The Thirty-Nine Steps introduces John Buchan's most famous hero, Richard Hannay, who, despite claiming to be an "ordinary fellow," is caught up ... read full description
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Sep 11, 2011
Mike
rated it: 
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 litt
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Nov 05, 2011
Shovelmonkey1
rated it: 
Blink and you might miss this 1001 book listed novella which weighs in at around 100 pages. The Thirty-Nine steps was the book which spawned Richard Hannay, gallant man-about-town, colonial adventurer and official holder of the title, "Man with the stiffest upper lip in the British Empire", that is of course until James Bond exploded off the page in a miasma of cigarette smoke and dinner jackets in 1953.
Hannay sets the pace for the spy-thriller-action-adventure-life-and-limb More...
Hannay sets the pace for the spy-thriller-action-adventure-life-and-limb More...
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Jun 04, 2008
Jason
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(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 More...
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 More...
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Aug 28, 2007
David
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Thanks to the extremely cheap "Penguin Classics" series, this summer I've had a chance to catch up on a heap of books I might not otherwise have read. In the spy-thriller genre, there was Erskine Childers' "Riddle of the Sands", and this book by John Buchan.
Of course, I'd seen the Hitchcock film, but didn't really remember much of it. Someone posted a question, wondering if the book matches the excellence of the movie. In a word: "absolutely". I read the More...
Of course, I'd seen the Hitchcock film, but didn't really remember much of it. Someone posted a question, wondering if the book matches the excellence of the movie. In a word: "absolutely". I read the More...
Jul 31, 2011
Hope
rated it:
"Contrary to general belief, I was not a murderer, but I had become an unholy liar, a shameless imposter, and a highwayman with a marked taste for expensive motor-cars."
Richard Hannay's life is boring. At the beginning of this novel, the hero of this story is "pretty well disgusted with life" and wishes for any kind of excitement to get him out of the humdrum "ditch" he feels he's currently stuck in. Enter a man named Scudder, an American (yay!) journ More...
Richard Hannay's life is boring. At the beginning of this novel, the hero of this story is "pretty well disgusted with life" and wishes for any kind of excitement to get him out of the humdrum "ditch" he feels he's currently stuck in. Enter a man named Scudder, an American (yay!) journ More...
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Apr 13, 2009
(Apparently considered among the first "spy" novels, and the basis for the movie of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock. I was led to John Buchan by a footnote in Christopher Booker's The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories (p. 317) in which he claims "Buchan was one of the few modern fiction writers Tolkien admired.")
Note: available online here, and on Goodreads as a downloadable TXT ebook. Copyright has expired for works published before 1923. More...
Note: available online here, and on Goodreads as a downloadable TXT ebook. Copyright has expired for works published before 1923. More...
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Mar 06, 2010
Lobstergirl
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I didn't enjoy this as much as The Island of Sheep, the fourth Richard Hannay adventure, but it was still entertaining, in that ridiculous Buchan way. Hannay is back in England, bored off his gourd after an adventure-filled stint in Rhodesia. He's determined to leave the country unless excitement comes back into his life, whereupon a frightened chap named Scudder involves him in a tale of intrigue, mayhem, spying, lots of wanderings through the heather and the moors, and multiple disguises, as
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(2 people liked it)
Mar 09, 2010
Werner
rated it:
The above description (which I wrote --it didn't have one before, only an unilluminating, seemingly random quotation from the book) gives you a one-sentence idea of the type of book this is, and the setting/milieu. Like his protagonist, Richard Hannay (who appears in other Buchan works as well), the author had spent considerable time in southern Africa, and led an adventurous life. Novels of espionage in 1915 were in their infancy; but the outbreak of World War I, and the climate of intrigue t
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Dec 16, 2009
Alison
rated it:
I have know idea why I picked this book to read. I heard somewhere that it was the original spy novel...in the same family as the James Bond or Jason Bourne series. And I had heard of the Hitchock movie.
I really enjoyed this short little read. It packs a punch. It tells the story of a man in England who has a visitor one night that claims to know about a secret mission to kill a Greek diplomat and launch England into the War. When the man is killed, Richard Hannay (the character More...
I really enjoyed this short little read. It packs a punch. It tells the story of a man in England who has a visitor one night that claims to know about a secret mission to kill a Greek diplomat and launch England into the War. When the man is killed, Richard Hannay (the character More...
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Jan 30, 2012
Charlotte
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Oct 06, 2011
Rebecca
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A fantastic modern classic. The novel that really spawned the spy genre and was the inspiration for James Bond. The hero, Richard Hannay is of Scots background and lived in South Africa until returning to England after making his fortune. One night he finds himself enmeshed in a plot of international significance which involves German spy rings poised to assasinate the Greek statesman Koralides and steal British military plans, effectively starting World War I. After Hannay finds his informant d
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Dec 14, 2010
Greg
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Richard Hannay, retired mining engineer, newly returned from Rhodesia (where he has mostly been since the age of six), is really too young not to have anything to do besides read the papers at his club and spend all night at frivolous entertainments. He really needs to have the police and a nefarious cabal (who for reasons of their own would like to see a war between the European powers) chasing him over the moors, glens, bens and burns of Scotland, with the fate of the entire British Empire dep
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May 05, 2008
I gave this one a try. I got about a third into it, and just completely lost interest.
A young man in search of adventure and excitement is approached by a neighbor and told of this secret plot to kill the Greek head-of-state. He is basically so bored with his life that he agrees to get involved. When his neighbor dies, he hits the road in the search of the bad guys and a solution.
I did not find the main character like. He is a rich and spoiled man who has nothing better t More...
A young man in search of adventure and excitement is approached by a neighbor and told of this secret plot to kill the Greek head-of-state. He is basically so bored with his life that he agrees to get involved. When his neighbor dies, he hits the road in the search of the bad guys and a solution.
I did not find the main character like. He is a rich and spoiled man who has nothing better t More...
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Nov 27, 2011
Ben
rated it:
a fun thriller, very readable (1915!?), also very different from the hitchcock film it inspired (there's no "handcuffed to the pretty girl" subplot, and the mr. memory character is absent). not much compared to the stuff it inspired, though... mostly it just made me want to read geoffrey household's Rogue Male again... or, even better, watch north by northwest...
good thing the guy was so much smarter than his pursuers, or he might have had a hard time... More...
good thing the guy was so much smarter than his pursuers, or he might have had a hard time... More...
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Jan 06, 2012
Elliott
rated it:
My review of "The Thirty-nine Steps" and "The Man in the Queue" as a Good Cop-Bad Cop scene (incorporates review of "The Man in the Queue").
Good Cop: Ms. Tey, it's clearly evident that your book borrowed heavily from Lord Tweedsmuir's. Why don't you just make it easy on yourself and tell us the truth?
Bad Cop: Where did you get some of those plot details, Tey! ANSWER THE QUESTION!
(see review of "The Man in the Queue" More...
Good Cop: Ms. Tey, it's clearly evident that your book borrowed heavily from Lord Tweedsmuir's. Why don't you just make it easy on yourself and tell us the truth?
Bad Cop: Where did you get some of those plot details, Tey! ANSWER THE QUESTION!
(see review of "The Man in the Queue" More...
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Aug 06, 2011
Despite having seen at least three screen versions of this, I had not read Buchan's book until this week. It is certainly a gripping tale, every bit as tense (and topical) as the screen versions, and a jolly good read. Hardly a very long novel, Buchan's pithy (but detailed in vivid description of geographical features) text is something from which some of today's 600+ page novellists could take note! I sometimes think, when reading some more contemporary authors that they are being paid by the p
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Aug 05, 2011
I loved it when I read it years ago and I thoroughly enjoyed it again-however in re-reading the book I realized how different the play and the movie are from the book, but nonetheless both are very good! It is a really good spy story where the main character meets very interesting people who help or hinder him along the way. I wonder though did Buchnan have a foreboding over the coming World Wars? He must have been a very keen and astute political watcher-especially of what was going on in
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Feb 15, 2012
Susan
rated it: 
A marvelous spy story. Just reread for the 3rd or 4th time. I think it is one of the first thrillers written.
Richard Hannay has come home from living in South Africa since he was six. He is totally bored with London and considering going back to South Africa if London doesn't produce some excitement. That night he founds a neighbor from another floor at his elbow when he prepares to enter his apartment. Scudder, as he calls himself, is afraid for his life and looking for a place to sta More...
Richard Hannay has come home from living in South Africa since he was six. He is totally bored with London and considering going back to South Africa if London doesn't produce some excitement. That night he founds a neighbor from another floor at his elbow when he prepares to enter his apartment. Scudder, as he calls himself, is afraid for his life and looking for a place to sta More...
Feb 02, 2012
Prasad
rated it:
I came across this book from a list of “BBC Top 100” books. Somehow I felt like reading the book and I started the process.
Let me tell you in the beginning only. The book isn’t “that” fascinating, but still you can go and read for it has some nice old school English phrases and speech techniques. The book is a little fast at some point and a bit too much sluggish at the other. But it still catches your interest and you go on reading it. There is mention of some places in Early London. And More...
Let me tell you in the beginning only. The book isn’t “that” fascinating, but still you can go and read for it has some nice old school English phrases and speech techniques. The book is a little fast at some point and a bit too much sluggish at the other. But it still catches your interest and you go on reading it. There is mention of some places in Early London. And More...
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Jan 16, 2012
Kristopher
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Aug 29, 2011
Helen
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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 h
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Jul 31, 2011
It's surprising how Scottish this book is. In some sense, it's a tour of Scotland a century ago. (The 39 Steps was published in 1915.) And Buchan -- never heard that name before -- doesn't stint on the Scots dialect. You have to scratch your head over lines like:
"He rins about in a wee motor-cawr, and wad speir the inside oot o' a whelk"
-- but eventually you "ken" them.
Buchan called this book a "shocker"; that was the contemporary term More...
"He rins about in a wee motor-cawr, and wad speir the inside oot o' a whelk"
-- but eventually you "ken" them.
Buchan called this book a "shocker"; that was the contemporary term More...
Jul 01, 2011
Sistermagpie
rated it:
If you're an upper class Brit, even from the colonies, and you start getting bored with life you can often count on getting swept up into some adventure where you're hunted all over the country while trying to prevent a threat to natural security. An adventure for which you're luckily prepared via passing aquaintences to dodgy types who give memorable advice, work experience that gave you skill that will come in handy, like horse trading or mining, and experience with other men of the upper clas
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May 14, 2011
Book Concierge
rated it:
The time is 1914; the setting England and Scotland. Richard Hannay is back in London after making his money in South Africa, but he finds the city life rather boring. He has made up his mind to seek adventure elsewhere when a man from his apartment building asks for his help – there are men waiting to kill him and he needs a place to hide for a few days. Thus begins an adventure that involves German spies, international intrigue, unknown moles, a couple of murders, train rides, car chases, narro
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Dec 18, 2010
Brendan
rated it:
I've seen Hitchcock's film version of this text, and I enjoyed the Broadway adaptation of the film quite a bit, so I was pretty interested to see what the original text looks like. It's okay, with fast pacing and a strong narrative voice. The book focuses almost entirely on the chase after the murder -- will he get away!? How!? In this way, it works almost like a television series: each episode/chapter involves another stage in the chase, each ending with our hero barely eluding his pursuers.
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Sep 06, 2010
Rosanne
rated it:
Spy thrillers are the sort of books you buy during a long layover at the airport and then leave conveniently in the back pocket of an airplane seat when you are done with them. Why don’t you bring them home to your bookshelf to preserve them for posterity? Because they’re formula novels–if you’ve read one, you’ve read them all. Once you’ve navigated the twists and turns and know the ending, there’s no reason to ever crack the cover again.
But one thing to remember is that every genre More...
But one thing to remember is that every genre More...
Sep 02, 2010
The Thirty-Nine Steps, by John Buchan, b-plus, narrated by Steven Crossley, produced by Tantor Media, downloaded from audible.com.
This is an early espionage novel of Edwardian England just prior to WW I. Richard Hannay comes home to his apartment one day and finds his neighbor there. He is very afraid and says he is in danger. He tells a story of an attempt by a hostile party, (I think we’re meant to read Germany) is getting ready to steal British naval secrets. He asks for help More...
This is an early espionage novel of Edwardian England just prior to WW I. Richard Hannay comes home to his apartment one day and finds his neighbor there. He is very afraid and says he is in danger. He tells a story of an attempt by a hostile party, (I think we’re meant to read Germany) is getting ready to steal British naval secrets. He asks for help More...
Jun 21, 2010
Nicki
rated it:
The protagonist of The 39 Steps, Richard Hannay, is a bored Londoner who hopes for a little more action and excitement in his dull, repetitive life. Remember the expression, be careful what you wish for?
One evening a neighbor approaches Hannay at his door seeking refuge. Once inside, he claims to be a secret agent who knows of a plot to assassinate a high Greek official. He believes that as a result of his knowledge anarchists are following him, with the intent of taking his lif More...
One evening a neighbor approaches Hannay at his door seeking refuge. Once inside, he claims to be a secret agent who knows of a plot to assassinate a high Greek official. He believes that as a result of his knowledge anarchists are following him, with the intent of taking his lif More...
Dec 01, 2009
Natalie
rated it:
The Thirty-Nine Steps was one of the first "man-on-the-run" thrillers, a pattern that has been adopted by authors and Hollywood as the basis of so very many adventure plots. As a 'dime novel' it became immediately popular. It was adapted by Alfred Hitchcock as a movie thriller in 1935 and has been remade several times since.
Richard Hannay is a man of action, an intelligent, observant Scotsman recently returned from military service in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), who finds himself slig
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Jan 03, 2012
ally
rated it:
The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan
This is my second book of this year's challenge and my first 'Classic' of the year.
I say classic but this book left me feeling slightly deflated. Maybe I am not the best person to judge this book as the thriller genre has failed to set me on fire.
Maybe a thriller fan would appreciate it more.
Richard Hannay returns home from the Boer war to find a strange man standing by his door, a man with a startling revelation. He i More...
This is my second book of this year's challenge and my first 'Classic' of the year.
I say classic but this book left me feeling slightly deflated. Maybe I am not the best person to judge this book as the thriller genre has failed to set me on fire.
Maybe a thriller fan would appreciate it more.
Richard Hannay returns home from the Boer war to find a strange man standing by his door, a man with a startling revelation. He i More...
