Riddle of the Sands

Riddle of the Sands, by Erskine Childers, is an early example of the espionage novel, with a strong underlying theme of militarism. It was a spy novel that established a formula that included a mass of verifiable detail, which gave authenticity to the story - the same ploy that would be used so well by John Buchan, Ian Fleming, John le Carré and many others.