Discover the original and best adventure story ever told.
‘The father of the modern espionage’ Sunday Times
May 1914. Britain is on the eve of war with Germany. Richard Hannay is living a quiet life in London, but after a chance encounter with a mysterious stranger he stumbles into a hair-raising adventure - a desperate hunt across the country and against the clock, pursued by the police and a cunning, ruthless enemy. Hannay's life and the security of Britain are in grave peril, and everything rests on the solution to a baffling enigma: what are the thirty-nine steps?
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY STELLA RIMINGTON
Publisher: Vintage Publishing
ISBN: 9780099528395
Number of pages: 272
Weight: 193 g
Dimensions: 197 x 130 x 16 mm
Richard Hannay is, like his American brother Philip Marlowe, a modern knight errant. Charging through a hypocritical world, he is a seeker after truth with a boundless love of nature, a liking for simple pleasures and a hatred of pettiness and snobberies.... Buchan's novels are eerily resonant with today's troubles... Hannay is a hero for all times - Observer
The book is even more fun than the films - Guardian
The father of the modern espionage adventure - Sunday Times
Buchan makes superb use of wild landscapes in this economical and gripping story - The Times
Go into a bookshop today, pick up The Thirty-Nine Steps and I guarantee you will read it to the end. There is random and graphic violence, there is clear and present evil, eyes that are hooded 'like a bird of prey' - and a man 'skewered to the floor by a long knife through his heart' - Daily Mail
Went for a quick caper and it was indeed very quick. The ending seemed to have been wrapped up in less than 2 pages. All in all it was a very stiff upper lip affair where even the baddies are polite.
A few weeks after Richard Hanney returned from Rhodesia a man who passed him a secret was murdered in Richard’s flat. Chased by police and an unknown group of strangers Richard fled to Scotland. But his pursuers... More
Great writing, kept me in suspense throughout. This book is the trend setter for many spy novels that followed, highly recommended.
Please sign in to write a review
Would you like to proceed to the App store to download the Waterstones App?
