欧宝娱乐

Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Richard Hannay #1

The 39 Steps

Rate this book
Adventurer Richard Hannay, just returned from South Africa, is thoroughly bored with London life鈥攗ntil he is accosted by a mysterious American, who warns him of an assassination plot that could completely destabalise the fragile political balance of Europe. Initially sceptical, Hannay nonetheless harbours the man鈥攂ut one day returns home to find him murdered... An obvious suspect, Hannay flees to his native Scotland, pursued by both the police and a cunning, ruthless enemy. His life and the security of Britain are in grave peril, and everything rests on the solution to a baffling enigma: what are the 'thirty nine steps?'

100 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1915

1,924 people are currently reading
22.2k people want to read

About the author

John Buchan

1,682books451followers
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.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
8,858 (19%)
4 stars
15,475 (34%)
3 stars
14,649 (32%)
2 stars
4,342 (9%)
1 star
1,181 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,816 reviews
Profile Image for Rowan MacDonald.
186 reviews570 followers
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.

鈥淚 was getting worried by the antics of this nervous little chap.鈥�

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鈥檚 all there. I occasionally found myself confused, as the plot veered into the far-fetched. One character, Sir Walter, described it best:

鈥淏ut all this about war and the Black Stone - it reads like some wild melodrama.鈥�

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 鈥� road worker, milkman, chauffeur 鈥� to name a few.

While some characters were under-developed, Scotland was not. John Buchan鈥檚 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鈥檝e been happy.

鈥淲e 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.鈥�

For me, The Thirty-Nine Steps is a case of the films being better than the book - but it鈥檚 clear to see the influence John Buchan鈥檚 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!
Profile Image for Bobby Underwood.
Author听129 books336 followers
November 11, 2022
Scotsman John Buchan鈥檚 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鈥檚 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鈥檚 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鈥檛 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鈥檛-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鈥檚 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鈥檛 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.
Profile Image for Emily May.
2,167 reviews318k followers
August 18, 2012
I am currently working my way through the list of 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 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 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 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.
Profile Image for Jeffrey Keeten.
Author听6 books251k followers
April 6, 2017
鈥滻 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.鈥� 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鈥檚 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鈥檚 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鈥檚 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 鈥淭iny鈥� Ironside鈥檚 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 鈥淭iny鈥� 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
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:
Profile Image for Daren.
1,509 reviews4,531 followers
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
Profile Image for Georgia Scott.
Author听3 books297 followers
February 17, 2023
What Hitchcock does with this novel is what Italy did for ground meat by inventing 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. It gave relief for Depression viewers. There is suspense and tension, romance, and light comedy. 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 enough it wasn't good.

John Buchan's The 39 Steps came out in the prelude to an altogether different war. Not the Second World War but the First. And its 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 (not to mention viewers who grew up on James Bond films and 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 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.
Profile Image for Fabian.
995 reviews2,033 followers
November 24, 2020
Run-of-the-mill outmoded thriller. With conventions that pile on & on like wretched clich茅s, "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.
Profile Image for Paul Bryant.
2,362 reviews11.9k followers
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鈥檚 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鈥檚 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. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want proof鈥� I can size up a man. You鈥檙e no murderer and you鈥檙e no fool. I believe you are speaking the truth.鈥�

Early on, our man Richard Hannay runs into an odd cove called Scudder and they use their trustometers on each other :

鈥淛ust one word, Mr Scudder. I believe you are straight, but if so be you are not, I should warn you that I鈥檓 a handy man with a gun.鈥�

Scudder says

鈥淚 haven鈥檛 the privilege of your name, sir, but let me tell you that you鈥檙e a white man. I鈥檒l thank you to lend me a razor.鈥�

I was thinking well, you don鈥檛 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 鈥済ood鈥�.

So this is not The Wire. It鈥檚 more like the 1914 version of James Bond, meaning no technology, absolutely no girls, but lots of racing around. Even though it鈥檚 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鈥檚 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鈥� 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. 鈥� 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.
Profile Image for Jan-Maat.
1,653 reviews2,379 followers
Read
December 13, 2023
I 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.
Profile Image for Jon Nakapalau.
6,125 reviews937 followers
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!
3,115 reviews2,628 followers
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 鈥渄ime novel鈥� or 鈥渟hocker鈥� where 鈥樷€� the incidents defy the probabilities and march just inside the borders of the possible鈥�. I cannot put it better than that.

The lead character of Richard Hannay is a wealthy man in his late 鈥榯hirties 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鈥檚 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
Profile Image for Sasha.
Author听11 books4,908 followers
January 24, 2018
I hadn't heard of this book until recently, when it made a surprise appearance on The Guardian's 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.
Profile Image for [ J o ].
1,962 reviews528 followers
June 25, 2018
Read as part of , 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.




| | | | |
Profile Image for Beth.
78 reviews23 followers
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.

Profile Image for Anchali.
15 reviews7 followers
October 27, 2024
I've not seen the film. Other reviews say the film strays from the plot in this book: romance a leaping over tall building in a single bound. Why do all these nowadays tales have to have the prescribed amount of romance, mental challenges and death defying acrobatics? I tend to DNF them.
This is a great read, and I enjoyed it. Written a hundred years ago, it smacks of doing what's asked of you, getting on with the job, accepting people for what they are and mucking in. Mr Hannay is on my list.
Profile Image for Paul Weiss.
1,425 reviews465 followers
December 13, 2022
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
Profile Image for Michael P..
Author听3 books71 followers
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鈥檒l probably look for one of his later books to see if Buchan learned how to plot.
Profile Image for Vikas Singh.
Author听4 books324 followers
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.
Profile Image for Bill.
1,107 reviews184 followers
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.
Profile Image for Jimp.
52 reviews
October 12, 2024
Against today's crop of 'espionage thrillers' this would most like be written up as staid and boring. For me, it's a gripping, page-turner, written by a man who worked within the intelligence community.
A great story and a great read.
Profile Image for sAmAnE.
1,247 reviews147 followers
December 19, 2024
讴鬲丕亘 丿乇 丿爻鬲賴鈥屰� 乇賲丕賳鈥屬囏й� 讴賱丕爻蹖讴 丿乇 跇丕賳乇 賲毓賲丕蹖蹖 賵 噩丕爻賵爻蹖 丕爻鬲 讴賴 丿乇 爻丕賱 郾酃郾鄣 賲賳鬲卮乇 卮丿. 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 亘賴 毓賳賵丕賳 蹖讴蹖 丕夭 賳禺爻鬲蹖賳 賳賲賵賳賴鈥屬囏й� 乇賲丕賳鈥屬囏й� 噩丕爻賵爻蹖 賲丿乇賳 卮賳丕禺鬲賴 賲蹖鈥屫促堌�....倬丕蹖丕賳 亘蹖鈥屬嗀港屫臂� 丿丕卮鬲... 乇丕賵蹖貙 乇蹖趩丕乇丿 賴丕賳蹖貙 蹖讴 賲乇丿 毓丕丿蹖 丕爻鬲 讴賴 亘賴 賳丕诏丕賴 禺賵丿 乇丕 丿乇 賲蹖丕賳賴 蹖讴 鬲賵胤卅賴 亘夭乇诏 爻蹖丕爻蹖 賲蹖鈥屫ㄛ屬嗀�. 賴丕賳蹖 倬爻 丕夭 讴卮賮 蹖讴 賳賯卮賴 禺胤乇賳丕讴 讴賴 賲蹖鈥屫堌з嗀� 亘賴 噩賳诏蹖 亘夭乇诏 賲賳噩乇 卮賵丿貙 賲噩亘賵乇 賲蹖鈥屫促堌� 賮乇丕乇 讴賳丿 賵 亘乇丕蹖 賳噩丕鬲 禺賵丿 賵 噩賱賵诏蹖乇蹖 丕夭 賵賯賵毓 賮丕噩毓賴 鬲賱丕卮 讴賳丿. 丕賵 丿乇 丕蹖賳 賲爻蹖乇 亘丕 趩丕賱卮鈥屬囏� 賵 禺胤乇丕鬲 賲鬲毓丿丿蹖 乇賵亘乇賵 賲蹖鈥屫促堌� 賵 亘丕蹖丿 亘丕 賴賵卮 賵 夭蹖乇讴蹖 禺賵丿貙 賲毓賲丕賴丕 乇丕 丨賱 讴賳丿 賵 丿卮賲賳丕賳卮 乇丕 卮讴爻鬲 丿賴丿....
Profile Image for Cindy Rollins.
Author听20 books3,141 followers
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.
Profile Image for Poppy.
58 reviews26 followers
September 20, 2024
Set in the time of Empire and reflecting attitudes and opinions of those days; when men were gallant, honest, honourable, reliable, stalwarts wanting to fight for their beloved country and women fluttered eyelids, cooed, and wished for a hand.

Just days before the outbreak of first war and back from exploits in South Africa, the hero of the story ends up with a dead man in his apartment: there's skulduggery afoot.
Thinking he'll have a devil of a job explaining himself to the rozzers, he legs it. Hot pursuit takes the innocent man over much of the British Isles. He's no slouch and, with a good helping of wit and a dose of luck he stays one-step ahead.
It's fast-paced, page turning, fodder and right up there with Riddle of the Sands and The Roads Chosen.
Left breathless by it: it makes a girl's heart skip a beat. I can but dream of... I'll never be lucky enough.
It's a wonderful story and as Philip Chaundler said, 'It is times they lived through.'
Profile Image for Anne.
611 reviews103 followers
January 17, 2022
鈥淚 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.鈥�

The Thirty-Nine Steps is a 1915 novel that influenced later espionage/ spy adventures and 鈥渕an-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鈥檚 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鈥檚 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鈥檚 鈥渕an-on-the-run鈥� 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鈥檚 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 鈥済entleman.鈥� 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鈥檝e 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鈥檛 judge a book by its film!
Profile Image for Eliasdgian.
432 reviews129 followers
April 12, 2019
螣 John Buchan 苇纬蟻伪蠄蔚 蔚谓蠈蟽蠅 慰 螒蝿 螤伪纬魏蠈蟽渭喂慰蟼 螤蠈位蔚渭慰蟼 蔚委蠂蔚 萎未畏 尉蔚魏喂谓萎蟽蔚喂. 螕喂鈥� 伪蠀蟿蠈 魏伪喂 畏 蟽蠀谓蠅渭慰蟽委伪 蟺慰蠀 伪蟺慰魏伪位蠉蟺蟿蔚蟿伪喂 蟽蟿慰谓 蟺蟻蠅蟿伪纬蠅谓喂蟽蟿萎 蟿慰蠀 尾喂尾位委慰蠀, Richard Hann伪y, 未喂维 蟽蟿蠈渭伪蟿慰蟼 蔚谓蠈蟼 伪谓胃蟻蠋蟺慰蠀 蟺慰蠀 伪渭苇蟽蠅蟼 渭蔚蟿维 胃伪 尾蟻蔚胃蔚委 未慰位慰蠁慰谓畏渭苇谓慰蟼, 魏伪喂 伪蠁慰蟻维 蟿畏 蟽蠂蔚未喂伪味蠈渭蔚谓畏 未慰位慰蠁慰谓委伪 蔚谓蠈蟼 螘蠀蟻蠅蟺伪委慰蠀 蟺慰位喂蟿喂魏慰蠉 畏纬苇蟿畏 (蟿慰蠀 螆位位畏谓伪 蟺蟻蠅胃蠀蟺慰蠀蟻纬慰蠉 螝蠅谓蟽蟿伪谓蟿委谓慰蠀 螝伪蟻慰位委未畏!), 渭蔚 蟽魏慰蟺蠈 蟿畏谓 苇谓伪蟻尉畏 蔚谓蠈蟼 伪魏蠈渭畏 蟺慰位苇渭慰蠀 蟽蟿畏谓 蟺慰位蠉蟺伪胃畏 蔚蠀蟻蠅蟺伪蠆魏萎 萎蟺蔚喂蟻慰, 未蔚谓 蠀蟺萎蟻尉蔚 伪魏蟻喂尾蠋蟼 蟺蟻慰蠁畏蟿喂魏萎. 螒蟺慰蟿苇位蔚蟽蔚, 蠈渭蠅蟼, 渭喂伪 蟺蟻蠋蟿畏蟼 蟿维尉蔚蠅蟼 蔚蠀魏伪喂蟻委伪 纬喂伪 谓伪 蠂蟿委蟽蔚喂 蔚蟺维谓蠅 蟿畏蟼 慰 John Buchan 苇谓伪 蔚渭尾位畏渭伪蟿喂魏蠈 胃蟻委位蔚蟻 魏伪蟿伪蟽魏慰蟺蔚委伪蟼, 蟺慰蠀, 渭蔚蟿维 伪蟺蠈 苇谓伪 伪谓蔚位苇畏蟿慰 伪谓胃蟻蠅蟺慰魏蠀谓畏纬畏蟿蠈 蟽蟿慰蠀蟼 伪谓蔚渭慰未伪蟻渭苇谓慰蠀蟼 位蠈蠁慰蠀蟼 蟿畏蟼 危魏蠅蟿委伪蟼, 胃伪 魏慰蟻蠀蠁蠅胃蔚委 蟽鈥� 苇谓伪 伪蟽尾蔚蟽蟿慰位喂胃喂魏蠈 伪魏蟻蠅蟿萎蟻喂 蟽蟿慰 螝蔚谓蟿 (蠈蟺慰蠀 魏伪喂 蟿伪 39 蟽魏伪位慰蟺维蟿喂伪 蟿慰蠀 蟿委蟿位慰蠀).

螒蟻蠂蔚蟿蠀蟺喂魏蠈 伪纬纬位喂魏蠈 胃蟻委位蔚蟻, 渭蔚蟿伪蠁苇蟻胃畏魏蔚 蟺蔚蟻喂蟽蟽蠈蟿蔚蟻蔚蟼 伪蟺蠈 渭委伪 蠁慰蟻苇蟼 蟽蟿慰谓 魏喂谓畏渭伪蟿慰纬蟻维蠁慰, 渭蔚 蟺蟻蠋蟿畏 (魏伪喂 魏伪位蠉蟿蔚蟻畏) 伪蠀蟿萎 蟿慰蠀 Alfred Hitchcock (1935). 螌蠂喂 蟿蠈蟽慰 蟽蟺慰蠀未伪委慰, 蠈蟽慰 畏 慰渭蠋谓蠀渭畏 蟿伪喂谓委伪 蟿慰蠀 渭蔚蟿蟻 蟿慰蠀 蟽伪蟽蟺苇谓蟼, 伪谓 魏伪喂 慰 Guardian 蟿慰 蟽蠀渭蟺蔚蟻喂苇位伪尾蔚 蟽蟿畏 位委蟽蟿伪 渭蔚 蟿伪 蔚魏伪蟿蠈 魏伪位蠉蟿蔚蟻伪 渭蠀胃喂蟽蟿慰蟻萎渭伪蟿伪 蟽蟿畏谓 伪纬纬位喂魏萎 纬位蠋蟽蟽伪.
Profile Image for Carol.
1,370 reviews2,317 followers
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!
Profile Image for Kim.
426 reviews537 followers
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.
Profile Image for Kristopher Kelly.
Author听4 books25 followers
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 ...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Ed.
Author听1 book440 followers
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.
Profile Image for Aitor Castrillo.
Author听2 books1,313 followers
February 14, 2021
Seguro que algun@s de vosotr@s conoc茅is a MacGyver, aquel tipo con #pelazo que hac铆a maravillas con unos alicates y un imperdible en una serie de televisi贸n de finales de los ochenta.

Richard Hannay, protagonista de Los 39 escalones me ha recordado por momentos a MacGyver鈥�, 隆qu茅 capacidad para escapar en cualquier circunstancia!

La novela comienza muy bien con un primer cap铆tulo brillante, pero el globo de las expectativas se me deshinch贸 demasiado r谩pido. Me interesaba el contenido de la libreta y los enigmas que en ella se escond铆an, pero el autor prefiri贸 dar protagonismo a las persecuciones, disfraces y explosiones鈥� y fui poco a poco perdiendo inter茅s.

En el grupo 鈥淟ibro de Cine鈥� del club literario Atreyu esta semana veremos y comentaremos la pel铆cula de Hitchcock. Tengo la esperanza (y la intuici贸n) de que la versi贸n cinematogr谩fica s铆 me gustar谩.

Mientras tanto, sonr铆o al recordar aquel chiste en el que MacGyver y su compa帽ero estaban al borde de un precipicio acorralados por un ej茅rcito que les disparaban mientras se iban acercando hacia ellos.
鈥� Dios m铆o, McGyver鈥� 驴y ahora qu茅 hacemos?
鈥� Tranquilo, tengo un chicle.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,816 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.