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Rating: 
Summary: still good after 100 years !
Review: Edited in 1903, this spy-thriller still makes an astonishing good read. Replace yourself in a time when radar, telephone, email and internet did not exist, and you'll understand why this book was widely popular.
'Riddle of the sands' excels in capturing the unique flavor of the half land / half sea stretch on Germany's island-coast between Holland and Denmark. A flat, empty, and thinly populated area, having its large stretches of sand regularly flooded by the tide. While reading this book, the smell of salt water really comes to you. Apart from this, it's also clear that the author must have had a thorough experience in sea-yachting.
Back in 1903, Imperial Germany was England's main rival for world domination. Dealing with the possibility of a German invasion in England, 'Riddle of the sands' caused some genuine concern with British naval authorities. One hundred years and two world wars later we can consider these fears exaggerated: given England's supreme naval power at the time, any invasion like that should have been doomed to failure.
Later on author Erskine Childers got deeply involved in the Irish struggle for independence from England. He ended his life in 1922, being shot as a spy. While standing before his execution squad, he invited the English soldiers to come a few steps closer: 'It will be easier that way'.
Rating: 
Summary: Puts most modern adventure novels to shame
Review: I became aware of 'The Riddle Of The Sands' while reading Andrew Lownie's biography of my favorite author, John Buchan ('The Thirty-Nine Steps'). Buchan, a contemporary of Childers, reviewed a reissue of the book in 1926, calling it, "the best story of adventure published in the last quarter of a century". Well, 78 years later not much has changed. The writing is witty, intelligent and literate and the story at once simple yet complex. This novel is a perennial favorite among small-boat sailors, and is certainly "riddled" with enough sailing jargon to perplex most landlubbers. All of this is, however, very neatly integrated into a spy story that, like many of Buchan's wonderful novels, starts with the slenderest of threads and challenges the characters to figure out the skullduggery using sheer wit and intelligence. It may sound trite, but they really don't make 'em like they used to.
Rating:
Summary: Adventure in Northern Germany
Review: I found this spy novel particularly interesting as I was born on the coastline described. Childers's descriptions of the Frisian Islands, the cities of northern Germany, and the dangerous tides are very accurate. That's what I like best about the book. The narrator, Anton Lesser, does a generally good job reading the book. In fact, he's much better than some other actors I've heard. However, his grasp of the German language is dreadful. Some sentences he reads in German are almost incomprehensible. This is inconsistent with the fact that the narrator of the story is supposed to speak German like a native. Listen if you love stories about ordinary people getting caught up in extraordinary events. Listen if you love the North Sea and Baltic coasts of Germany. Stay away if you love the German language.
Rating:
Summary: Playing the Game on the Frisian Coast
Review: I was intrigued when I came across this unassuming little book at a used bookstore. The plot revolves around the dual quest of Davies, one of the book's two protaganists. An Englishman and amateur yachtist, Davies' spot of autumn sailing along the challenging Frisian coast, Germany's narrow mouth on the sea facing England, turns into something more when a man ostensibly out to aid Davies by "piloting" his small craft with his larger yacht through an intricate network of sandbanks in harsh weather, actually makes an attempt to lead Davies and his boat to their doom along the treacherous coast. This act of deceit peaks the indefatigable Davies' curiosity. What was so important among these nondescript sand islets fronting the German coast that would necessitate murder? This question is one object of Davies' subsequent quest. The other is a lover's quest, namely in the form of the daughter of the putative pilot just mentioned. To aid him in his foolhardly quest, considering his small yacht and the inclement weather of the North Sea in autumn, Davies summons from England his acquaintance Carruthers, whose fluent German could prove useful. What he doesn't do, at least at first, is tell Carruthers just what is afoot, suggesting instead a spot of duck hunting and pleasure sailing. What follows soon upon Carruther's arrival is a nautical cat and mouse game involving the small yacht of Davies, an Imperial German gunboat, and an assortment of other yachts and shady characters peopling this melancholy and threatening coastline. I found Childer's work very engaging, especially as I chose to read it while doing some traveling along a similar shoal of islands, though far from Germany and not in a yacht. The novel certainly kept me riveted by its plot, and Childers does a fine job in developing the primary characters and personalities of both Davies and Carruthers who emerge in very human detail against their backdrop. I'm not sure what edition the reader will be reading, but one disapointment I encountered was that the backcover of my edition gave away too much. The nature of the mystery should be left completely to the reader to discover. As some other reviewers have pointed out, the frequent use of nautical terms and the heavy reliance upon the intricacies of coastal features (requiring, at least for the curious, a continuous back-referencing to the series of maps) does hinder the pace a bit, but not to any great degree. What I found particularly interesting about this work was its language. It is a period piece, not just historically, by revealing a growing unease among Britain of the period of a rising German power, but culturally, as seen in the very approach to their problem taken by Davies and Carruthers. It is a game, and the phrase "playing the game" comes up frequently in the course of the text. Manliness and ruggedness, being proven and found worthy by one's adversaries (be they the elements or the Germans), and most of all "winning the game" with pluck and verve are all salient characteristics of Childer's attitude (and certainly not unique to him). I found the novel revealing in the general attitude towards international rivalry and war in the pre-World War One years. It was this gamesmenship attitude to combat and its challenges (a very British notion) that helped contribute to the willingness with which men threw themselves into death in 1914. I'm not sure if "Riddle of the Sands" is indeed the first modern espionage thriller (what about Arthur Conan Doyle?), but it is a perfect insight into period attitudes and fears. It is also exciting reading.
Rating:
Summary: Shifting Sands and Skullduggery
Review: Picture to yourself a strange coast bordered by seven islands and a zone of shifting sands and ship passages that have a sudden way of disappearing at low tide. When a British yachtsman named Davies (one who would feel at home with the grundge look) discovers that a former British naval officer is in very cozy with the Germans -- did I neglect to say that the coast is East Frisia, that part of Germany between the Dutch and Danish borders? -- the mystery becomes not to find out who the guilty party is, but what type of skullduggery is afoot. The narrator is Carruthers, a British civil servant whom Davies talks into joining him under somewhat false pretenses. After some qualms, Carruthers joins in wholeheartedly. From this point on, you are looking at the coastline charts as closely as the principals are (if you don't, you will lose track of the story, which follows geographic features more closely than any other novel in memory). While the action is spectacular, Childers is noticeably weak on character, especially with regard to the sole female character, the German spy's daughter. But you can't always have everything, and what RIDDLE OF THE SANDS (1896) has to offer makes for very good reading.
Rating:
Summary: Always a delight
Review: This book has been described to me both as "the best Yachting Book written" and "The book that saved Britain". Written in part as a wake-up call to the British Public at the turn of the last century -Childers (no stranger to Whitehall politics) was terrified that existing British strategy left the country wide open to an invasion from Germany- and in part as a celebration of a lifelong passion for boats and boating, the book "works" brilliantly. Even non-yachting enthusiasts will be drawn into the story, and those of us who have worked our way along a foggy coast by chart and compass will appreciate Childers' attention to detail and faithfulness to his subject. Overall I found the two principal characters well drawn, but the Germans are a bit cartoonish, and the hint of Romance towards the end was an un-needed distraction, other than that, this is a quite-un-put-downable novel of adventire & daring that MAY just have changed the course of history.
Rating:
Summary: Adventure in Northern Germany
Review: This book is often referred to as the first spy novel, and it is not wrong. However, to appreciate the novel, you have to know beforehand several things. But, don't worry, that is not much. The story is narrated by an English gentleman Currthuers, who received an unexpected invitation of duck shooting from an old friend Davies. Being tired of his neglected position in "society," he accepts it to go to the North Sea only to find that he is involved in a mystery, or "the riddle of the Sands." His friend claims there's something in the air, something hiding behind the misty coast of Germany. But how can they prove it? As a story, "The Riddle of the Sands" is far from perfect. It is full of authentic descriptions of local landscapes (the author actually cruised his yacht there), but at the same time frequent reference to the geographical data and nautical terms are a bit wearisome to readers, and moreover, the narrator often refers us to the maps in the appendix. Those things only slow down the action of the novel, and actually the book sometimes has to go through lull. But, wait a while. The story gets gradually faster, and as the adventure of the heroes slowly gets near to the core of the plot, the tale becomes more and more gripping. Though characters sometimes are just more than cardboard (and especially female part is poorly done), your patience will be rewarded. It is well-known that Sherlock Holmes in "His Last Bow" turns a spy for his country, and says "There's an east wind coming." The meaning of what Holmes says is clear to the comtemporary people, and Childers, a politician, also wrote his book not as an amusement but as a warning to England about the coming threat of Germany, and actually "The Riddles of the Sands" was written about 10 years before WW1 began. In this historical context too, the book is interesting, and the tediousness of the opening chapters is justified if you keep it in mind that it is meant for Childers's sarcasm against indifference and complacency among the English people (talking of English complacency, we remember later in 1938, immediately before WW2, Alfred Hitchcock again uses it as a satire in his thriller "The Lady Vanishes" with brilliantly silly two British gentlemen who are more concerned with cricket games than surrounding danger). People don't change. So, the book itself is still enjoyable, but these historical matters will make it more precious; after all, it is one of the proof how people reacted to the coming change in the history of mankind. And if you're interested in this kind of book (I mean, books reflects German-England relationship), check out "The Battel of Dorking" by George Chesney (written in 1871) and "When William Came" (in 1913) by Saki once.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Thriller With Attitude
Review: This book is often referred to as the first spy novel, and it is not wrong. However, to appreciate the novel, you have to know beforehand several things. But, don't worry, that is not much. The story is narrated by an English gentleman Currthuers, who received an unexpected invitation of duck shooting from an old friend Davies. Being tired of his neglected position in "society," he accepts it to go to the North Sea only to find that he is involved in a mystery, or "the riddle of the Sands." His friend claims there's something in the air, something hiding behind the misty coast of Germany. But how can they prove it? As a story, "The Riddle of the Sands" is far from perfect. It is full of authentic descriptions of local landscapes (the author actually cruised his yacht there), but at the same time frequent reference to the geographical data and nautical terms are a bit wearisome to readers, and moreover, the narrator often refers us to the maps in the appendix. Those things only slow down the action of the novel, and actually the book sometimes has to go through lull. But, wait a while. The story gets gradually faster, and as the adventure of the heroes slowly gets near to the core of the plot, the tale becomes more and more gripping. Though characters sometimes are just more than cardboard (and especially female part is poorly done), your patience will be rewarded. It is well-known that Sherlock Holmes in "His Last Bow" turns a spy for his country, and says "There's an east wind coming." The meaning of what Holmes says is clear to the comtemporary people, and Childers, a politician, also wrote his book not as an amusement but as a warning to England about the coming threat of Germany, and actually "The Riddles of the Sands" was written about 10 years before WW1 began. In this historical context too, the book is interesting, and the tediousness of the opening chapters is justified if you keep it in mind that it is meant for Childers's sarcasm against indifference and complacency among the English people (talking of English complacency, we remember later in 1938, immediately before WW2, Alfred Hitchcock again uses it as a satire in his thriller "The Lady Vanishes" with brilliantly silly two British gentlemen who are more concerned with cricket games than surrounding danger). People don't change. So, the book itself is still enjoyable, but these historical matters will make it more precious; after all, it is one of the proof how people reacted to the coming change in the history of mankind. And if you're interested in this kind of book (I mean, books reflects German-England relationship), check out "The Battel of Dorking" by George Chesney (written in 1871) and "When William Came" (in 1913) by Saki once.
Rating:
Summary: 5 +
Review: This is one that is a keeper. No matter how I thin my shelves, this one stays! There are comments about style..plot..etc., the reader must keep in mind the era this was written in. This was before the Nasty Nazis, but did project a, even then, German thinking about control in Europe. Besides, it is a ripping good yarn, matey!
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