retelling Of Jack Sheppard

      Jul 9, 2018

      In Confessions of the Fox, Jordy Rosenberg’s buzzy first novel, historian Dr. Voth discovers a suspicious manuscript that upends centuries-old assumptions about notorious jail breaker Jack Sheppard. The document reveals that 18th century street prowl

      1 min read

    • Article

      The Thirty-Nine Steps

      Feb 2, 2022

      The Thirty-Nine Steps
      2 min read

    • Article

      Interview / Saul David

      Sep 2, 2021

      Interview / Saul David
      10 min read

    • Article

      Q&A Ned Boulting

      Nov 2, 2022

      Q&A Ned Boulting
      4 min read

    • Article

      Live And Let Live

      Apr 9, 2020

      Live And Let Live
      12 min read

    • Article

      You Can Call Him Al

      Nov 19, 2020

      You Can Call Him Al
      4 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Sep 3, 2020

      Letters
      2 min read

    • Article

      The Style & Technique Of BEN MACINTYRE

      Mar 5, 2020

      ‘If you’re looking for a good spy thriller, I definitely recommend this,’ said a review in the Daily Express. The book was not an invented spy yarn, but a true story – Agent Zigzag. Fact can be stranger than fiction. Ben Macintyre, historian and Time

      6 min read

    • Article

      State Of The Nation

      Mar 16, 2022

      State Of The Nation
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Frogman Who Vanished

      Oct 5, 2021

      The Frogman Who Vanished
      9 min read

    • Article

      The Old Un’s Notes

      Jun 2, 2021

      * Our radio correspondent, Valerie Grove, has just unearthed a shaming letter she received from the great comedian Barry Cryer in 1970. At the time she was, briefly, standing in as TV previewer for the Evening Standard. ‘Dear Valerie,’ wrote Barry, ‘

      6 min read

    • Article

      Interview / Al Murray

      Oct 27, 2022

      Interview / Al Murray
      9 min read

    • Article

      Readers’ Letters

      Nov 17, 2021

      SIR: I must applaud William Cook (Who was Blackie the donkey?, October issue) in maintaining the tradition of never allowing the facts to mar a good story. Don Mackay arrived at Jarandilla de la Vera first, not in the wake of Hugh Whittow of the Sun.

      5 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Thirty Nine Steps

    3.5/5

    110 ratings97 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      A good yarn—the basic plot was similar to the Hitchcock movie but the particulars were quite different. The title makes sense in the novel—it refers to a place that has exactly 39 steps. In the movie the clumsy attempt at explaining the title never did make sense. In the book—no girl (the original murder was of a man staying with Hannay and no girl handcuffed to him on his flight) and no Music Hall Show. The art of disguise plays a big role in this novel—for both sides. I wonder if I can still enjoy the movie? Maybe I should just consider them 2 different stories and enjoy them both.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this story. A very quick read. Definitely different than the Alfred Hitchcock movie that I remember. It is one of the first spy and espionage thrillers.
    • 4/5
      I came across this book on The Classic Tales Podcast and listened to it that way. It's basically an enjoyable old spy thriller, not too long and with a straightforward, linear plot. The premise is sound and plausible, and the protagonist is well-sketched.
    • 4/5
      Enjoyed this a lot. The old style adventure/chase/thriller kind of book where the protagonist is helped by an endless parade of lucky breaks is always fun; reading one written by A writer like John Buchan makes it much more so.
    • 5/5
      Re-read this classic tale of adventure and derring-do a few months ago. Still think it's a terrific yarn in its depiction of one man being hunted through the moors and hills of Galloway in south-west Scotland, pursued by the agents of a foreign power. We're building up to World War I, and tensions in Europe are rising.There's the occasional throwaway remark illustrating the casual prejudices of the time which can bring the modern reader up short but there's much to admire too, particularly the terrific sense of place and the great characterisation.
    • 4/5
      Reading one Richard Hannay adventure is like taking a chocolate from a box, it's hard to stop at just the one. Brief and thrilling, if you can get over some of the cringworthy references to Jews (autre temps etc) it's the perfect read for a lazy afternoon. All JB's themes are there but the essence of a thriller is the working out of the formula and there is a magical sense of time and place.
    • 3/5
      The first spy novel? Jaunty boys-own tory, written at the beginning of the 1stWW. Unbelievable coincidences abound that add to the light tone.
    • 4/5
      Even though I've always enjoyed espionage novels, for some reason I had never read Buchan's classic. I had only experienced it through the Hitchcock movie. With a new version airing on PBS's Masterpiece in a couple of weeks, I decided to do what I should have done a long time ago: read the book. Even though I had recently seen the Hitchcock version on TV, the movie plot had been altered enough that it didn't serve as a spoiler for the action in the book. I didn't have any more idea of what was coming next than the first person narrator did. If anything, I probably felt more dread than the narrator did. As the action started in May of 1914, he only feared what might happen given the current state of world affairs. I knew what happened just weeks later in the summer of 1914 that launched the world into a Great War. Buchan doesn't waste a lot of words in telling this story, so reading it doesn't involve a huge time commitment. I would encourage all mystery, thriller, and espionage fans to read this classic of the genre.
    • 3/5
      The 39 Steps is actually a quick read and a rather dry thriller. I think part of that apparent dryness is a result of it being the inspiration for so many spy thrillers. It is impressive to see a book published in 1915 still in print -- so many books don't have this long of a life in print. All the comedic bits that make it a memorable Hitchcock film aren't there. Even as a young filmmaker he was already exercising his authority as an up and coming auteur.
    • 3/5
      Fast paced and short. OK espionage pulp.
    • 3/5
      Six-word review: Preposterous spy story furnishes lightweight diversion.Extended review:I'd call this very short novel a goofy romp, secret codes and murders and conspiracies and all. The wonder of it is that after a century it still has an audience. And it has.My only prior acquaintance with this yarn was the 1935 Hitchcock movie, which turns out not to have much in common with the novel. I recently read the author's first, Prester John, and this does have a lot in common with that, not surprisingly. In his dedication he affectionately likens it to the then-familiar American genre "the dime novel," what we would probably now call pulp fiction: sensational thrillers without much meat to them that deliver easy escapist entertainment.Published early in the second year of the first World War, the story takes place in the months leading up to it, when suspicion, fear, and paranoia on an international scale must have been very high indeed. The hero, Richard Hannay, is a daring adventurer who takes up the challenge of a spy mission after an agent is killed in his apartment. His escapades across the English countryside are as boldly executed as they are reliant on surpassingly mad coincidence and what must be an entire pantheon of friendly, or at least highly amused, deities. There is something of substance here, though, and it may be in part the hero's frank appetite for action, in part the sustained theme of imposture and disguise. There is also the better-than-competent prose, ensuring that despite the laughable improbabilities of plot, it remains exciting and absorbing. If you're in the right mood for it, it'll give you a few cheerful hours.
    • 4/5
      This is a book I had been thinking about reading for years, but had always been put off by the fear that it would probably be pretty old fashioned and maybe not all that much fun. I was wrong on both counts. And, when I opened the file on my Kindle, I was delighted to find that this book was even shorter than most of the classic Gold Medal paperbacks of the 1950s. This is a great, well told story from the beginning. It sets out to entertain and does so very well as the protagonist, Richard Hannay, finds himself involved in a sinister German plot in the run-up to the First World War. His journeys through Scotland, pursued by a monoplane, the police, and the sinister agents of the enemy, while finding help from some very well-drawn local characters are very well done. Where the book suffers is its reliance on really unbelievable coincidences--such as whose relation one of his helpers turns out to be--and implausibilities such as why he doesn't seek help sooner. In the best tradition of this type of novel, he has to unravel things himself. The ending, while satisfactory, is also not as good as the rest of the book. Buchan spends a lot of time describing how Hannay is almost convinced of how innocent things look when he is closing in on the enemy's lair, but since we know he must be on the right track, his inner misgivings get a little annoying after a while, and they are not in keeping with the sharp intelligence Hannay shows throughout the rest of the book. Some of the best scenes are when he takes on the identity of various characters to wangle his way out of a bad situation. I see that Buchan wrote several other novels about Hannay, with his life as a character extending from this book's publication in 1915 to his last appearance in 1936.
    • 5/5
      A classic of mystery, intrigue and adventure; set in a world immediately familiar and yet unfathomably foreign.
    • 3/5
      I was expecting more of a thriller, but after a while I stopped worrying about Hannay because the author keeps throwing him exactly what he needs, no matter how improbable.
    • 3/5
      An enjoyable yarn about a man on the run.

      While this could easily have been a dated pre-War thriller, its self-consciousness ("I say sir, the story you tell sounds like one of those Haggard novels!") endears it to the modern reader.
    • 4/5
      Synopsis/blurb................John Buchan wrote "The Thirty-Nine Steps" while he was seriously ill at the beginning of World War I. In it, he introduces his most famous hero, Richard Hannay, who, despite claiming to be an "ordinary fellow", is caught up in the dramatic race against a plot to devastate the British war effort. Hannay is hunted across the Scottish moors by police and a pitiless enemy in the corridors of Whitehall and, finally, at the site of the mysterious 39 steps. The best-known of Buchan's thrillers, this novel has been continuously in print since first publication and has been filmed three times. Other Buchan "World Classics" include "Witchwood" and "Greenmantle".My take......I doubt I will be providing much original thought on this classic book which was published 99 years ago. It has 460 reviews on Amazon UK – soon to be 461, and nearly 10,000 ratings on Goodreads.The Thirty-Nine Steps introduces us to Richard Hannay, who subsequently figures in 4 more novels by Buchan, none of which I have read. They are;2. Greenmantle (1916)3. Mr Standfast (1918)4. The Three Hostages (1924)5. The Island of Sheep (1936)As an aside, the time-span between the 4th and 5th books is interesting, I wonder why? Saying that - Buchan did live an interesting and full life...at various times....Unionist MP, Governor of Canada, Government War propagandist, Army enlistment, diplomatic service in South Africa, church elder, novelist. We open and Hannay is restless and in need of an adventure to stimulate him. One soon arrives in the appearance of a stranger who enlists Hannay’s help in hiding him. The man, Scudder has faked his death and tells Hannay he is being followed by a German gang of spies. Scudder confides that he has uncovered a plot to kill the Greek Premier and also that there is a scheme afoot to steal British plans that have been prepared in the event of an outbreak of war. Scudder is discovered murdered the next day in Hannay’s flat and Richard, a likely suspect in the murder flees, managing to evade the Germans who are watching him. A sense of obligation and duty compels Hannay to try and thwart the assassination attempt. With three weeks to lay low until the events Scudder has outlined are scheduled to begin, Hannay takes a train to Scotland to kill time. Having taking Scudder’s notebook when fleeing London and deciphered his coded notes, these appear to contradict what Scudder previously told him. Over the next week or two he is relentlessly pursued both by aeroplane and car, by both the Germans and the police, still anxious to arrest Hannay for murder. His adventures see him posing as a road-mender at one time and unbelievably making a political speech for a prospective politician, Sir Harry at a rally. Having taken Harry into his confidence, Harry fortuitously has a relative in the Foreign Office and writes Hannay a letter of introduction. Still on the run, Hannay survives being taken prisoner by the enemy. After managing to escape, Richard returns to London and contacts Harry’s relative – Sir Walter Bullivant; unburdening himself of his secrets. The Greek PM still gets assassinated. Our erstwhile hero still feels there is more at risk and gatecrashes a meeting at Bullivant’s house where he catches a glimpse of one of his Scottish pursuers in disguise. Hannay’s adversary is now in possession of material damaging to Britain’s war plans.Hannay works with British military leaders to discover the significance of Scudder’s phrase – The Thirty Nine-Steps in a bid to save the day.Overall verdict – I really liked this one. It felt a bit like a Boys Own adventure and to be honest there’s a place in my reading schedule for books of this type occasionally. One criticism would be that Buchan does seem to rely on some rather unlikely coincidences to help Hannay (and the author?) out of a jam at times. Last minor gripe would be the one of language with references made to “the Jew” and a “Jewish plot.” I wouldn’t dare to tar Buchan with an anti-semite brush, but 100 years after this was written it sits a little bit uncomfortably with me. Happily, reading this managed to tick a number of boxes for me. I have a couple of signed-up for challenges that this meets the criteria for, plus one of my own.Read Scotland – tick.Vintage Mystery – Golden – tick (not quite sure which box on my bingo card I will be ticking just yet)Espionage Challenge – tickIn addition, my son’s Christmas present to both my wife and me were tickets to see the West End production of The Thirty-Nine Steps last Saturday, something I will briefly cover in my next blog post. I managed to read the book before seeing the show, spoilsport that I am.4 from 5I do have a paperback copy of this around the house somewhere, but couldn’t locate it, so I got a free version from Amazon UK for my kindle. There are a couple of other Buchan/Hannay books on the site available for nowt, so I now have Greenmantle and Mr Standfast waiting.
    • 3/5
      A slight disappointment given this book is on so many "must read" lists. More Ian Fleming than John le Carre, with a shallow plot and even shallower protagonist. That said, the book was written in 1915 and arguably established the genre.
    • 5/5
      According to the dedication, John Buchan wrote this book whilst ill one winter when he had exhausted his supply of what he described as 'shocker' novels - 'the romance where the incidents defy the probabilities and march just inside the borders of the possible'. As a result he decided to write a 'shocker' novel himself and the result is one of the finest thriller/spy stories I've read. Published in 1915 the outlook of the colonial Richard Hannay can seem quaint and somewhat dated (and occasionally a little racist) but despite this The Thirty Nine Steps runs rings around most modern novels in this genre. Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      (Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)Well well, so once again it's time for another edition of "Book Versus Movie," a concept I frankly ripped off from the Onion AV Club, in which I both read a book and see the movie based on that book in the same week, and end up writing mini-reviews of both at the same time. (Don't bother looking for the "Book Versus Movie" archive page, by the way -- you've only missed one other, concerning the Alan Moore comic From Hell.) And today's it's none other than The 39 Steps, with both a book and movie version that I've wanted to get exposed to for a long time now; the 1915 novella, after all, is one of the first spy stories ever written, while the 1935 movie was one of Alfred Hitchcock's first big hits, long before he moved to Hollywood and made the films he's now most known for. (And if this title seems particularly familiar these days, by the way, it's because there's a new comedic stage version of the story playing on Broadway right now, in which four actors play every single part in a gonzo quick-change style.) Just the title alone invokes strange and pleasant emotions to us fans of turn-of-the-century "weird" fiction, of foggy nights and mysterious stairways, and it's a project I've been looking forward to for a long time now.And indeed, let me confess that the novella doesn't disappoint at all, or at least to existing fans of that transitional period of arts history; because that's something important to remember about The 39 Steps as you read it, that much like GK Chesterton or the Futurist art movement, this was penned in a strange twenty-year period in history (1900 to 1920) that fell directly between Romanticism and Modernism, a period that basically bridged these two movements precisely through wild experimentation and the birth of many of our modern artistic "genres." It is a crucial book to read, for example, if you are a fan of mysteries, secret-agent thrillers and the like; it's one of the books that literally defined those genres, a step above and beyond the pulpy "dime novels" that Buchan himself admits in the dedication was a major inspiration behind his own story. (Turns out that he and a friend were both guilty obsessive fans of pulp fiction, and thought it'd be funny to write their own homages; ironically, of course, it's this homage that is now much more known than the pulp stories that inspired it.)The tale of bored young intellectual Richard Hannay, a British South African who has recently moved to London and just hates it, our hero is actually just about to move back home when he is suddenly swept into a world of international intrigue by his next-door neighbor, a paranoid little weasel named Scudder who claims to be an undercover agent of the government, and who has stumbled across a corporate/anarchist conspiracy to assassinate a minor Greek ambassador and thus trigger a global war*. Scudder ends up dying under mysterious circumstances while hiding in Hannay's apartment, leading to him getting framed for murder; and this is just enough of an excuse to get Hannay on the run, leading to the action-based plot that takes him from one side of the UK to the other, into and out of a series of traps, and even the object of a monoplane chase back when hardly any planes actually existed. It's an exciting tale, one with all the usual twists and turns we expect now from the genre, told in a competent style that shakes off the flowery Victorianism that at the time was just ending its dominance of the arts; a thoroughly modern novel, in other words, or I guess I should say "proto-modern," one of the many above-average projects from this transitional period of history to highly influence the mature Modernists who came after.Twenty years later, then, a young Alfred Hitchcock realized what a great story this was as well, and how it so naturally fit the themes that he wanted to tackle in his films in the first place; that led to a movie version in the mid-'30s, which like I said was one of the first really big hits of his career, one of the things that led him to Hollywood a few years later and the films he is now much more known for. I have to admit, though, that I have a low tolerance for movies that are over 50 or 60 years in age, precisely because of all the cheesiness that comes with such films -- the ham-fisted acting, the stilted dialogue, the dated hairdos, the non-existent production values. It takes a pretty special film from this period to still hold my legitimate attention as a contemporary moviegoer (see, for example, my review of Fritz Lang's 1927 Metropolis, which is just so visually stunning you can't help but to still be fascinated by it); and Hitchcock's The 39 Steps is unfortunately just not one of those films, especially considering that huge portions of the original story were rewritten in order to appease a mainstream moviegoing crowd. (In the film version, for example, Hannay is saddled with a wisecracking love interest, something completely absent from the original novella.) It's definitely worth checking out if you're a fan of historical films (and by the way is in the public domain too -- you can watch the whole thing for free if you want over at Google Video); for most of you, however, I recommend simply reading the book, which to this day is still a corker of a tale.Out of 10:Book: 8.3Movie: 7.2, or 8.2 for fans of pre-WWII films*And in fact, since it's such an integral part of the plot, it's important before reading The 39 Steps to understand in general terms what caused World War I in the first place. In fact, I can give it to you in a nutshell: Basically, the way all the royal families of Europe kept the peace throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s was through an ultra-elaborate series of international treaties, with a country for example pledging to go to war on behalf of a friendly neighbor, if that neighbor ends up going to war themselves. The thinking, then, was that no individual country would ever declare war against another one under such circumstances, because of that country basically declaring war against half of Europe by doing so; and sure enough, after the assassination of a member of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1914, the retaliation by that empire against the kingdom of Serbia did indeed kick all these complicated treaties into motion, leading eventually to half of Europe fighting the other half of Europe for no particular reason at all, and with a total death toll of 20 million by the time the whole thing was over. The conspiracy behind The 39 Steps relies exactly on such a situation -- the assassination of a minor ambassador, leading to a global war because of all these international treaties -- which is why it's important to understand all this before reading the book.
    • 3/5
      This is one of those rare instances where the movie was definitely better than the book. I can't remember much from the Hitchcock version, but PBS Masterpiece broadcast an updated version of The 39 Steps which was engaging, witty, and fun.

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

      The 39 Steps, written in 1915, is recognized as the book that launched the whole genre of spy thrillers. As such, it is to be respected for its historical import. But as a "good read" almost a century later, I would search for an alternative among its many descendents.
    • 3/5
      Nice, neat little book that moderately kept my interest. The constant focus on successful disguises kept it slightly out of my realm of believability. And I did also have a little trouble following the political crisis and what it was everyone was actually trying to stop.....but i may have been distracted. If nothing else, it makes me want to take a bike ride throughout England and Scotland to experience first-hand the scenery very vividly described.
    • 3/5
      This book got me thinking about the way technology has developed over the years - to such a degree that a story like this could not really happen in the modern age. The main character would have been caught on so many CCTV cameras, and mobile phones would have been buzzing..... Not having modern communications made it possible to have chase stories like this, and whilst it's probably a bit far fetched even still it's all good fun.
    • 3/5
      We rarely fail to please with our classics. As a group we can see the merit in most of these literary gems, even if it does not fall into our preferred genre. The 39 Steps was seen for what it was; a boy’s own adventure with quick, punchy episodes written to entertain. The hero, Richard Hannay, delighted us as he skipped his way through the country side as a more than competent espionage agent dodging enemies and much of the humour was not lost to us.On a more serious note, we found the descriptive passages, particularly of the Scottish landscape beautifully written and believe Steps to be a book of its time that ticked many of boxes for an engaging adventure novel in 1915.A few of us were not quite so impressed, finding the writing a little amateurish with too many coincidences and an unbelievable story line. Old-fashioned it may be, but as a forerunner to the modern day adventure espionage novel, you are not likely toget anything better.
    • 4/5
      The book, as is stated at the beginning, was deliberately written as an implausible adventure story where the hero keeps on escaping by the skin of his teeth, rather like the comic strip stories that appeared in weekly magazines. It's set in the year 1914.

      Richard Hannay is the protagonist, a wealthy engineer who has been living in London for a while but is bored with the lifestyle. Then, as he’s about to give up his flat and leave, a stranger arrives on his doorstep with a worrying story about international politics and intrigue…

      Over the next few weeks, Hannay's life is far from mundane. He flees to Scotland, and takes refuge with a series of unlikely people. He dons many disguises, and, in teenage adventure story style, escapes each scenario by cleverness or luck, before finally returning to London. The story is told in the first person, so it's not a spoiler to say that he escapes.

      Inevitably most of the other people in the story are caricatured like comic strip stereotypes. But the writing is good, albeit a bit dated, but that's hardly surprising. It's fast-paced and exciting, with just enough description to set each scene. In many places there is politically incorrect commentary, but that’s par for the course with this era and style of writing.

      ‘The Thirty-Nine Steps’ is just over 100 pages long so I read it in a few hours. The ending is rather abrupt; but the final paragraph slots extremely well into the realities of world history.

      This isn’t a thriller in the modern sense of the word, but it’s one of the earliest of the genre, now considered a classic, and may have inspired subsequent novels on similar themes. It has to be taken with a very large pinch of salt, but still, I would recommend it to anyone, teen or adult, who is interested in literature from this era.
    • 2/5
      2.75 stars. Contrived and repetitious but fairly entertaining in places. The play's better. ;)
    • 4/5
      A good, page turning thriller, but one has to wonder whether this would be at all well known or in the 1001 list if it were not for the film versions, esp. the Hitchcock (1935) and the Kenneth Moore (1959) ones. There are no women handcuffed to the hero here (indeed no real female characters at all) and no Mr Memory. The plot relies rather too much on coincidences, but it's good, basic and short (100 pages) fun.
    • 5/5
      This was brilliant. Never seen any of the adaptions, although I did know something of what went on, but not the whole story. So I came to it very new. It's all a bit convolouted, and trying to describe the plot does tend to sink into melodrama, but somehow, when reading it, is seems entirely sensible. Richard Hannay has made his money in mining in the colonies and comes back to the UK - only to be bored out of his mind by London. He's just resolved to leave when he is accosted by a fellow flat holder and told a fable about a plot that sounds rather far-fetched. But he thinks the fellow is for real, so helps him out - only to have him murdered. whoops. So he's now wanted by the police and trying to foil a feindish plot all at the same time. It's not very long, but it packs an awful lot of narative into a small package. The climax is a grat piece of the study f human nature, and how you can start to doubt yourself when faced with what seems to be overwhelming evidence against you. Thrilling adventure and some great character studies throughout.
    • 5/5
      A rollicking good little yard that doesn’t insult its readers’ intelligence with blatant impossibility. Perfect of its type.
    • 3/5
      I had read this years ago, but I literally didn't remember one word of it. According to the preface, it was written as a lark by a gentleman who had been ill and became bored reading dime novels. He thought he could write his own and went on to write several more. As a first effort, it was far more than just serviceable. It was entertaining and a bit suspenseful. You definitely could identify with the protagonist Richard Hannay. I look forward to reading Buchan's later Hannay works.
    • 3/5
      A fun, quick read.