Early work by Shute. Could have been a good book but has some flaws. I read "On the Beach" years ago. I will try some other Shute books along with a re-read of "On the Beach". He gets high praise from many people. This one showed great potential but is below average. ( )

It isn't very clear from the cover of this book that Nevil Shute is the author. Eric Ambler is credited as the inventor of the modern spy novel. However, «So Disdained» was published almost a decade before Ambler's novels, in 1928. Shute's novel is clearly a precursor of Ambler, while it strongly resembles the adventurous novels of John Buchan. A difference is perhaps also that the spy story only serves to create a plot while friendship and loyalty are the real theme of the novel. The style of the novel is decidedly old fashioned representing the world of Georgean England of the interbellum years.

The spy story itself has some interesting elements. The espionage of a naval installation combining early aviation and aerial photography for the Russians. However, in 1928 nobody could foresee the Cold War. The rivalry between the Bolsheviks and Fascists in Italy is a motive in the book. Germany and political developments in that country play a marginal role.

Recent years have seen a revival of the reading of novels by Nevil Shute, perhaps because they have come into the public domain.

Recommended for readers interested in early adventure and spy novels. ( )

I rather liked this book. It's the second by Shute that I've read, and I'll likely read more of him. It involves a young man who had been a pilot during WWI. During the subsequent ten years he had become an estate manager for a rich guy. He does it well and is more-or-less a member of the family. Driving home one night in the driving rain, he comes across someone walking along the road. He stops to offer they guy a ride and discovers he is an old mate from the air corps. His mate, however, has stayed with flying, the only thing he ever liked or could do competently. He was flying a spy mission for the Russians (this was before the rise of the Nazi's, so the "Reds" were a worry) and crashed his plane. So, we spend the rest of the book trying to save the pilot's bacon, so to speak, while making sure the "intelligence" that he had gathered didn't get back to the man's employers. It's a somewhat complex plot, but a rather interesting story, during a rather interesting period of time. ( )

Shute's second published novel - a slightly corny spy story in the best Dornford Yates tradition, but with all the authentic aviation detail we would expect from Shute. The idea of the Soviet Union flying dangerous photo-reconnaissance missions to get a look at British naval installations was probably absurd in the 1920s, but sort-of makes sense with hindsight. Shute's political prejudices come out, of course - the book is really about the origins of patriotism and loyalty, and their connection with land, job and family.
The narrator is a typical, emotionally inarticulate Shute hero, but unusually, Shute allows him to express his real emotions through the medium of music. This doesn't quite come off, because Shute doesn't have a good solution to the technical difficulty of giving the reader the idea of what a complex piece of music is about, and resorts to the clunky device of having the narrator explain the plot of his opera. However, this is notable as one of the few occasions when a male Shute character is allowed to have an artistic interest. ( )