Rating: 
Summary: High-quality potboiler of the Edwardian era
Review: John Buchan claims to have written this fast-paced "dime novel" while recovering from an illness. The story of how Richard Hannay stumbles upon and then escapes from a pre-WWI German spy plot DOES have that "Perils of Pauline" flavor to it: in each chapter our hero Hannay seems to get himself in an impossible bind, then magically right out of it again. (A sample: Hannay is tied up and locked in a windowless shed in which, remarkably, the crooks have left a flashlight (!) and some explosives (!). And, boom boom, on we go to the next chapter). The underlying scheme is never fully explained (what ARE the Germans up to, why is the visit of the Balkan consul so important, etc.), but it doesn't really matter. The scent of the heathered hills of Scotland over which Hannay escapes rises from the pages, and the black-and-white specter of the classic movies Alfred Hitchcock made on the basis of this book will run through your mind's eye in the few short hours it will take you to finish it. I agree, however, with others who mention that Buchan's occasional gratuitous anti-Semitism is jarring and put this book beyond the pale for many readers.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping spy story
Review: More than a mere mystery, The Thirty-Nine Steps is a gripping spy story. Making it even more interesting, the main character, Richard Hannay, is not even a spy himself; he merely stumbles into an international plot. At times it seemed that Buchan was just stringing together a series of close escapes from the bad guys, without advancing the plot, but the final chapters are fully developed, and the ending leaves the reader with a sense of satisfaction at the resolution.
Rating:
Summary: Get the Dover Thrift Edition of the 39 steps
Review: Not bad. Voice certainly recalls Robert Donat's portrayal of the protagonist in the Hitchcock movie. Only here Richard Hannay is South African not Canadian, he's a miner not a penny novelist, we
never see the show he goes to, there's no romance at all, and it's set before WWI not WWII. The anti-semitism is a red herring, mainly the domain of one unreliable character. An easy worthwhile read. And Hannay's adventures in Scotland are funny.
Rating: 
Summary: Buchan's "shocker" entertains
Review: Some modern Scottish thriller writers are contrasted (not always favourably) with two perceived greats of Scottish fiction - Robert Louis Stevenson and John Bucahn. I love Stevenson, the fast pace of his stories, and his characterisation. This was the first Buchan I read. While it will not be the last I felt a little disappointed. The Thirty Nine steps is said to be one of the most important novels in the thriller genre. Featuring Richard Hannay a former South African miner, who is caught in a spy story, the effects of which may lead to war in western Europe. The story is fast moving. Hannay is placed in predicament after predicament (like the Perils of Pauline) following the discovery of a body in his London flat. He escapes to Galloway, then Dumfriesshire (rural south west Scotland). Pursued by both police and foreign agents Hannay's life is at risk - and we witness his use of a number of disguises, and his experience as a mining engineer, in escaping each predicament. At times the novel feels like a loosely related series of escapades, but the final chapters (as in Childers' The riddle of the sands) pull the disparate strands together satisfyingly. Fast paced with an appealing central character, the novel is recommended as a quick and easy entertainment. However, there are some flaws readers ought to be aware of. In the Scottish sections of the novel Buchan writes the dialogue of the locals in dialect, contrasting this with the the "received pronunication" of the other characters. As a technique it appears to belittle the validity of the dialect spoken, and appears to patronise the locals. Although, Buchan's sleight here is countered by his portrayal of the locals. They share a certain cunning and deviousness. Additionally, the use of dialect (and a particular type of lowland Scots dialect) renders parts of the text difficult to follow. Most concerning about the book is the inherent anti-semitism. Analgoies and metaphors rely on negative imagery of jews; and one of the characters (scudder) is overtly anti-semitic in his comments. While this was a prevalent attitude in a certain strata of British writing pre- World War Two, it jars today - and rendered parts of the novel, for this reader, offensive. Buchan is certainly readable, but his work has dated. His influence is apparent in the work of Greene, and inherent in his work are the influences of American thriller writers of the early twentieth century, and Conan Doyle's Holmes, Challenger, and Brigadier Gerard stories. If you enjoyed this novel you might want to try Graham Greene's Gun for sale; The Confidential Agent; Stamboul Train; and The Ministry of fear.
Rating:
Summary: Short, quick read
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: The quintessential early 20th century adventure story
Review: The Thirty Nine Steps is the quintessential early 20th century adventure story. Narrator and hero Richard Hannay is a rich man recently arrived in London; bored out of his skull, he finally perks up a bit at the advent of a group of ingenious, well-equipped conspirators bent on murdering him. There proceeds a thrilling chase across the wilds of Scotland, complete with secret codes, explosions, and aeroplanes. In many ways the story is rather rudimentary, with Hannay frequently the beneficiary of extraordinary good luck; it's only about half way through that he finally encounters some real reversals and the suspense and sense of real danger increases. It is, however, never dull, with a constant parade of colourful characters and entertaining slices of rural life, all written in a fast, spare style, and admirably brief. Hannay seems ridiculously gung ho and super-competent at first, but I was soon drawn into his world enough for the vague sense of camp to fade into the background. As an admirer of PG Wodehouse's Bertie Wooster stories, I often found myself experiencing a joy of recognition, as some stock phrase used ironically by Bertie would come, entirely without irony, from Hannay's mouth. And indeed the 'radical candidate' Hannay encounters is reminiscent of Bertie. Oh, and if you've seen any of the movie adaptations, you might be pleasantly surprised to learn that the explanation of the "Thirty Nine Steps" is different in the novel (or at least it's different to the two movie adaptations I've seen), so there is still a surprise or two in store.
Rating:
Summary: Ripping Good Yarn
Review: Thirty-Nine Steps is an engrossing Edwardian adventure novel, well worth the read. John Buchan was a fan of Sherlock Holmes stories, but he has added an element of fast-paced action to his own. There are ciphers, disguises and diplomatic intrigue, but he contributes high-speed chases through the Scottish heather that you won't find in Conan Doyle. A dictionary with Scottish words might help with some of the dialect, but it's nowhere as befuddling as the dialogue in Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson. Buchan's dialect is added more for atmosphere than realism. It's a short novel and the Dover Thrift Edition worked out fine for me. You can't beat them: one buck, one book. If you liked Thirty-Nine steps, you might enjoy G.K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday.
Rating:
Summary: The Adventures of a Super-Sherlock
Review: This 1915 espionage thriller will delight fans of Conon Doyle with a chain of "adventures" involving a chase, disguises, roll playing, an impossible escape, secret code, warplans, sudden promotion to the inner circle of Britain's defense establishment, mistaken identity, a trap, and clues galore. The vignettes are connected one to the next by miraculous coincidences, as in a dream, but the style is charming enough and the story short enough that you're willing to suspend disbelief long enough to see the end. The main appeal is a Wordsworthian ramble through a rural scene populated by deep and knowing pastoral types, such as the roadman and the fly fisherman, though no Lucy, nor any available women at all to signify the potential future of a British race. All the characters are either aristocrats or peasants, befitting the narrator's acknowledged anti-middle class sentiments. Curiously, the hero himself is middle class, a mining engineer, though retired at 37 years old, idle but restless, and by nature the best picture of an English sport. He is Sherlock enhanced with amazing physical prowess. Readers will notice disrespect towards police. Our hero throws a good punch right in a cop's face, and police are everywhere ineffectual. In today's prosecutorial climate, our hero would be in for a 10-year felony. Anti-semitism: It's there, it reflects the times, of course. However, I must say it's far worse than charmless. It's insistent, each time sudden, and gratuitous, violent, and associated with images of extermination. Towards the end of the book, our hero expresses mild condescension towards anti-semitism, not a satisfactory rebuke. This book offers a minimum of political background to WWI. Don't pick it up for a slice of life. It' for people who just can't get enough of Sherlock.
Rating:
Summary: The Mother of All Airport Novels
Review: This compact little story by John Buchan, the father of the Esponage Novel for Grown Lads, is the best known adventure of Richard Hannay, the more-English-than-the-English son of Empire - later reincarnated as James Bond. Thirty Nine Steps is best known as what it was, rather than what it is. It was the seminal tale of British heroism, of defending the Realm and of using that valuable sporting prowess learnt at boarding school. This was the template for Ian Fleming and many others, and it was the "anti-template" for those spy-novelists such as Graham Greene and John Le Carre, whose works can only be fully appreciated once you become familiar with the Buchanesque jingoism they were rebelling against. As for the story of "39," it's a nifty chase up and down the length of Britain, featuring the fastest vehicle then known to man, viz. the steam-train. And yes, anti-Semitism does feature as but one of Buchan's appallingly retrograde ethno-religious prejudicices. Still, without Buchan, the airport novel would be a very different thing.
Rating:
Summary: Great Thriller!
Review: This is a very good book. Buchan has created a great character in Richard Hannay. Many people will know the book because of the famous movie by Alfred Hitchcock based on it. The film was made twenty years after the publication of the book, and Hitchcock felt that the book as it was could no longer be translated into film and be effective. The book, in my opinion, is even better than the wonderful film. It introduces the reader to a character they care about, and the imagery of the Scottish countryside almost comes alive with Hannay's adventures. My only complaint is the somewhat vagueness of the spy element of the foreign agents. It is not delt with in sufficient detail, and is confusing in sdope and characters. Still an enjoyable read.
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