The first of five novels featuring action hero Richard Hannay, and the
basis for the classicHitchcock film
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 the39 steps?"