"Between Kipling and Fleming stands John Buchan, the father of the modern spy thriller," averred Christopher Hitchens about the author of this hugely influential espionage novel, which has never been out of print since its first publication in 1915. Following an ordinary man caught up in a sinister international plot, The Thirty-Nine Steps is the first of five novels starring Richard Hannay, whose steely determination and uncanny knack for getting himself out of sticky situations make him the archetypal man-on-the-run character, now a staple in literature and film.