Rogue Male is one of the classic thrillers of the 20th century. An Englishman plans to assassinate the dictator of a European country. But he is foiled at the last moment and falls into the hands of ruthless and inventive torturers. They devise for him an ingenious and diplomatic death but, for once, they bungle the job and he escapes. But England provides no safety from his pursuers - and the Rogue Male must strip away all the trappings of status and civilization as the hunter becomes a hunted animal.
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Rogue Male is one of the classic thrillers of the 20th century. An Englishman plans to assassinate the dictator of a European country. But he is foiled at the last moment and falls into the hands of ruthless and inventive torturers. They devise for him an ingenious and diplomatic death but, for once, they bungle the job and he escapes. But England provides no safety from his pursuers - and the Rogue Male must strip away all the trappings of status and civilization as the hunter becomes a hunted animal.
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Volume was in crisp condition. Story very much Boys Own Paper. Reminded me of the classic line "and with one bound she was free", but don't not read it, it is a classic goody versus everybody except one secret friend in an office in London.
DCGuy
Feb 3, 2011
British testerone from the 1930's
This is machismo from 1930's England. The world's toughest man chased by the only hunter that could possibly get the better of him- or maybe not. Keep going for the revelation of the real motives. Loads of fun.
cwm1936
Apr 23, 2007
The first and best
Geoffrey Household, who wrote in the period between the wars, originated the genre of the lone man against assassins in the English countryside. Rogue Male was the first of these stories, and to my way of thinking, the best. In this short novel set about 1938, the hero, an English gentleman of means and a wellknown sportsman, decides to stalk a rising European dictator (unmisakably Hitler) "just to see if he can get in position for a shot", but not actually to fire his rifle. He is discovered and thrown over a cliff to an apparently accidental death, but he survives the fall and escapes back to England with the Gestapo on his trail. The rest of the book describes his escape and evasion. In common with English novels of the time, there are no lurid sex scenes, no sadism, no profanity, and no gory descriptions, just lots of lively action and first class suspense. After this book, you will want to read more of Household's stories.
