Greenmantle: A Richard Hannay Thriller, Book 2 cover art

Greenmantle: A Richard Hannay Thriller, Book 2

Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 Months Free + £10 Audible voucher

£5.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Get this deal
Offer ends on 5 July 2026 at 11:59 BST.
More purchase options

Greenmantle: A Richard Hannay Thriller, Book 2

By: John Buchan
Narrated by: Peter Joyce
Get this deal

£5.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends on 5 July 2026 at 11:59 BST. Cancel monthly.

Buy Now for £13.46

Buy Now for £13.46

The second of Richard Hannay's adventures takes him from the trenches of the First World War on a mission of vital importance to the British campaign in the East. In an attempt to manipulate their Turkish allies the Germans have created a religious figurehead, a prophet of a new order to unify the disparate tribes of Asia and crush the allied offensive. Pursued by the barbaric General Stumm, Hannay and his old South African friend and teacher Peter Pienaar with fellow soldier Sandy Arbuthnot and American engineer and less than ‘nootral’ John S. Blenkiron make their different ways to Constantinople to find the elusive Greenmantle and do what they can to avert disaster.

But who is Greenmantle and what dastardly part has the sinister fanatic Hilda von Einem to play in the game which will determine the outcome of the war. Packed with incident and incredible feats of derring-do the story culminates at the offensive. Buchan’s life in politics and his work for the Intelligence Corps gave him knowledge and an insight that few others could have at the time. With remarkable prescience he reveals the main theme and keeps the attention to the last.

About Assembled Stories: Over the years the national press have reviewed Assembled Stories titles as ‘excellent’, ‘remarkable’, ‘entrancing’, ‘superb’, ‘magic for sure’, ‘masterly’, ‘wonderful’, ‘a class act’ and ‘a splendid example of audio at its best’.

©2008 John Buchan (P)2008 Assembled Stories
Classics Espionage Fiction Genre Fiction Spies & Politics Thriller & Suspense War & Military Military War Thriller
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

Critic reviews

"Peter Joyce is the most remarkable one-man band in audiobook publishing. Joyce, an experienced actor, reads them all himself." ( The Independent)
All stars
Most relevant
Peter Joyce is the voice of John Buchan. He brings such life to the stories and his characterisations are almost flawless (except Sandy Arbuthnot!).

Inspiring stuff!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Greenmantle was one of my favourite books in my youth, and this evokes such wonderful memories

The commentary and characterisations are excellent, giving greater depth to this stirring novel

Buchan at his Best

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The story is a repetition of the 39 steps just in a different context

What could John Buchan have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Thought of a new plot

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

fine

Could you see Greenmantle: A Richard Hannay Thriller, Book 2 being made into a movie or a TV series? Who would the stars be?

dont know but I;m not sure that I would watch - it would need a lot of screenplay work to make it a thriller

Any additional comments?

Similar comments apply to

If you enjoyed the 39 steps - dont read this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

The best known of John Buchanan's books is the Thirty Nine Steps. The best of his novels is Greenmantle. The heroic loyalty and goo-humoured courage is of another era, but so very refreshing in today's climate. In the genre of the Clubland Heroes spanning from the Scarlet Pimpernel, to Bulldog Drummond, the Saint, James Bond and arguably George Smiley, the adventures of Richard Hannah are exhilarating, straightforward and nostalgic, filled with the hope, heroism and British values that leave us wistful in our egotistical modern age. But with all of that, Greenmantle is a great book, based on a theme that is strangely modern given the current wave of twenty-first century terrorism. A book that can be read and re-read, or listened to, many times with its wonderful array of memorable characters, including the chilling Madam Von Einem. Mad and bad she may have been, but also she was great!

Wonderfully nostalgic; so pertinent today.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

It’s obviously important to employ context when listening to older novels. I listened to Buchan’s 39 steps over the Christmas period, and was impressed. Fast paced and compact, it held my attention from start to finish.
Greenmantle, book 2, is double the length and to be honest, it struggled to hold my attention. Very far fetched and very ‘empire’ (context) I found the witticisms & analogies of Blenkiron irritating, and the politicising & philosophical judgments of Sandy possibly even more so.
For me overlong, a bit of a slog, & not a patch on the original. The narration…..sufficient.

Greenmantle.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

See more reviews