Undiscovered Scotland

 

"Redfalcon: Richard Hannay Returns" by Robert J. Harris is a entertaining and enjoyable read that I'd highly recommend to anyone looking for a fast moving old-fashioned adventure story. I use the phrase "old-fashioned" as a compliment: the author has achieved exactly what he set out to do. In his preface, Robert J. Harris says: "This novel was inspired by the immortal characters and classic stories of John Buchan, particularly the adventures of Richard Hannay and the Gorbals Die-Hards."

It's been a while, but I did once read through John Buchan's Richard Hannay novels one after the other and thoroughly enjoyed them. I therefore approached "Redfalcon" with some trepidation. How was another author going to handle a story set in 1942 featuring a nearly three-decades older version of the character I remembered so fondly? I shouldn't have worried. Richard Hannay emerges from the pages of "Redfalcon" in recognisable and enjoyable form and the characterisation settles smoothly into the flow of the novel. With archaeologists and ancient secrets involved there were times in the Atlas Mountains when the mental image I had of the character I was reading about began to blur a little into a picture of Indiana Jones wearing his hat and leather jacket. That's not a criticism, simply a reflection of - I suspect - another of the author's inspirations for this novel and a sign of how deeply I had become immersed in the story.

When the protagonists reached Casablanca I wondered whether the author could resist a nod to the film we all know and love so much. I wasn't disappointed. Here we encounter a charmingly roguish French police chief who expresses shock at the discovery that the cognac he has been drinking is smuggled and we even witness the band playing the Marseillaise to upset the German customers in an establishment that feels very familiar. Rick never makes an appearance but I found myself half-expecting him to.

Although the author clearly had great fun writing this book he never takes it too far. Pastiche never becomes parody and the novel remains sufficiently true to the character of John Buchan's originals to please his fans. It certainly pleased me.

You get a sense of the story from the publisher's description: "Once again veteran adventurer Richard Hannay is called into action on a mission that will test him as never before. At stake is the fate of the beleaguered island of Malta where Hannay’s son is stationed as a fighter pilot. The German master spy Ravenstein has stumbled upon a centuries old secret which will give the Nazis the key to conquering Malta and so take control of the entire Mediterranean."

"To stop them, Hannay and his allies the Gorbals Diehards must track down the mysterious Karrie Adriatis, who alone knows the nature of the ancient secret. The quest takes them on a perilous journey from Gibraltar, to Casablanca, to the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, and finally on to Malta itself. Here Hannay and Ravenstein come face to face in a battle that will determine the future of the war."