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    The Thirty-Nine Steps
    The Thirty-Nine Steps
    The Thirty-Nine Steps
    Ebook140 pages2 hours

    The Thirty-Nine Steps

    By John Buchan

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    The original novel that was adapted for the famous Hitchcock film.
    Set in Europe in 1914, a foreign power attempts to steal British plans for war...
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAUK Classics
    Release dateJun 22, 2012
    ISBN9781781669679
    Author

    John Buchan

    John Buchan (1875–1940) was educated at Glasgow University and Brasenose College, Oxford. He became a barrister, member of Parliament, soldier, publisher, and governor general of Canada. Of the over one hundred books he published during his lifetime, he is best remembered for his adventure and spy stories, especially The Thirty-Nine Steps, which was made into a movie by Alfred Hitchcock.

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    Reviews for The Thirty-Nine Steps

    3.5/5

    1,223 ratings96 reviews

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    • 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.
    • 4/5
      Bored Richard Hannay has already had enough of London, after returning from a life abroad. But then a neighbor drops by and Richard's life becomes very exciting, very fast. The coincidences are unbelievable at times in this espionage thriller as Richard becomes embroiled in trying to stop a secret plot to undermine the British war effort as Europe marches towards WW1. Still it was a fun ride as Richard races across Scotland by train, car and on foot as he tries to shake his pursuers and expose the plot.
    • 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 fun, quick read.
    • 2/5
      I heard this book read as an audio book on the best audio books' classic tales podcast. That's the only thing that made it bearable (check out the podcast it's excellent). Well the mercifully short ending helped. The fact that Hitchcock managed to make this into a fantastic film proves once again that books and their films are as closely related as a man and his fifth cousin twice removed.
    • 3/5
      very hard going when trying to understand dialect. it made it a chore for me, but its still a good book, just not dyslexia friendly.
    • 4/5
      A fun adventure story full of the close encounters and unlikely coincidences that make great fiction
    • 5/5
      A classic of mystery, intrigue and adventure; set in a world immediately familiar and yet unfathomably foreign.
    • 4/5
      From Amazon: "In this fast-paced spy thriller, a self-described "ordinary fellow" stumbles upon a plot involving not only espionage and murder but also the future of Britain itself. Richard Hannay arrives in London on the eve of World War I, where he encounters an American agent seeking help in preventing a political assassination. Before long, Hannay finds himself in possession of a little black book that holds the key to the conspiracy — and on the run from both the police and members of a mysterious organization that will stop at nothing to keep their secrets hidden.
      This is the first of five novels in John Buchan's Greenmantle series, featuring the adventures of the stalwart and resourceful Richard Hannay. Originally published in 1915, it also served as the basis for several movies and plays, including Alfred Hitchcock's classic cinematic adaptation." I really enjoyed this!
    • 3/5
      Interesting adaptation, although I don't understand why it was updated to being set in 1950 rather than just before World War I. Was this when it was first adapted by Classics Illustrated?It's not as good as the original novel, but is a good taster.
    • 4/5
      A very entertaining Sunday morning read. I read this once before long ago but I kept getting the ending mixed up with the movie version. A pre-WW I suspense espionage that introduced the character Richard Hannay. The story involves someone getting caught up in an espionage plot somewhat like Eric Ambler's stories. The difference is that here there is a definite good guy and bad guy and the good guy wins. The book is well written and I recommend it as an entertaining story.
    • 4/5
      This is the classic that started the 'man-on-the-run' action thrillers. It's also the one everybody has tried to live up to since. Classic, espionage, thriller - don't put it down otherwise you might have to backtrack. You don't follow this one - you just hang on for the ride.
    • 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.
    • 2/5
      Hitchcock's "39 Steps" is one of my favorite old movies. That it sprung from this preposterous book impresses me even more. The similarities are limited to the title, the protagonist's name, and the first few chapters. After that, believe it or not, the movies is far more plausible.
    • 3/5
      Maybe because I have seen three or four film versions, but there was not much tension for me while reading the book. Still three stars. The book is well written and now - at last - I know the real ending.
    • 5/5
      I LOVED this book. It's a thoroughly enjoyable read.
    • 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
      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
      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.
    • 4/5
      Before I write my review, I like to poke around and read other reviews, on amazon and goodreads and by searching google. I like to see if anyone's picked up something I missed that's worth thinking about, or if people are being perfect idiots about it. I've read that this book is terribly boring and you'd be better off reading a cereal box, I've read that this book is not suitable for girls, and I've read that it isn't suitable for Americans because the spelling is "weird".

      Note my gender.

      And the interesting fact that I'm supposed to deal with American spelling, but the Americans can't deal with ours... Ah, hypocrisy.

      Anyway! The Thirty-Nine Steps is, apparently, one of the first spy novels. It's not a genre I'm incredibly interested in, but usually when I come across a mystery novel or whatever, I can get engrossed in it. This one's a very quick read, my copy is only a little over a hundred pages long, though the writing is quite small and close, which was a liiiittle irritating. Couldn't actually read it in bed without my glasses on!

      That aside. It's quite a fun little story: tightly plotted, with several daring escapes and breathless moments. Suspension of disbelief is necessary, but not too necessary. The main character isn't the most likeable man in the world -- rich, bored, quite skilled at deceit, quick-tempered, a little whiny... But he isn't that bad, either. At least, I didn't particularly want him to get caught and killed. The writing was readable, too, quite immediate despite the past tense, and I didn't notice any particularly clunky parts.

      It didn't bowl me over, not to the extent that I'd say "it was amazing" (five stars), but yeah, I "really liked it" (four stars).
    • 2/5
      Well, it’s supposed to be a classic of dime-novel thriller fiction, and I’d never seen any of the movie versions, so I gave it a shot. The melodrama is pretty hard to take seriously, though, as is the idea that the main character is doing everything just because he’s a bored adventurer who fancies a little action. But it is short and snappy.
    • 3/5
      The accent - it's a problem. I've never gotten used to think accents, regardless of their origin - be they Scottish, Welsh, Irish, Brum, anywhere - and here Buchan decides, when he sends his hero scurrying up north to escape the police, to present all of the dialogue as close to the dialect as possible. It's hard work, as a result.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 5/5
      An excellent book. Doesn't seem unrealistic, although the hero is on the verge of failure most of the time. Keeps up the suspense admirably.
    • 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
      Not only is it a classic and a great thriller, but it also features a lot of action on a train. What more could one want?
    • 3/5
      I commend Keegan's introduction to the Penguin Classics edition for not only not containing any spoliers, but for calling out those which do.
    • 3/5
      It’s 1914, and World War I is eminent. Richard Hannay (a Scot) sets up house in London, having returned from Rhodesia. He meets a fearful American spy named Franklin P. Scudder who believes a plot is afoot to assassinate the Greek premier when he visits London. Scudder claims to be following a German spy ring. He allows him to stay with him. Soon two deaths, including Scudder’s occur in the building. Hannay worries he will be next for the assassins, but he must investigate himself, since he is the chief suspect. Hannay pores over Scudder’s notes, once he has broken the cipher. They mention “39 steps.” After being introduced to the Foreign Office by a local aspiring politician, his heroic actions prevent England from divulging secrets to the Germans. I listened to an audio version taken from the Golden Age of Radio with an introduction by Orson Wells and performed by a theatrical company. One had to listen quite carefully over the crackles to hear the soft voices of the actors. The recording quality is quite bad, and I recommend that persons wanting to listen to this one do so sitting in their living room as the original radio broadcasts were heard.

    Book preview

    The Thirty-Nine Steps - John Buchan

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    TO

    THOMAS ARTHUR NELSON

    (LOTHIAN AND BORDER HORSE)

    My Dear Tommy,

    You and I have long cherished an affection for that elemental type of tale which Americans call the 'dime novel' and which we know as the 'shocker' - the romance where the incidents defy the probabilities, and march just inside the borders of the possible. During an illness last winter I exhausted my store of those aids to cheerfulness, and was driven to write one for myself. This little volume is the result, and I should like to put your name on it in memory of our long friendship, in the days when the wildest fictions are so much less improbable than the facts.

    J.B.

    CHAPTER ONE

    The Man Who Died

    I returned from the City about three o'clock on that May afternoon pretty well disgusted with life. I had been three months in the Old Country, and was fed up with it. If anyone had told me a year ago that I would have been feeling like that I should have laughed at him; but there was the fact. The weather made me liverish, the talk of the ordinary Englishman made me sick, I couldn't get enough exercise, and the amusements of London seemed as flat as soda-water that has been standing in the sun. 'Richard Hannay,' I kept telling myself, 'you have got into the wrong ditch, my friend, and you had better climb out.'

    It made me bite my lips to think of the plans I had been building up those last years in Bulawayo. I had got my pile - not one of the big ones, but good enough for me; and I had figured out all kinds of ways of enjoying myself. My father had brought me out from Scotland at the age of six, and I had never been home since; so England was a sort of Arabian Nights to me, and I counted on stopping there for the rest of my days.

    But from the first I was disappointed with it. In about a week I was tired of seeing sights, and in less than a month I had had enough of restaurants and theatres and race-meetings. I had no real pal to go about with, which probably explains things. Plenty of people invited me to their houses, but they didn't seem much interested in me. They would fling me a question or two about South Africa, and then get on their own affairs. A lot of Imperialist ladies asked me to tea to meet schoolmasters from New Zealand and editors from Vancouver, and that was the dismalest business of all. Here was I, thirty-seven years old, sound in wind and limb, with enough money to have a good time, yawning my head off all day. I had just about settled to clear out and get back to the veld, for I was the best bored man in the United Kingdom.

    That afternoon I had been worrying my brokers about investments to give my mind something to work on, and on my way home I turned into my club - rather a pot-house, which took in Colonial members. I had a long drink, and read the evening papers. They were full of the row in the Near East, and there was an article about Karolides, the Greek Premier. I rather fancied the chap. From all accounts he seemed the one big man in the show; and he played a straight game too, which was more than could be said for most of them. I gathered that they hated him pretty blackly in Berlin and Vienna, but that we were going to stick by him, and one paper said that he was the only barrier between Europe and Armageddon. I remember wondering if I could get a job in those parts. It struck me that Albania was the sort of place that might keep a man from yawning.

    About six o'clock I went home, dressed, dined at the Cafe Royal, and turned into a music-hall. It was a silly show, all capering women and monkey-faced men, and I did not stay long. The night was fine and clear as I walked back to the flat I had hired near Portland Place. The crowd surged past me on the pavements, busy and chattering, and I envied the people for having something to do. These shop-girls and clerks and dandies and policemen had some interest in life that kept them going. I gave half-a-crown to a beggar because I saw him yawn; he was a fellow-sufferer. At Oxford Circus I looked up into the spring sky and I made a vow. I would give the Old Country another day to fit me into something; if nothing happened, I would take the next boat for the Cape.

    My flat was the first floor in a new block behind Langham Place. There was a common staircase, with a porter and a liftman at the entrance, but there was no restaurant or anything of that sort, and each flat was quite shut off from the others. I hate servants on the premises, so I had a fellow to look after me who came in by the day. He arrived before eight o'clock every morning and used to depart at seven, for I never dined at home.

    I was just fitting my key into the door when I noticed a man at my elbow. I had not seen him approach, and the sudden appearance made me start. He was a slim man, with a short brown beard and small, gimlety blue eyes. I recognized him as the occupant of a flat on the top floor, with whom I had passed the time of day on the stairs.

    'Can I speak to you?' he said. 'May I come in for a minute?' He was steadying his voice with an effort, and his hand was pawing my arm.

    I got my door open and motioned him in. No sooner was he over the threshold than he made a dash for my back room, where I used to smoke and write my letters. Then he bolted back.

    'Is the door locked?' he asked feverishly, and he fastened the chain with his own hand.

    'I'm very sorry,' he said humbly. 'It's a mighty liberty, but you looked the kind of man who would understand. I've had you in my mind all this week when things got troublesome. Say, will you do me a good turn?'

    'I'll listen to you,' I said. 'That's all I'll promise.' I was getting worried by the antics of this nervous little chap.

    There was a tray of drinks on a table beside him, from which he filled himself a stiff whisky-and-soda. He drank it off in three gulps, and cracked the glass as he set it down.

    'Pardon,' he said, 'I'm a bit rattled tonight. You see, I happen at this moment to be dead.'

    I sat down in an armchair and lit my pipe.

    'What does it feel like?' I asked. I was pretty certain that I had to deal with a madman.

    A smile flickered over his drawn face. 'I'm not mad - yet. Say, Sir, I've been watching you, and I reckon you're a cool customer. I reckon, too, you're an honest man, and not afraid of playing a bold hand. I'm going to confide in you. I need help worse than any man ever needed it, and I want to know if I can count you in.'

    'Get on with your yarn,' I said, 'and I'll tell you.'

    He seemed to brace himself for a great effort, and then started on the queerest rigmarole. I didn't get hold of it at first, and I had to stop and ask him questions. But here is the gist of it:

    He was an American, from Kentucky, and after college, being pretty well off, he had started out to see the world. He wrote a bit, and acted as war correspondent for a Chicago paper, and spent a year or two in South-Eastern Europe. I gathered that he was a fine linguist, and had got to know pretty well the society in those parts. He spoke familiarly of many names that I remembered to have seen in the newspapers.

    He had played about with politics, he told me, at first for the interest of them, and then because he couldn't help himself. I read him as a sharp, restless fellow, who always wanted to get down to the roots of things. He got a little further down than he wanted.

    I am giving you what he told me as well as I could make it out. Away behind all the Governments and the armies there was a big subterranean movement going on, engineered by very dangerous people. He had come on it by accident; it fascinated him; he went further, and then he got caught. I gathered that most of the people in it were the sort of educated anarchists that make revolutions, but that beside them there 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.

    He told me some queer things that explained a lot that had puzzled me - things that happened in the Balkan War, how one state suddenly came out on top, why alliances were made and broken, why certain men disappeared, and where the sinews of war came from. The aim of the whole conspiracy was to get Russia and Germany at loggerheads.

    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 fortunes by buying up wreckage. Capital, he said, had no conscience and no fatherland. Besides, the Jew was behind it, and the Jew hated Russia worse than hell.

    'Do you wonder?' he cried. 'For three hundred years they have been persecuted, and this is the return match for the pogroms. The Jew is everywhere, but you have to go far down the backstairs to find him. Take any big Teutonic business concern. If you have dealings with it the first man you meet is Prince von und Zu Something, an elegant young man who talks Eton-and-Harrow English. But he cuts no ice. If your business is big, you get behind him and find a prognathous Westphalian with a retreating brow and the manners of a hog. He is the German business man that gives your English papers the shakes. But if you're on the biggest kind of job and are bound to get to the real boss, ten to one you are brought up against a little white-faced Jew in a bath-chair with an eye like a rattlesnake. Yes, Sir, he is the man who is ruling the world just now, and he has his knife in the Empire of the Tzar, because his aunt was outraged and his father flogged in some one-horse location on the Volga.'

    I could not help saying that his Jew-anarchists seemed to have got left behind a little.

    'Yes and no,' he said. 'They won up to a point, but they struck a bigger thing than money, a thing that couldn't be bought, the old elemental fighting instincts of man. If you're going to be killed you invent some kind of flag and country to fight for, and if you survive you get to love the thing. Those foolish devils of soldiers have found something they care for, and that has upset the pretty plan laid in Berlin and Vienna. But my friends haven't played their last card by a long sight. They've gotten the ace up their sleeves, and unless I can keep alive for a month they are going to play it and win.'

    'But I thought you were dead,' I put in.

    'MORS JANUA VITAE,' he smiled. (I recognized the quotation: it was about all the Latin I knew.) 'I'm coming to that, but I've got to put you wise about a lot of things first. If you read your newspaper, I guess you know the name of Constantine Karolides?'

    I sat up at that,

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