- Paperback: 280 pages
- Publisher: Hardpress Publishing (January 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 140763304X
- ISBN-13: 978-1407633046
- Product Dimensions: 15.2 x 22.9 x 1.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 386 g
- Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Dated thriller,
By
This review is from: Mr. Standfast (Paperback)
John Buchan's books don't stand the test of time particularly well, and in the case of Mr. Standfast, not well at all. Neither particularly literary nor much of a thriller, plus espousing views that, while accepted in their time, ring imperialist and hollow in the modern ear. The chase scenes and the final defeat of Buchan's unlikely amazing villain are thrilling in their way, but don't hold a candle to today's thriller-writing specialists. The best parts of this book read like recycled bits of "The Thirty Nine Steps" and even that book is more of a curiousity than a great read. Alas, it appears Buchan has not given us much reason to remember him as he falls further behind us in time.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.4 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews) 20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Terrific espionage thriller -- James Bond without the girls,
By Joseph W. Smith III - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Mr. Standfast (Paperback)
For those who like good, clean spy-type fun, this is a SUPERLATIVE work. Part three in the adventures of Richard Hannay (which started with Buchan's well-known "Thirty-nine Steps"), this is a first-rate thriller set on the eve of World War I, with plenty of atmosphere and hair-breadth escapes, plus an excellent dogfight climax in the skies over France. Along with everything else, it has some sound theological reflections (the title being a character from "Pilgrim's Progress") about courage and fortitude. Highly recommended.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best. Spy. Story. EVER.,
By Losse - Published on Amazon.com
This is my favourite Buchan book of them all! Although not as tightly-plotted as Greenmantle and The Thirty-Nine Steps, its predecessors in the series, it's still a nail-bitingly exciting adventure story sure to have you hooked for most of the first half and the whole second half. In Part One, Hannay spends some time with artistic types very familiar to those of us who enjoy 'lowbrow' fare, and then spends some time in radical political circles in Glasgow. Although it can be slow, there's lashings of satire to keep you chuckling. Then the plot begins to move--through the Scottish Highlands in a sequence akin to The Thirty-Nine Steps, but with far more characterisation and philosophy than the earlier book. During this time, Hannay realises that he's in love, pretends to be drunk, and impersonates a movie director. (No, it's not one of those spy novels with miserable characters and a depressing plot, in case you were wondering.)The second half, however, is peerless. The stakes rise, the scene shifts to the battlefields of Europe, and the adventure is non-stop. Hannay must outwit a foe far more intelligent and ruthless than himself, try to pick up the courage to propose to lovely, clever young Mary Lamington, and manage to survive a brutal war. The climax is breathtaking and actually has you fearing for the outcome; moreover, it shows that Buchan was not in fact blissfully unaware of the horrors of trench warfare as many people, reading his optimistic work today, would think. 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
a word of praise for John Buchan and Old Pieter,
By Robert J. Millikin "renowned know-it-all" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Mr. Standfast (Paperback)
All of these serious reviews and not a word about the character who steals the show, Hannay's great friend the old Boer, Peter Pienner(and here I beg your indulgence as I am far from my Buchan books and cannot access them in my current convalesent state - I've misspelled his last name). Peter has read only three books in all his life and he has reread continually. The books are the Bible, Ingoldsby Legends, and the Pilgrim's Progress. He sees all the world through the context of these books, especially the Milton. Peter wants to be Mister Valiant-for-Truth, proactive and righteous, but in accessing himself finds he is only as good as Mister Standfast, passive a pawn in Life's Game but one who will defend that patch of Earth he stands on. And in his final act Peter contradicts his own assessment of himself and emulates Mister Valiant-for-Truth. Redemption. Buchan's writing and characters are miles better than anything Fleming or Clancy ever wrote. However I am reminded of Peter by Muse Brown's portrayl of Mike Franks on NCIS , the wonderfully written and cast show on CBS and USA networks.
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