The Three Hostages cover art

The Three Hostages

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Three Hostages

By: John Buchan
Narrated by: Peter Joyce
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £14.99

Buy Now for £14.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Hannay to the rescue once more! This time...our hero is summoned from his tranquil life in rural Oxfordshire to save the world from a financial conspiracy which threatens the global economy. Hannay comes to believe that the villain behind all this must be Dominick Medina.

But can such a brilliant, charming idol of the nation be using Eastern magic to suborn industrialists, magnates and other such pillars of society as his slaves? Is Medina also capable of holding hostages as insurance against the failure of his dastardly schemes and to guarantee his escape from justice?

Infiltrating the organisation, Hannay befriends Medina and starts to investigate. His mission takes him from England to Norway and culminates in Scotland, where the protagonists stalk each other in a most thrilling chase and the outcome is death - but who will be the victor?

©2009 Assembled Stories (P)2009 Assembled Stories Suspense Thriller & Suspense Exciting

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Hannay: His 5 Adventures cover art
The Courts of the Morning cover art
Prester John cover art
Peter West cover art
The Dream cover art
The Railway Detective cover art
Pietr the Latvian cover art
A Man Lay Dead cover art
All Souls' Night cover art
The African Queen cover art
David Copperfield cover art
The Crime at Black Dudley cover art
The Hand of Ethelberta cover art
Dangerous Ages cover art
The Toys of Peace cover art
Murder on the Lusitania cover art
All stars
Most relevant  
Let me start by saying the performance of Peter Joyce is excellent and brings the story to life. If I had been asked I would never have called myself as a Buchan fan as having read the 39 Steps had found it awkwardly written and the plot unlikely. But now I am delighted to be a Buchan fan.
I do put the caveat that it is of its time and all the accepted social mores and manners that accompany that period.

This wonderful, fourth in the series, Sir Richard Hannay adventure, sees Hannay, ex-General and under-cover agent in WWI, now 42, dragged from his wife, child, and Cotswold farming existence, back into harness to help the rescue of three young hostages, taken so that the villain can, as well as furthering his craze for crime and stopping his activities being investigated, obtain complete mental control over his acolytes.

Well-written, witty and exciting, it shows again Buchan's great narrative and descriptive skills. In a few phrases he can convince one that one is with Hannay as he tramps through the Cotswold meadows, or stalks his enemy in the Highlands.

Perfect Narrator Gripping Adventure

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A ripping good yarn very much of its times. It also gives insight into what it was like to live in upper class society in those days. The description of life in the baronial Scottish Highlands was of particular interest as was his evident first hand knowledge of deer stalking, the terrain, the behaviour of deer and the Ghillies/ gamekeeper. Buchan was of course part of the politics of the day; he spent time as Gov Gen of Canada. From an ethical point of view loyalty and honour are considered an all or nothing qualities. In more recent adventure stories much is made of the moral weaknesses of both hero and villain.

Of its times

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is good boys own stuff in my opinion and the reader criticising the upper class angle should remember when it was written.

Great JB

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would if they liked boyish adventure or were interested in history or social history

What did you like best about this story?

It continues the adventures of Hannay and he has a realistic shaped life

Have you listened to any of Peter Joyce’s other performances? How does this one compare?

Peter Joyce plays it marvellously, his character is realistic and he hits the right tones for coin of phrase. I happily listened for hours at a time

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

If I had time yes

Any additional comments?

Loved it, not as thrilling as the others, but a good tale.

Interesting Stiry Line

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Love the traditional pro’s and sense of honour, with an unusually strong female character for the day.
Often claimed as a boy’s adventure author … I’m a lady in her 40’s and too enjoy his work. Clean, honourable fun and adventure.
Character References are stereotyped regarding classes and ‘foreigners’ from French to Arabs would not be acceptable for a current author (and rightly so on the whole), but this is a story of its time, written I believe by an honourable man of that time and class, and of historical value to understand the accepted ethical attitudes then.

Good traditional simple romping thriller for most ages.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A very enjoyable yarn, but written from a 'white British upper class gent is by FAR the best perspective' or 'U and non-U', with liberal sprinklings of anti semitism, anti darker skinned Europeans, anti Irish and anti black sentiments. If you can get past that, you'll enjoy it- if not, give it a wide berth.

Good but.....!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I love the John Buchan Richard Hannah books. You need to remember when they were written in case some of the ideas are a bit much but they are great fun in their period context. Good narration. Maybe a bit long/ slow for some but very enjoyable nonetheless.

Rip roaring period piece

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Such a shame the narration let's down an excellent story. Sadly Buchan does not seem to merit quality narration or adaptation

Great story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I'd never heard of this book by Buchan so decided it was a must.
Peter Joyce has an excellent narrating accent, although his intonation is a little over-undulating.
Buchan's language is wonderful to listen to - full of words I remember from my childhood, but which are rarely used these days. English has always been known as a rich language, but sadly that richness is being depleted. If only we could go back to the English of Buchan's time, when descriptive and expressive words that we've lost were still in everyday use.
I need to listen to the story again as I tend to listen to audio books over many, many sessions, varying from a few minutes to perhaps 20 minutes, so it's not too conducive to following a complicated plot.

Refreshing to hear our language used fully!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Very good but a bit slow in places. Set in an interesting time. Enjoyed ut.

EXCELLENT

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews