Introduction. The paper examines the influence of external factors on the spy novel genre of the XX century in Britain: the studied factors are rethought; the supposed new ones are added. The emergence of genre dominants based on the mentioned factors is studied. Within this paper, we assume the possibility of classifying genre dominants on geographical and political grounds. Material and methods. With the help of comparativehistorical, sociological, biographical and historical-functional methods spy novels by F. Forsythe, I. Fleming, J. Le Carré, Gr. Green, K. Follett were studied. Results and Discussion. External factors influencing the spy novel genre formation are philosophical, social, cultural, political, ethic, moral, historical, a factor of creative personality of the author, and geographical “overfactor” as a key factor in genre transformation. The literary process in continental Europe and in Great Britain proceeded differently under the influence of the geographical “overfactor”. The most of the modifications manifested themselves in “cold” war period. In the dominant of English spy novel, we have identified the following genre modifications: documentary, political, heroic, modification of industrial espionage, fantastic, patriotic, tragic, satirical, psychological ones. Conclusion. Due to the island origin, Britain is forced to conduct a certain foreign policy, different from the policy of the mainland States. In addition, Britain has long been a colonial Empire. Consequently, English spy novel probably has its national peculiarities. In the future, it is possible to study the English spy novel in comparison with the spy novel of continental Western Europe.