The Thirty-Nine Steps

With the 39 Steps, John Buchan set the pace for thriller writers to come. Richard Hannay’s ennui comes to an abrupt end when a murder is committed in his flat. Only a few days before the dead man had revealed to him an assassination plot, which would have terrible consequences for international peace. Fearing the police will see him as the obvious suspect and desperate to escape the killers, Hannay goes on the run in his native Scotland. There, among the wild moors, he needs all his courage and ingenuity to stay one step ahead of his pursuers… One of the most popular adventure stories ever written, The 39 Steps has been filmed several times, once by the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock.’Who else so effectively uses moorland and stream in developing plot, evokes the power of place, and stresses the indivisible links between the civilised and the primitive that can instantly transform the everyday scene into one of evil.’ Sunday Times