ABSTRACT
John Buchan’s ction is continuingly popular arguably because of a quality of suspense in his writing; its power to grip and hold the reader’s attention. is is perhaps not exceptional: genre ction ourishes on the basis of the ful lment of the promise of delivery of particular expectations. In thrillers, crime ction, ‘police procedural’ stories, murder mysteries, novels of espionage and ‘international intrigue’, suspense is a common factor. Whether the narrative involves events unknown to the narrator that must be discovered and pieced together to solve a conspiracy puzzle, or whether a strictly linear narrative brings characters together who are supremely villainous in situations that are life-threatening, the formulae are familiar enough. But Buchan is di erent.
