John Buchan is most famous for his novel The Thirty-nine Steps which has been adapted for film and television. Mr. Standfast follows the exploits of the same protagonist, Richard Hannay a Scottish engineer, general, and adventurer. He is serving as a general at the beginning of the book, but gets pulled away for a top-secret mission, taking on the undercover role of a pacifist in order to uncover a diabolical, shape-shifting spy. Hannay chases this elusive character all over Scotland and back down into England and finally ends up heading for Switzerland.

It is an elaborate and detailed chase - some of which is dramatic and some of which is slow moving. A number of elements of the tale are connected to previous events and previous characters making it challenging to follow along without taking notes. The story is linked closely to events in John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, a 1678 Christian allegory. Mr. Standfast is the last pilgrim met by Christiana whom she finds kneeling on the ground and praying “in thanks for having been delivered from the temptation of Madam Bubble”. The Pilgrim’s Progress is used as a code book for passing information, hence the title of this novel.

The time frame of the novel is a bit indeterminate. It was published in 1919 but there is a conspicuous absence of Americans when Hannay returns to the front. Americans entered the war in April of 1917, but Hannay’s beleaguered battalion is relieved by French troops.

This book was appreciated in its time and is interesting from the standpoint of the machinations behind the battles that is far less common than portrayals of face-to-face battles. I didn’t find this book to live up to the promise of the Thirty-nine Steps.