The Power House, written in 1916, is the first adventure of the classic Buchan hero, the prosperous Scots lawyer and MP Sir Edward Leithen, whose measured daily routine of 'flat, chambers, flat, club' is enlivened by the sudden disappearance of Charles Pitt-Heron, one of his Oxford contemporaries. Leithen steps up to the mark, coordinating efforts to thwart those responsible for his friend's departure; meanwhile, fellow politician Tommy Deloraine heads to Moscow to track down the missing man. As the investigation develops, Leithen finds himself pitted against green-spectacled villain Andrew Lumley and a terrifying international anarchist network called 'The Power-House'.
From the Introduction by Stella Rimmington in The Power-House:
The Power-House is one of the least known of Buchan's mature works, a tale without a plot, and so full of holes that it calls to mind Samuel Johnson's definition of a 'network' - 'anything reticulated and desuccated, at equal distances, with interstices between the intersections'. It is pure essence of Buchan - a demonstration of his magical power to weave a tale out of no materials but the threads and colours of his imagination. It does, however, possess a theme - John Bunyan's idea, in Pilgrim's progress, of mne of goodwill and courage struggling with an intelligent, evil power at the root of all the world's troubles and confusions. The same idea inspired the Richard Hannay stories that quickly followed the appearance of The Power-House in 1913: The Thirty-nine Steps, Greenmantle, Mr Standfast and The Three Hostages. However, in none of Buchan's books is there a keener sense of place or a clearer victory of sense over unreason than in The Power-House.'
| Primary Genre | Thriller and Suspense |
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