Hostage

Guy Delisle conveys great, slow-burning tension in this sublime account of what Christophe Andre endured as a hostage in Chechnya. Delisle’s controlled handling of claustrophobic physical and mental spaces – and the rhythm he generates – is the work of a patient master. -- Joe Sacco
A book about a man trapped in the corner of a room should not be exhilarating, but somehow Delisle has managed to create just that. He takes us through Christophe André’s narrative of his time spent as a prisoner with an attention to detail that makes you feel like you’re right there with him, chained to a radiator, counting the days to keep yourself from losing your mind. My heart was racing by the end. -- Sarah Glidden
A gripping visual narrative… You’re able to absorb the terrible accretion of time in a single glace – at which point you suddenly grasp just how well the comic serves this particular story. All this darkness and claustrophobia shouldn’t be exhilarating. The fact Delisle makes it so is yet another reason why he must be counted as one of the greatest cartoonists of our age. -- Rachel Cooke * Observer *
Here, Delisle takes a back seat and interprets someone else’s extraordinary experiences… As a graphic novelist, working with a lone, often inactive protagonist and a minimum of bare props… Delisle draws each day in cycles of subtle variations… Readers will find themselves held hostage to the end by Guy Delisle’s immersive interpretation of one ordinary man’s extraordinary resilience. -- Paul Gravett * Times Literary Supplement *
He deftly mines stillness and long stretches of inaction for uncomfortably taut drama. Delisle’s monochromatic palette only heightens the sense of captivity as a brutal mind game of uncertainty. -- Michael Cavna * Washington Post Sunday *