For this week's review on the Classic Mysteries podcast, we're going back more than a century to the book which stands as the very first modern political spy thriller. "The Riddle of the Sands: A Record of Secret Service," by Erskine Childers, first appeared in 1904, and, as John Le Carré points out, it "remains one of the great foundation stories of the contemporary novel of espionage and adventure with political teeth." You can listen to the full podcast review here.
"The Riddle of the Sands" tells the story of two young Englishmen, sailing a rather battered sailboat through the North Sea, who inadvertently uncover a vast political conspiracy - one that could easily have altered the political map of Europe forever. It has most of the elements that come to mind when we talk about political espionage thrillers: intrepid heroes, a lot of danger, evil villains, amazing plots, and a good deal of heroic derring-do on the part of the heroes.
Of course, the book is more than a century old. It doesn't have the thrill-a-page quality that seems to be required in today's thrillers. And it requires readers to do some studying of the enclosed maps and charts of the treacherous waters and shifting sands of the North Sea, in order to follow the story. But it is a delight, and it remains an excellent read. Penguin Classics has republished the book with a new introduction by the author's great-grandson, who provides some very interesting background on both the author and the book. There's an edition for the Amazon Kindle with additional exclusive material only for electronic readers.
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