Greenmantle

by John Buchan

Book Overview

In Greenmantle (1916), a classic tale of espionage and adventure, Richard Hannay, hero of The Thirty-Nine Steps, travels across war-torn Europe on the trail of a German plot and an Islamic Messiah. He is joined by three more of Buchan's heroes: Peter Pienaar, the old Boer scout; John S.Blenkiron, the American determined to fight the Kaiser; and Sandy Arbuthnot--Greenmantle himself--a character modelled on Lawrence of Arabia. Together they move in...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140011323
• ISBN13: 9780140011326
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.5" x 7.2"

Customer Reviews

One of Buchan's best

Greenmantle is one of the finest examples of Buchan's writing--if not the best, although Witch Wood is a contender. During World War 1, four men embark on a trip through wartime Europe and Germany to Constantinople. Their aim is to find a secret weapon: a nuclear ray? a new kind of aeroplane?--Well, I'll only say, something totally different. The story is longer, more philosophical, and of far wider scope than its predecessor, The Thirty-Nine Steps. There are more characters, more locations, more pressure on our heroes. There are many memorable passages of writing--from Germany in winter to the first sight of the mountains in Turkey. The plot relies less on coincidence than The Thirty-Nine Steps, but gets criticised just as harshly for it. The only place I've ever found coincidences not to happen are in realistic fiction (or, they're bad coincidences). Still, if you can accept the fact that this is a relatively optimistic wartime thriller (compared to some recent efforts) with plenty of adventure and suspense, you'll love this book.

No longer anachronistic

After September 11 and the breathless wartalk of the US government I suddenly found myself thinking about good old Greenmantle. As the other reviewers say, it is undoubtedly imperialist and jingoistic (I can't begin to imagine how viciously Edward Said would trash it), but uncannily useful for reading the current political situation. The stunning climax (I've never read one better) suggests perfectly how the West intends to undermine Islamic extremism in a far more subtle way than we can imagine. I'm tempted to reveal the ending, but it's far to good to spoil. Read this!

Best John Buchan book

Fast paced and intruiging. Set in a real historical situation which means you get a slice of the atmosphere around that period.

A great little spy novel

This story is a strange one if you do not understand the world as it was during the confusing times of World War One. However, if you are reading this book simply for enjoyment, you picked a good one. It is a little rascist, but if only you consider the time it was written and the beliefs then, I don't think you can consider it a bad book. It is not proper to judge a book written in the early twentieth century by our current standards of political correctness. It is simply a good indicator of past views of various people. If you don't mind the little rascism this book has and remember that it was written when that was perfectly normal, you should enjoy it immensely.

This was a very exciting (although confusing) book.

This book had all of the elements of a good spy novel--danger, exotic locations, and neat plot twists. It is about a young mining engineer's espionage adventures during World War I. The book was a real page-turner and I couldn't put it down. However, some of the political information confused me. If you're a World War I buff you might understand some of the technical stuff, though. This book also continues the adventures of one of my favorite characters, Richard Hannay, who first appeared in The Thirty-Nine Steps. He is an extremely likable character and this book is a great one if you like espionage novels and adventure stories. P.S. Read it and you'll see why this would make a great movie.