Mr. Standfast

This novel concludes what I think of as the original Hannay trilogy, which sees our hero through the course of the first world war, or the Great War as they used to call it. There's an interesting change in tone over these three books. 'The Thirty Nine Steps' is stark and intense with Hannay a man p......more

There's a part of me that marvels at how well these espionage novels written by John Buchan convey the imminent peril by which Richard Hannay must constantly exist. Mr. Standfast is the third book in the series. The novels are good, but the prose is so dense with exposition that they are almost too......more

Buchan is a bit of an acquired taste. The book is a bit slow at times, and the values that form its backbone are often foreign. But that is part of his charm. I love old books that were once popular. They are the window into the soul of an age. In this one, we have a wonderful view of the tensions be......more

Richard Hannay leads a charmed life as usual as he tries to unravel the mystery of the identity of a German WWI spy in the UK. This is a fast-paced story starting in London and heading to suburban England, Glasgow, the Scottish Highlands, and Skye before moving over to France and Switzerland before......more

This book managed to have all the elements I enjoyed in the first two - the solo agent on the run, the puzzling out of spy plans and mysteries, the relationships between team members in service of the country and cause they love so much. Also, this time around, romance with a smart woman who makes t......more