Huntingtower. By John Buchan. (Hodder and Stoughton. 7s. 6d. net.)—Mr.
Buchan's new novel is by no means intended to be taken as seriously as The Path of the Sing. Dr. Johnson said of The Beggar's Opera that " it was written to amuse," and Huntingtower was written for those people whose idea of amusement includes a considerable amount of excitement and a slight touch of cold water down their backs. The Russian Revolution and its consequences have provided a new field from which the novelist on the look-out for sensation may, without violating probabilities too preposterously, cull material for a great deal of sensationalism. Mr. Buchan enters into no detail, but we are given to understand that his heroine is strongly engaged in combating Bolshevism, while two mysterious and eminently good-looking Russians try one to kidnap her and the other to protect her. The chief character in the drama is, however, Dickson McCunn, a retired grocer from Glasgow, who sallies forth in search of adventure on the completion of the sale of his business. Mr. Buchan takes care that his expectations are more than fulfilled. The campaign of the unofficial Boy Scouts ("the Gorbals Die-Hards ") is not quite convincing. But detailed criticism is hardly in place in dealing with a novel of this kind. It is sufficient to say that the book provides a whiff of the authentic atmosphere of romance and will afford its readers plenty of thrilling moments.
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