The Thirty-Nine Steps

John Buchan · 1915 CE · Novel · English · Modernist

A Scot back from Rhodesia and bored with London takes in a stranger who claims to know of a plot against Europe, and shortly afterwards is wanted for murder. He runs north with police and foreign agents behind him, borrowing identities from whatever the countryside offers. The chase thriller's template.

Open The Thirty-Nine Steps in the archive — filters, lineage graph and full facet browsing.

Lineage

• influenced by ↑ The Riddle of the Sands
  Erskine Childers · 1903 CE · Novel
• ↓ Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
  John le Carré · 1974 CE · Novel — responds to this
• ↓ The 39 Steps
  Alfred Hitchcock · 1935 CE · Film — adapts this

Attributes

Closest analogues

• The Riddle of the Sands
  Erskine Childers · 1903 CE · Novel

  68% · 14 shared
  NovelThrillerAdventureWar & ViolenceDuty & HonorModernistHeroMysteryThe QuestFall–Rise (Man in a Hole)The Book / Manuscriptvs PersonAdventureEnglish
• The Hidden Fortress
  Akira Kurosawa · 1958 CE · Film

  55% · 9 shared
  AdventureDuty & HonorSurvivalHeroEverymanThe ChaseThe Questvs PersonAdventure
• Dr. No
  Terence Young · 1962 CE · Film

  48% · 9 shared
  ThrillerAdventureDuty & HonorHeroMysteryThe Questvs PersonAdventureEnglish
• From Russia with Love
  Terence Young · 1963 CE · Film

  48% · 9 shared
  ThrillerAdventureDuty & HonorHeroThe ChaseThe Questvs PersonAdventureEnglish
• GoldenEye
  Martin Campbell · 1995 CE · Film

  48% · 9 shared
  ThrillerAdventureDuty & HonorHeroThe ChaseThe Questvs PersonAdventureEnglish
• Speed
  Jan de Bont · 1994 CE · Film

  48% · 8 shared
  ThrillerAdventureDuty & HonorSurvivalHeroThe Chasevs PersonAdventure