Name: Matthew Jackson's review of The Thirty-nine Steps by John Buchan
Item: The Thirty-nine Steps
Rating: 3
Author: Matthew Jackson

John Buchan

John Keegan

Returning to England after years in South Africa, Richard Hannay enters the Secret Service accidentally after he finds a murdered neighbor in his apartment and finds himself on the run from the police and the killers alike. Reprint.

The Thirty-nine Steps

Matthew Jackson

Famous as the basis for several films, including the brilliant 1935 version directed by Alfred Hitchcock, The Thirty-Nine Steps is a classic of early twentieth-century popular literature. Richard Hannay has just returned to England after years in South Africa and is thoroughly bored with his life in London. But then a murder is committed in his flat, just days after a chance encounter with an American who had told him about an assassination plot that could have dire international consequences. An obvious suspect for the police and an easy target for the killers, Hannay goes on the run in his native Scotland where he will need all his courage and ingenuity to stay one step ahead of his pursuers.

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The Thirty-Nine Steps

Gavin

Totally straightforward book: it is entirely constructed of plot plus the geography of the Borders. Even so, it's just about full enough of archaic words to be diverting. Totally irresponsible book: it made of Germans omnimalevolent villains in 1915, blaming them tout court for the war, and suppressing ambiguity. Buchan was an unusually humane imperialist, and couldn’t know we’d do this properly at Versailles soon after, but still a dick move. 

(Read aloud)

There is no progress without access to energy and no energy use without supporting technology. Only one sixth of the earth's population has an easy access to sufficient energy. The rest will increase their demand for energy in the future - one of the greatest global environmental problems we face.

Kathleen Boyle

This was for the most part interesting but I did have some issues with the novel as a whole. I feel as if it missed some character development and was not the adventure-driven plot I had been expecting. 

I felt that it didn't carry a lot of weight and that the plot was a bit flimsy. The idea in general was great but not executed as well as it could be. After finishing this book I felt a bit 'empty', I'd been expecting a lot more of a chase and a message to decipher.

39 escalones

Jose Vera

Richard Hannay es un ingles de las colonias de sudafrica que se encuentra en Londres, aburrido hasta el hartazgo. Es en esta situación cuando Franklin P. Scudder, su vecino en el edificio, lo aborda con una increible historia de una conspiración alemana para iniciar la primera guerra mundial.

Cuando Scudder muere se da inicio a una historia de aventuras y de huidas más que de persecuciones. Hannay se presenta como un hombre típico con algunas habilidades propias del entorno en que le toco vivir más una capacidad de reacción e improvisación bastante desarrolladas.

Prácticamente cada capítulo esta dedicado a cada uno de los encuentros que tiene Hannay con diversos personajes que lo ayudan, ya sea a sabiendas o no, a escapar de esos espias que lo persiguen.

El desarrollo de la historia y el descubrimiento de la conjura ponen a Hannay en situaciones en las que jamás penso encontarse, pero que sin embargo responde de una manera bastante adecuada.

Los 39 escalones es un libro de espias a la antigua, inlcusive en una de las escenas finales Hannay se da cuenta de que sus enemigos eran más que espías, eran patriotas. Es un libro divertido, de rápida lectura y tiene ese sabor a nostalgia que es agradable sentir de vez en cuando.

Ermioni Prokova

Rob F

Erhan Bilici

Richard Hannay finds a corpse in his flat, and becomes involved in a plot by spies to precipitate war and subvert British naval power. The resourceful victim of a manhunt, he is pursued by both the police and the ruthless conspirators.

edith w.

John

Buchan

Adventurer Richard Hannay has just returned from South Africa and is thoroughly bored with his London life - until a murder is committed in his flat, just days after the victim had warned him of an assassination plot that could bring Britain to the brink of war. An obvious suspect for the police and an easy target for the killers, Hannay goes on the run in his native Scotland, where he must use all his wits to stay one step ahead of the game - and warn the government before it is too late. One of the most popular adventure stories ever written, The Thirty-Nine Steps established John Buchan as the original thriller writer and inspired many other novelists and filmmakers including Alfred Hitchcock.

Infamous Millimetre

Sarah Escorsa

Bee 

Samiha Tasnim

Harriet Moar-Smith

Moray Lyle McIntosh

Nina 

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. This classic of suspense served as the basis for one of Hitchcock's most famous films and was the first novel in the author's Greenmantle series.

Elena Enns

Lisa Haigh

May 1914. Britain is on the eve of war with Germany. Richard Hannay is living a quiet life in London, but after a chance encounter with a mysterious stranger he stumbles into a hair-raising adventure - a desperate hunt across the country and against the clock, pursued by the police and a cunning, ruthless enemy. Hannay's 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?

The Thirty Nine Steps (Heroes and Villains)

ellie

Richard Hannay is thoroughly bored with London. Then a murder is commited in his flat. An obvious suspect for the police and an easy target for the killers, Hannay goes on the run in his native Scotland where he will need all his courage and ingenuity to stay one step ahead of his pursuers.

Matthew Jackson &
The Thirty-nine Steps by John Buchan

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Matthew Jackson &The Thirty-nine Steps by John Buchan

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Matthew Jackson &
The Thirty-nine Steps by John Buchan