Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • Greenmantle: A Richard Hannay Thriller, Book 2

  • By: John Buchan
  • Narrated by: Peter Joyce
  • Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (89 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Greenmantle: A Richard Hannay Thriller, Book 2 cover art

Greenmantle: A Richard Hannay Thriller, Book 2

By: John Buchan
Narrated by: Peter Joyce
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £13.99

Buy Now for £13.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Hannay: His 5 Adventures cover art
Prester John cover art
Greenmantle cover art
The Courts of the Morning cover art
The 39 Steps and Other Richard Hannay Adventures cover art
Rorke's Drift cover art
Vindolanda cover art
The Phantom Rickshaw cover art
Rogue Male cover art
The Red Cobra cover art
Detective cover art
The Latter Days at Colditz cover art
Semper Fi cover art
EMPEROR: The Gates of Rome, Book 1 (Unabridged) cover art
Cue for Treason cover art
The Lieutenants cover art

Summary

The second of Richard Hannay's adventures takes him from the trenches of the First World War on a mission of vital importance to the British campaign in the East. In an attempt to manipulate their Turkish allies the Germans have created a religious figurehead, a prophet of a new order to unify the disparate tribes of Asia and crush the allied offensive. Pursued by the barbaric General Stumm, Hannay and his old South African friend and teacher Peter Pienaar with fellow soldier Sandy Arbuthnot and American engineer and less than ‘nootral’ John S. Blenkiron make their different ways to Constantinople to find the elusive Greenmantle and do what they can to avert disaster.

But who is Greenmantle and what dastardly part has the sinister fanatic Hilda von Einem to play in the game which will determine the outcome of the war. Packed with incident and incredible feats of derring-do the story culminates at the offensive. Buchan’s life in politics and his work for the Intelligence Corps gave him knowledge and an insight that few others could have at the time. With remarkable prescience he reveals the main theme and keeps the attention to the last.

About Assembled Stories: Over the years the national press have reviewed Assembled Stories titles as ‘excellent’, ‘remarkable’, ‘entrancing’, ‘superb’, ‘magic for sure’, ‘masterly’, ‘wonderful’, ‘a class act’ and ‘a splendid example of audio at its best’.

©2008 John Buchan (P)2008 Assembled Stories

Critic reviews

"Peter Joyce is the most remarkable one-man band in audiobook publishing. Joyce, an experienced actor, reads them all himself." ( The Independent)

What listeners say about Greenmantle: A Richard Hannay Thriller, Book 2

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    39
  • 4 Stars
    28
  • 3 Stars
    16
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    39
  • 4 Stars
    16
  • 3 Stars
    10
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    33
  • 4 Stars
    14
  • 3 Stars
    18
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Peter Joyce brings Buchan to life...

I was really unsure about this one.

I love John Buchan and particularly the BBC Drama production of The Thirty-Nine Steps starring Tom Baker (available on Audible) but having it read to me by one person seemed to be a second-rate affair.

Wrong.

Peter Joyce portrays the cast well and his range of accents are convincing and different enough to avoid confusion.

The sound quality is good - at the beginning of the book, 'side 1' is announced so I can only assume that this production has been remastered from tape.

The story is typical Buchan - wild and fanciful and very much using language and terms that shouldn't be used today, but as this was published in 1916, we can forgive the author.

The plot has winds and twists and gets a little odd towards the end. It's not as clean as the Thirty-Nine Steps but is thoroughly enjoyable and the next step along the road for our here, Richard Hannay.

Will try Mr Standfast next....

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

If you enjoyed the 39 steps - dont read this

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The story is a repetition of the 39 steps just in a different context

What could John Buchan have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Thought of a new plot

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

fine

Could you see Greenmantle: A Richard Hannay Thriller, Book 2 being made into a movie or a TV series? Who would the stars be?

dont know but I;m not sure that I would watch - it would need a lot of screenplay work to make it a thriller

Any additional comments?

Similar comments apply to

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

It’s distorting!

This has been digitised from a record and done at too higher volume.it’s distortion is unbearable I would like my money back.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Buchan at his Best

Greenmantle was one of my favourite books in my youth, and this evokes such wonderful memories

The commentary and characterisations are excellent, giving greater depth to this stirring novel

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderfully nostalgic; so pertinent today.

The best known of John Buchanan's books is the Thirty Nine Steps. The best of his novels is Greenmantle. The heroic loyalty and goo-humoured courage is of another era, but so very refreshing in today's climate. In the genre of the Clubland Heroes spanning from the Scarlet Pimpernel, to Bulldog Drummond, the Saint, James Bond and arguably George Smiley, the adventures of Richard Hannah are exhilarating, straightforward and nostalgic, filled with the hope, heroism and British values that leave us wistful in our egotistical modern age. But with all of that, Greenmantle is a great book, based on a theme that is strangely modern given the current wave of twenty-first century terrorism. A book that can be read and re-read, or listened to, many times with its wonderful array of memorable characters, including the chilling Madam Von Einem. Mad and bad she may have been, but also she was great!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Inspiring stuff!

Peter Joyce is the voice of John Buchan. He brings such life to the stories and his characterisations are almost flawless (except Sandy Arbuthnot!).

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Poor Quality Recording

This reading was brilliant as ever. Peter Joyce is skilled at the various accents and pronunciation. However this recording has an annoying buzz in the background that would have driven me potty if I'd been listening on headphones or in a very quiet environment. Also, the chapters are ridiculous. Just about each paragraph is a 'chapter'. I've not seen a copy of the book but can't imagine it has 150 or so chapters.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Unbearable because of narrator's Afrikaaner accent

I found it impossible to listen to huge swathes of this story because of the harsh 'Afrikaaner' accent that the narrator assumed for one of the characters. It was truly unbearable.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!