Set shortly before the start of the first world war, there is a whole lot of political intrigue. A German underground organization called Blackstone is working to eliminate all the pacifists and progressives and actually bring about a war.
A spy called Scudder unravels their plans, but is caught before he can communicate it to his superiors. He communicates this information to Richard Hannay, a bored man who happens to be his neighbor, and is assassinated shortly thereafter. Hannay, with Scudder’s notes, escapes in disguise. Switching disguises several times, and with the Blackstone agents hot on his trail, he makes his way to Scotland, and at one point walks right into their den.
He escapes by rigging up a bomb using odds-and-ends he finds in the storeroom he is locked in. He reaches London, and talks to Scudder’s bosses. They trace the Blackstone agents, and with Hannay’s help, set up an elaborate trap to get them before they escape to Germany with England’s war plans.
Filled with intrigue and mystery, Hannay solves problems by using his wits; kind of like a thinking man’s James Bond. This is gritty, grimy spy work; none of the suave tuxedos and baccarat, shaken not stirred. Throughout the book, Hannay is outnumbered and outgunned, and always has to outsmart his opponents to survive.
The title alludes to the steps leading down to the sea at the back of a mansion that the Blackstone agents are hiding out at.
At various times throughout my schooling days, I have had passages from this book in either texts or in reading comprehension. But for all that, I had never read the whole book until now. An short and excellent read, it spawned several movies, two of which are made by Hitchcock himself.