Dear sirs! In writing this novel, I set myself the goal of telling people at least a piece of the truth, of showing the reader the true face of one of the wars, which, unfortunately, some authors paint in rosy, heroic colors. War is a “dirty woman,” especially if it is waged on the territory of a foreign state and for an unknown purpose. I would like to draw your attention to how people become hostage to their greed and stupidity. Participants in these events can say: “Grigory Sergeevich - that wasn’t so.” I agree in advance - it was not the Petrovs, but the Sidorovs, and not in summer, but in winter, and not in that fortress, but in another. But no one will deny the fact that there were demolitions of villages, the death of innocent people, looting and other crimes, confusion, and air strikes on their units. Do not believe, reader, that only the American soldier shoots civilians and journalists in Iraq and Afghanistan like rabbits on the hunt, and our white and fluffy warrior is a true defender of the poor and disadvantaged. Unfortunately, all wars have the same face. Trust me as an eyewitness. When I published the novel “Asya” on the artofwar website, one reader wrote comments: “It happened, it happened, I scraped it white.” And that was it, my dear readers. The novel “Hostages” is based on true facts. A great writer once said: “Life gives us the best stories.”

With respect to you: Grigory Pokrovsky.