Book Review - John Buchan - the 39 steps

 

(To be featured in a future "Reading in Bed" Podcast Episode - Book Review Podcast - available on all of the usual places)

Blurb:

Adventurer Richard Hannay, just returned from South Africa, is thoroughly bored with London life—until he is accosted by a mysterious American, who warns him of an assassination plot that could completely destabilise the fragile political balance of Europe. Initially sceptical, Hannay nonetheless harbours the man—but 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?'

Strengths and Weaknessess:

Before we start this of course has being adapted into a film not once but three times (and a fourth time called the Lady Vanishes in 1978), a play and I believe a radio version which of course by any stretch of thought is good going. Personally I’ve seen the first two and while dated are pretty good old school spy films.

I didn’t realise until I got halfway through the book that the book was wrote originally in 1915 and to be honest while admiring the book, the very uneven tone of the book had me struggling right from the off with the main character, Richard Hannay surprisingly in contrast to the films given not a lot of characterization and I thought it hard caring about him when a new American acquaintance is murdered in his flat and then he ends up going on the run to Scotland to avoid two groups who are after to either lock him up or something worse.

It’s a tricky one to mark this because certainly the first two films are so good, but don’t really have a lot to do with the book I felt after reading this – interestingly in contrast to the films – there is no leading lady in the book which perhaps strips away some of the tension in the book but mostly feels like a book which was adapted from the magazine it was originally published with the constant cliff hangers. In 1915, I don’t doubt it would have a cracker to follow through every magazine – weekly or monthly but reading it now in 2022, I struggled with nearly every bit off it. Sure, there is plenty of action in the book and it does seem to move along at a reasonable pace but the layers off implausibility upon implausibility left me feeling the book was very flat.

I know my Dad is a big fan off him, and judging by the amount of books he has and what Buchan wrote, I guess he must have improved over time and I’ve got a few of them to look at a later date.

Whether I will write then after reading them is a little open to debate at the moment. Knowing me I probably will go another one of them a go, but maybe not next week if you know what I mean.

I will however watch either the first or second version of the film again sometime before I do as an example of a rare case where the film is actually better than the book.

4/10