The 39 Steps by John Buchan

When Richard Hannay returns from a long stay in Africa, he becomes caught up in a sensational plot to precipitate a pan-European war.

After the discovery of a corpse in his flat, Hannay flees the attentions of both the conspirators and the forces of the law, and the pursuit turns

into a thrilling manhunt.

Set against the hot summer which precedes the outbreak of the First World War, The 39 Steps is one of the finest and most highly admired thrillers ever written.

We rarely fail to please with our classics. As a group we can see the merit in most of these literary gems, even if it does not fall into our preferred genre. The 39 Steps was seen for what it was; a boy's own adventure with quick, punchy episodes written to entertain. The hero, Richard Hannay, delighted us as he skipped his way through the country side as a more than competent espionage agent dodging enemies and much of the humour was not lost to us.

On a more serious note, we found the descriptive passages, particularly of the Scottish landscape beautifully written and believe Steps to be a book of its time that ticked many of boxesd for an engaging adventure novel in 1915.

A few of us were not quite so impressed, finding the writing a little amateurish with too many coincidences and an unbelievable story line. Old-fashioned it may be, but as a forerunner to the modern-day, adventure espionage novel, you are not likely to get anything better.