Author : John Buchan
What is it about : A bored-with-life London city dweller chanced upon an international conspiracy of gigantic proportion (WW 1,2 and 3 and the end of human race as we knew it, etc.), when a shady neighbor paid him a visit and subsequently died through a stab wound. Our hero was left with a notebook full of cryptic signs and clues and he decided to run for the Scottish border where he thought he would have a better chance of breaking the codes and save his country and the world.
Some thoughts after having read the book : Readers would first have to believe in the power of co-incidence, then move on to have full faith in the kiss of Lady Luck. Basically our man from London would meet up in the Scottish highlands and villages (around a 50 miles radius, I had imagined), all the villains, saviors, old chums, well-intention-ed, no-questions-asked villagers and subsequently ducking out from a few bombs and hairy situations; and then even meeting up with the British ministers in charge of defense, military intelligence and the head of Scotland Yard and they all sat up and would listen to our man as he almost single-handed-ly deciphered the mystery of "the 39 steps".
Would I recommend this book to you : The book was written in the days when at a seaside promenade in the south of England, "donkeys padding homewards...". Readers could experience a really good vibe about the ways and life of England and Scotland in the days of 1915 when the book was written. The style, tone and texture of the written text would also bring the readers back to a bygone era. Beautiful !
