A review by bookishtory2665
The 39 Steps by John Buchan
3.0
The author, John Buchan, was recruited for the Propaganda Bureau in 1914 and in 1917, under Buchan, the Bureau was reformed into the Department of Information. The Thirty-Nine Steps was written during that time period and originally appeared as a serial in Blackwood's Magazine in 1915 and published in book form later that year. There have been several film adaptions of the novel with the first being Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 version and the latest being one developed for British television in 2008. Its considered a precursor to the modern spy novel and is set in the year before the start of the first World War.
The protagonist, Richard Hannay, is a mining engineer who has recently returned to England after years working abroad in South Africa and is, at the start of the book, bored. So much so that he's beginning to consider returning to Africa when a neighbor knocks on his door. Within a couple of days, Hannay is wanted for murder and being pursued by spies and that's where the book takes off.
At 104 pages, its a short read. I thought it lacked a certain richness in character development and some of what happened was maybe a trifle too convenient, but all in all, its a fun, fast read. I found that I really wanted to know what was going on and to see how Hannay would extricate himself from difficult situations -- without the aid of modern technology.
The protagonist, Richard Hannay, is a mining engineer who has recently returned to England after years working abroad in South Africa and is, at the start of the book, bored. So much so that he's beginning to consider returning to Africa when a neighbor knocks on his door. Within a couple of days, Hannay is wanted for murder and being pursued by spies and that's where the book takes off.
At 104 pages, its a short read. I thought it lacked a certain richness in character development and some of what happened was maybe a trifle too convenient, but all in all, its a fun, fast read. I found that I really wanted to know what was going on and to see how Hannay would extricate himself from difficult situations -- without the aid of modern technology.