The Power-House by John Buchan

Looking for a quick read on a rainy afternoon?  Then The Power-House by John Buchan may be just the thing. 

First published in Blackwood's Magazine in 1913, The Power-House became a favourite of the British soldiers during the First World War.  Short - it is about 100 pages long - it could be read in what little time the soldiers had to themselves.

Sir Edward Leithen, a lawyer and politician, lives in London.  He spends his usually uneventful days shuttling between home, work and his gentlemen's club.  

Nothing exciting happens to him until one day his wealthy friend disappears, leaving behind an incomplete letter hinting at great danger.  A second friend goes to Russia in search of him, and Leithen is left behind to look after things in their absence.  He regrets that he is not the one having the adventure, but he need not worry on that account: adventure comes looking for him in England, and soon Leithen is running for his life.  The future of Western civilization is in his hands, if he can only stay alive long enough.

As is usual with a Buchan story, the action starts almost immediately and does not let off from its break-neck speed until the final climax.  As we have come to expect, Buchan's prose style is beautifully descriptive and evocative without ever being in danger of becoming overblown.  Of course, there are gaping holes in the plot, and coincidences that strain credulity; however, these are all part and parcel of Buchan's style, and if the reader accepts them in the spirit they are given, then a rollicking good time is assured.

The Power-House is the first of the Sir Edward Leithen novels.  While it doesn't have the good-humoured charm of John Macnab, the second in the series, it does have the punch and vivacity of The Thirty-nine Steps, the first of the Richard Hannay novels.  And I look forward to reading the third in the series.

I read the 2007 edition published by Polygon Books.