In this tale of intrigue and adventure,Richard Hannay, the South African mining engineer and war hero first introduced inThe Thirty-Nine Steps, travels across war-torn Europe in search of a German plot—the creation of a secret weapon—and an Islamic messiah.
He is joined by three others: John S. Blenkiron, an American who is determined to battle the Kaiser; Peter Pienaar, an old Boer Scout; and the colorful Sandy Arbuthnot, who is modeled on Lawrence of Arabia. Disguised, they travel through Germany to Constantinople and the Russian border to confront their enemies, the hideous Stumm and the evil beauty Hilda von Einem. Their success or failure could change the outcome of the First World War.
With all the elements of a good spy novel, this tale offers a glimpse into the complex times of a tumultuous era.
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"Excellent book. It was very well written, and had a lot of interesting perspectives on life in World War 1. Given the attitudes at the time, it is surprisingly open minded, and there are only a few examples of bigotry. It is a gripping spy novel, perhaps the first of its kind, and it clearly influenced Ian Fleming when he was writing his James Bond novels. This is most obvious in respect to the female character. In this book, the female character is actually the main antagonist, and is a very interesting one. This is something that Fleming did not include often (did he write octopussy? I doubt it.) Anyway, if you like spy novels of any sort, this one is well written, and has a captivating ending, combined with a 1920's British perspective on life in general that makes the book much more interesting than a standard book of the spy genre. It also makes the observation that as long as civilization has been around, there have been people to oppose it."
— Will (4 out of 5 stars)
“An exciting First World War thriller.”
— Observer (London)“A specialty audio, a classic, but definitely a ‘thinking man’s audio.’ Bravo Blackstone Audio, which seems to find these gems!”
— Kliatt" This spy thriller was written about, and during, WWI. It takes its characters from England to Turkey and shows off the versatility of British and American espionage. This particular edition is peppered with footnotes, most of which I needed because I was unfamiliar with Scottish, Afrikaans and various aspects of hot topics in 1916. Alas, only after I finished the book did I realize I should have skipped all the introductory text, which included, of all things, an epilogue note. "
— Flora, 2/18/2014" Periodically racist & misogynistic, but still enjoyable if you're not too squeamish about such things. "
— Everly, 2/17/2014" Very disappointing. Had to put it aside as the protaganist repreatedly helped the other side in the war out of "professional pride." Couldn't take it. "
— Martin, 2/16/2014" I really enjoyed reading this and appreciated all the historical information provided. Having read "Like Hidden Fire," I was able to better understand Richard Hannay's adventures and see how much wasn't actually fiction. A fine read for a winter's evening. "
— Jlnpeacock, 2/13/2014" It's an adventure across Europe during WWI. I got really into it. Watch out for some racist bits. "
— Austin, 2/11/2014" Swift and engaging antique espionage adventure. Plot yields unsettling reminder that western misperceptions of Islamic culture haven't evolved much in the past century. "
— Dawn, 2/9/2014" Fast paced spy thriller published way back in 1916 works beautifully even today. The writing is simple and story keeps moving at a pace that leaves you breathless. A thoroughly entertaining book set in winter of 1915-16 travels from British countryside through Germany and ends in east of Constantinople as the war goes on. Sometime back I had read a book 'On Secret Service East of Constantinople: The Plot to Bring Down the British Empire' by Peter Hopkirk. Hopkirk was a child when his mother read aloud Greenmantle to him. He loved the book so much that he decided to find the truth and did a non-fiction account of it. The result was a fascinating book - On Secret... A freind of mine forced me to read it and I loved it. Since then I was very keen to read Greenmantle. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I think someone should do a ten part mini series on it. It will be fun. "
— Pravesh, 2/8/2014" All in all, a pretty good read. This book has more substance than it's better known predecessor, The 39 Steps. Still, I found the glorification of war silly. It gets quite laughable near the end. I seriously doubt any soldier in WW I missed fighting on the front and wanted to return there to be with his pals. Pure nonsense. Some of this strange attitude was, I suspect, calculated to cheer those who were not fighting and to glorify their relatives and friends who were. Propaganda does not sit well with me. It was still a decent read, though. Silly, but ok. "
— Robert, 2/8/2014" I really enjoyed the fast pace and action in this book. It became a little bit unbelievable near the end, but what a wild ride! "
— Michael, 2/4/2014" This book is some pulp for the historian in me. If one is looking for the first of its kind, this is historical fiction's premier novel. It has a 'band of brothers' theme when no one else wrote about that. "
— Ian, 1/26/2014" A hell of a lot of incident but it just didn't grip me. Jingoistic, but that was the point of this 1916 novel to help the British war effort and can be forgiven. This is the second Richard Hannay novel, Hanney is best remembered today due to Hitchcock's film of the 39 steps, I think I'll stick to the film rather than the books! "
— Neil, 1/26/2014John Buchan (1875–1940) was educated at Glasgow University and Brasenose College, Oxford. He became a barrister, member of Parliament, soldier, publisher, and governor general of Canada. Of the over one hundred books he published during his lifetime, he is best remembered for his adventure and spy stories, especially The Thirty-Nine Steps, which was made into a movie by Alfred Hitchcock.
Simon Vance (a.k.a. Robert Whitfield) is an award-winning actor and narrator. He has earned more than fifty Earphones Awards and won the prestigious Audie Award for best narration thirteen times. He was named Booklist’s very first Voice of Choice in 2008 and has been named an AudioFile Golden Voice as well as an AudioFile Best Voice of 2009. He has narrated more than eight hundred audiobooks over almost thirty years, beginning when he was a radio newsreader for the BBC in London. He is also an actor who has appeared on both stage and television.