The Riddle of the Sands: A Record of Secret Service is a patriotic British 1903 novel by Erskine Childers. It is a novel that "owes a lot to the wonderful adventure novels of writers like Rider Haggard, that were a staple of Victorian Britain"; perhaps more significantly, it was a spy novel that "established a formula that included a mass of verifiable detail, which gave authenticity to the story - the same ploy that would be used so well by John Buchan, Ian Fleming, John le Carr� and many others." Ken Follett called it ...
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The Riddle of the Sands: A Record of Secret Service is a patriotic British 1903 novel by Erskine Childers. It is a novel that "owes a lot to the wonderful adventure novels of writers like Rider Haggard, that were a staple of Victorian Britain"; perhaps more significantly, it was a spy novel that "established a formula that included a mass of verifiable detail, which gave authenticity to the story - the same ploy that would be used so well by John Buchan, Ian Fleming, John le Carr� and many others." Ken Follett called it "the first modern thriller.
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THIS IS A GREAT READ. TOO BAD CHILDERS DID NOT WRITE MORE. I ALSO HAVE THE VIDEO--GOOD MOVIE. ACCURATE. GOOD EXAMPLE OF ONE-ON-ONE AND SUSPENSEFUL STORY.
Tompy
Mar 31, 2011
A good story
This was billed as the first of the spy stories, and it lived up to that quite well. Also if you like sea stories you would enjoy it just for that. The characters were well developed, and the plot quite suspenseful.
simor
Oct 1, 2009
I was first introduced to Riddle of the Sands as a young girl; over the years I have taken it from the library every so often to reread and finally decided I should own a copy. Anyone who enjoys suspenseful adventure/spy stories free of modern, super-hero flash will love this jewel. (Having some sailing experience does help.)
