A Rogue by Compulsion

This one hits Dartmoor running from a prison road gang and doesn't let up. No-one minded absurd coincidences a hundred years ago and there are a fair few in this one, but the yarn more than makes up for that with pace, momentum and humour. His descriptions of London as well as a brief description of the train journey from Fenchurch Street to Tilbury are very evocative and there are some quite ingenious ploys played by our hero when he's on the trail of the villains: keeping an eye on one from an angled mirror behind the bar in a West End pub and sending helpful notes in top end grills. The hero gives a bit of new fangled dynamite to a boy scout for use in a firework as a reward for his assistance at one point, which just shows you that our forefathers were not so keen on maintaining such strict health and safety regulations back in the day.

A convicted killer escapes Dartmoor prison and runs to hide in the house of two suspiciously helpful men. The killer is innocent and an inventor, and the two men promise him wealth for the formula of the explosive he was working on at the time of his crime.

It's an action/spy novel, fairly engrossing. The characterizations are at least distinct, though not deep or unusual. The writing is good, especially the chases and action scenes. There are a lot of coincidences. I got the impression that there were about twenty people in England, and they all kept running into each other.

What a stunner! A beautifully crafted novel with excellent characterisation. Victor Bridges was a prolific author - is there any chance we could read more of his immense work? That would be heavenly.

This is absolutely excellent. Kind of out-Buchans Richard Hannay.

A 39 Steps - Plus!