Product Description

Adventurer Richard Hannay has just returned from South Africa and is thoroughly bored with his London life – until a murder is committed in his flat, just days after the victim had warned him of an assassination plot that could bring Britain to the brink of war. An obvious suspect for the police and an easy target for the killers, Hannay goes on the run in his native Scotland, where he must use all his wits to stay one step ahead of the game – and warn the government before it is too late. One of the most popular adventure stories ever written, The Thirty-Nine Steps established John Buchan as the original thriller writer and inspired many other novelists and filmmakers including Alfred Hitchcock.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15273 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 112 pages

Customer Reviews

Introduction and Buchan`s timeline help our enjoyment.[David Scott]
In the Oxford World`s Classics printing there are several additional sections by other writers that helped me with background information.
A 16 page Introduction by Christopher Harvie puts the Hannay novels in the context of other similar adventure stories of the time.On the declaration of war Buchan had been summoned to Sir Edward Grey at the Foreign Office.By 1916 Buchan was a war correspondent,working in propaganda.The following year he worked for Foreign Office and War Office,and as Intelligence Officer at GHQ in France.Harvie suggests that The 39 Steps was,in fact,an ingenious way of misleading the Germans about where the Admiralty had got to in its decrypting expertise.It had,by 1915,gained copies of the three main German code-books,which the German Admiralty used until 1917.
Details of Hannay`s chase through the south of Scotland are given.There is alot of interesting background supplied that brought the story even more to life for me.Four pages of chronology take us from Buchan`s birth in 1875 at Perth,through school,university,early publications,wartime activities,entering Parliament in 1927,and in 1935 he was ennobled as Lord Tweedsmuir,Governor-General of Canada.
At the back of this printing are the useful Explanatory Notes, eight pages explaining references to places,topical terms,Scottish dialect--over seventy `facts` that relate to this fiction story and to real events of the time.
I wish that other printings also included these additional Introduction and Notes.They give a lot of added colour and period atmosphere.

A gripping suspense story- innovative and exiting
This is truly a book that one cannot put down .The atmosphere of chilling suspense begins when Richard Hannay ,our inconspicuous and unlikely hero discovers the knife - ridden body of the American he took into his flat , who had told him details of a terrible plot....... What does he do? he has to flee both the plotters and the plice in one of the most gripping thrillers which I have ever read , set mostly in the beautiful Scottish countryside, This book may be 80-odd years old , but is still heart - poundingly brilliant , and I would reccomend it to anyone over the age of Twelve to One hundred and Twelve. REVIEW BY S.W COUNSELL.

A bit oldfashioned but still fantastic!
This classic thriller, combining murder, intrigue and treachery is a spellbinding tale for all to enjoy. It is the story of Richard Hannay, who takes on the enemies of his country on his own, single-handed. He is wrongly suspected of being an assassinator; he is pursued by the police, while in turn he tries to tracks down the real villains. His search takes him into the remote moors of the Scottish Highland where he very nearly loses his life. This book is great, I would strongly recommend it to mainly crime and adventure-loving boys aged 9 - 15 although some girls, like a friend and me, would like it as well. I would personally rate it 4/5 although it could have been better in parts.