The Three Hostages

‘Buchan showed the way. His pace and drive always spelled adventure, always writ large’ – Graham Greene. ‘Buchan was a major influence on my work’ – Alfred Hitchcock talking to Francois Truffaut. ‘The Hannay books are …about penetration of the enemy, about lonely escape and wild journeys, about the thin veneer that stands between civilisation and barbarism even in the most elegant drawing-room in London’ – Robin W Winks. After distinguished service in the First World War, Richard Hannay settles into peaceful domesticity with his wife Mary and their young son. However, news comes to him of three kidnappings. With no more than a few tantalisingly cryptic lines of verse as clues, he is soon on the trail of Dominick Medina – a charismatic polymath but a man ‘utterly and consumedly wicked’. As Hannay uncovers an international plot to twist innocent minds through hypnotism and blackmail, it appears that he has met his match in one of Buchan’s most memorable villains.

Reviews of The Three Hostages

'Don't forget John Buchan … very much a writer for our troubled times' THE CATHOLIC HERALD 'For his time, Buchan defined the spy story formula' THE NEW CRITERION