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Rogue Male #1
Rogue Male
1930-something: a professional hunter is passing through an unnamed Central European country that is in the thrall of a vicious dictator. The hunter wonders whether he can penetrate undetected into the dictator’s private compound. He does. He has the potential target in his sites and is wondering whether to pull the trigger when security catches up with him. Imprisoned, tortured, doomed to a painful death, the hunter makes an extraordinary and harrowing escape, fleeing through enemy territory to the safety of his native England. But that safety is delusive: his pursuers will not be diverted from their revenge by national borders; the British government cannot protect him without seeming to endorse his deed. The hunter must flee society, and he goes literaly underground, like a fox to its earth. The hunter has become the hunted.
Geoffrey Household’s Rogue Male is a classic thriller and a triumph of suspense. Described by Household as a “bastard offspring of Stevenson and Conrad,” the book is no less remarkable as an exploration of the lure of violence, the psychology of survivalism, and the call of the wild.
280 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1939
350 people are currently reading
7318 people want to read
About the author
Geoffrey Household
96 books88 followersBritish author of mostly thrillers, though among 37 books he also published children's fiction. Household's flight-and-chase novels, which show the influence of John Buchan, were often narrated in the first person by a gentleman-adventurer. Among his best-know works is' Rogue Male' (1939), a suggestive story of a hunter who becomes the hunted, in 1941 filmed by Fritz Lang as 'Man Hunt'. Household's fast-paced story foreshadowed such international bestsellers as Richard Condon's thriller 'The Manchurian Candidate' (1959), Frederick Forsyth's 'The Day of the Jackal' (1971), and Ken Follett's 'Eye of the Needle' (1978) .
In 1922 Household received his B.A. in English from Magdalen College, Oxford, and between 1922 and 1935 worked in commerce abroad, moving to the US in 1929. During World War II, Household served in the Intelligence Corps in Romania and the Middle East. After the War he lived the life of a country gentleman and wrote. In his later years, he lived in Charlton, near Banbury, Oxfordshire, and died in Wardington.
Household also published an autobiography, 'Against the Wind' (1958), and several collections of short stories, which he himself considered his best work.
In 1922 Household received his B.A. in English from Magdalen College, Oxford, and between 1922 and 1935 worked in commerce abroad, moving to the US in 1929. During World War II, Household served in the Intelligence Corps in Romania and the Middle East. After the War he lived the life of a country gentleman and wrote. In his later years, he lived in Charlton, near Banbury, Oxfordshire, and died in Wardington.
Household also published an autobiography, 'Against the Wind' (1958), and several collections of short stories, which he himself considered his best work.
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October 27, 2019
”I hold no brief for the pre-war spartan training of the english upper class--or middle class as it is now the fashion to call it, leaving the upper to the angels--since in the ordinary affairs of a conventional life it is not of the slightest value to anyone; but it is of use on the admittedly rare occasions when one needs a high degree of physical endurance. I have been through an initiation ceremony on the Rio Javary--the only way I could persuade them to teach me how their men can exercise a slight muscular control over haemorrhage--and I thought it more a disagreeable experience than any proof maturity. It lasted only a day and a night, whereas the initiation ceremonies of the tribal English continue for the ten years of education. We torture a boy’s spirit rather than his body, but all torture is, in the end, directed at the spirit. I was conditioned to endure without making an ass of myself.”
The copy I read was a Folio Edition filled with wonderful art work.
In other words the guy is Bond before James Bond existed. Rogue Male was published in 1939 and Ian Fleming did not release the first Bond until 1953, but I can’t imagine that Fleming did not read this book. The influences on the Fleming creation are readily apparent. We find our hero, a man whose name was never revealed to us, in a jam. He has been captured attempting to assassinate a world leader, again the country and the leader are never revealed, but of course given the time period the best guess is that he was trying to kill Hitler. It is well indeed that he had taken the time to prepare himself for pain as they have tortured him severely. They have beaten him, torn out his fingernails, and smashed one of his eyes.
These villains like the villains in a Bond movie just can’t put a bullet through his head and call it a day. They decide to drop him off a cliff to make the damage to his body look more natural, and of course they muff it.
He escapes.
With a bit of daring, luck, and a disguise he makes his way back to England only to find that he is still being pursued by foreign agents.
”I began to speculate on what would happen if I reappeared quite openly in England. I was perfectly certain that they would not appeal to the Foreign Office or to Scotland Yard. Whatever I might have done or intended, their treatment of me wouldn’t stand publicity. They couldn’t be sure how the English would react; nobody ever is. After all, we once went to war for the ear of a Captain Jenkins--though Jenkins was an obscurer person than myself and had, considering the number of laws he broke, been treated with no great barbarity.”
Whoa hold the horses...Captain Jenkins? Britain went to war over an ear?
Yes indeed. Although myth does shroud some of the details it seems that Captain Robert Jenkins commander of the Rebecca was boarded by the Spanish on suspicion of smuggling. He was lashed to a mast and the Spanish Captain sliced off his ear and like a gentleman returned it to him with the statement. ”Same will happen to the king if he is caught doing the same.”
Jenkins showing his ear
Jenkins returns to England, making stops along the way to showing his bloody piece of ear to any official he could find. He finally comes before the House of Commons and displays his ear to them, as well, now pickled for posterity and says something along the lines of “what the f**k are you going to do about my ear?” This barbaric treatment of Jenkins sparks off a war with Spain which lasts from 1739-1748 and the conflict is referred to as The War of Jenkins’ Ear.
Our hero decides to hide out in the countryside with poor results. It seems his trackers are adept at mapping his movements. At one moment they have him trapped in an earthen cave. He is not deterred. He fashions a Roman hand-drawn ballista made out of dead cat parts, yeah a regular Macgyver, and uses it to overpower and escape his captors.
A more complicated version than the one our hero built out of a dead cat.
He holds his gun on one of his captors and has a very English response to his fear. ”The wretched fellow feared death as he would a ghost. I admit that death is a horrid visitor, but surely distinguished? Even a man going to the gallows feels that he should receive the guest with some attempt at dignity.”
Pissing yourself is not allowed unless you are of the lower classes for what more can be expected from such a muckish lot. Stiff upper lip and all of that if you are a member of the upper class. Our hero does not have a very good opinion of social inferiors even to the point of suffering from agoraphobia if he finds himself among them.
There have been two films inspired by this book. The first was Man Hunt produced in 1941 directed by Fritz Lang and starred Walter Pidgeon. The second was produced in 1976 called Rogue Male and starred Peter O'Toole.
Geoffrey Household’s father was a barrister. I’m not sure how the English classes work exactly, but he grew up well educated and landed a job as confidential secretary at the Bank of Romania in Bucharest. He then went on to be a marketing manager for United Fruit Company in Spain selling bananas. When World War Two started he joined British Intelligence and worked in Romania, Greece, and the Middle East. He described his writing style as: “sort of a bastard of Stevenson out of Conrad.”
I’ve always thought there was a direct connection between the writing of Robert Louis Stevenson to Graham Greene to John LeCarre to Alan Furst. There are hints of all those writers in this book. Household wanted to infuse style and courage into his writing and certainly his character displays those qualities throughout the book. There is not a book that I read more than Robinson Crusoe growing up and when the character reaches the point where he is living off the land I could feel that inner boy in me smiling and enjoying the descriptions of building a hidden shelter,acquiring food, and staying half a step ahead of capture. A blend of heady freedom and dire circumstances that keep the pages turning looking for the answers that only our reserved by nature hero can give us. Some of the answers to our questions will never be known after all it wouldn’t be proper to talk about such matters except with hints, winks, and obscure references leaving us all enthralled; and yet, ultimately knowing nothing.
The copy I read was a Folio Edition filled with wonderful art work.
In other words the guy is Bond before James Bond existed. Rogue Male was published in 1939 and Ian Fleming did not release the first Bond until 1953, but I can’t imagine that Fleming did not read this book. The influences on the Fleming creation are readily apparent. We find our hero, a man whose name was never revealed to us, in a jam. He has been captured attempting to assassinate a world leader, again the country and the leader are never revealed, but of course given the time period the best guess is that he was trying to kill Hitler. It is well indeed that he had taken the time to prepare himself for pain as they have tortured him severely. They have beaten him, torn out his fingernails, and smashed one of his eyes.
These villains like the villains in a Bond movie just can’t put a bullet through his head and call it a day. They decide to drop him off a cliff to make the damage to his body look more natural, and of course they muff it.
He escapes.
With a bit of daring, luck, and a disguise he makes his way back to England only to find that he is still being pursued by foreign agents.
”I began to speculate on what would happen if I reappeared quite openly in England. I was perfectly certain that they would not appeal to the Foreign Office or to Scotland Yard. Whatever I might have done or intended, their treatment of me wouldn’t stand publicity. They couldn’t be sure how the English would react; nobody ever is. After all, we once went to war for the ear of a Captain Jenkins--though Jenkins was an obscurer person than myself and had, considering the number of laws he broke, been treated with no great barbarity.”
Whoa hold the horses...Captain Jenkins? Britain went to war over an ear?
Yes indeed. Although myth does shroud some of the details it seems that Captain Robert Jenkins commander of the Rebecca was boarded by the Spanish on suspicion of smuggling. He was lashed to a mast and the Spanish Captain sliced off his ear and like a gentleman returned it to him with the statement. ”Same will happen to the king if he is caught doing the same.”
Jenkins showing his ear
Jenkins returns to England, making stops along the way to showing his bloody piece of ear to any official he could find. He finally comes before the House of Commons and displays his ear to them, as well, now pickled for posterity and says something along the lines of “what the f**k are you going to do about my ear?” This barbaric treatment of Jenkins sparks off a war with Spain which lasts from 1739-1748 and the conflict is referred to as The War of Jenkins’ Ear.
Our hero decides to hide out in the countryside with poor results. It seems his trackers are adept at mapping his movements. At one moment they have him trapped in an earthen cave. He is not deterred. He fashions a Roman hand-drawn ballista made out of dead cat parts, yeah a regular Macgyver, and uses it to overpower and escape his captors.
A more complicated version than the one our hero built out of a dead cat.
He holds his gun on one of his captors and has a very English response to his fear. ”The wretched fellow feared death as he would a ghost. I admit that death is a horrid visitor, but surely distinguished? Even a man going to the gallows feels that he should receive the guest with some attempt at dignity.”
Pissing yourself is not allowed unless you are of the lower classes for what more can be expected from such a muckish lot. Stiff upper lip and all of that if you are a member of the upper class. Our hero does not have a very good opinion of social inferiors even to the point of suffering from agoraphobia if he finds himself among them.
There have been two films inspired by this book. The first was Man Hunt produced in 1941 directed by Fritz Lang and starred Walter Pidgeon. The second was produced in 1976 called Rogue Male and starred Peter O'Toole.
Geoffrey Household’s father was a barrister. I’m not sure how the English classes work exactly, but he grew up well educated and landed a job as confidential secretary at the Bank of Romania in Bucharest. He then went on to be a marketing manager for United Fruit Company in Spain selling bananas. When World War Two started he joined British Intelligence and worked in Romania, Greece, and the Middle East. He described his writing style as: “sort of a bastard of Stevenson out of Conrad.”
I’ve always thought there was a direct connection between the writing of Robert Louis Stevenson to Graham Greene to John LeCarre to Alan Furst. There are hints of all those writers in this book. Household wanted to infuse style and courage into his writing and certainly his character displays those qualities throughout the book. There is not a book that I read more than Robinson Crusoe growing up and when the character reaches the point where he is living off the land I could feel that inner boy in me smiling and enjoying the descriptions of building a hidden shelter,acquiring food, and staying half a step ahead of capture. A blend of heady freedom and dire circumstances that keep the pages turning looking for the answers that only our reserved by nature hero can give us. Some of the answers to our questions will never be known after all it wouldn’t be proper to talk about such matters except with hints, winks, and obscure references leaving us all enthralled; and yet, ultimately knowing nothing.
March 19, 2016
This review consists of two parts:
Part I: A Study of Ratings
musings that may not interest (potential) readers of this book
Part II: In pursuit of the Rogue Male Rating
the book review
___________
Part I: A Study of Ratings
Goodreads Ratings, such a strange species, aren't they? We've all seen them, we all know them, we've all had some in our care, but still they retain a certain air of mystery. Their purpose: categorisation. Their paradox: their growing population becomes ever more complex and Ratings themselves become difficult to categorise.
This study is part of an effort to more closely examine these interesting creatures.
The first distinction to be made is the one between domesticated Ratings and wild Ratings. Emphasis in this study will be put on the latter because of the Researcher's preference, but a word should perhaps be written on the domesticated creatures for the sake of completeness.
A domesticated Rating is very much like livestock: bred and taken care of by the Reader. The Reader has a field of preconceptions and a constant stream of public opinion feeding into these crops, which in turn are the main form of nourishment of the domesticated Rating. They are much less distinct than their wild counterparts, mainly due to inbreeding and an unvaried diet. These Ratings serve perfectly well for the Reader who considers them as a means. They are used to accompany those books that either don't have any wild Ratings in them or for books which have Ratings living in them that are simply too hard to find for a particular Reader. Like putting cows in a forest.
The Researcher sees merit in these breeding programs, but has observed there is more to the wonderful world of Ratings. The Researcher considers these magnificent creatures not as a means, but as a treasure to be found. Most books don't need mass-produced Ratings to accompany them, for they hold the beautiful beasts within themselves. These are the wild Ratings, and hunting for them, luring them and catching them is what this Researcher claims the Goodreads grounds are really for.
So let us consider these wild Ratings for a moment.
First, you have the Ratings that, though wild, are easy to find. In some books, wild Ratings will just jump right at you. Consider the following examples:
Some Ratings will come at you through their excellence and their abundance of stars and colours, showing their worth with so much conviction they are inescapable throughout the entire reading of the book. You know that what you've got on your hands is a prize specimen, and the specimen itself is intent on flaunting its qualities every chance it gets. These are instances where the Reader doesn't catch the Rating. The Rating catches him.
Other Ratings draw attention to themselves through their extreme inferiority. Their stench pervades every word and it doesn't take a reader long to locate them crawling close to earth, to pick them up by the neck and expose them for all to see. Horrid creatures who give themselves away like a huge rotten egg in a delicate rose garden. It's a one-star-stinker. The Reader catches the smell and it never lets him go.
Other Ratings come at you through their perfectly likable character. The Reader extends a hand and the Rating comes to sniff at it, though sometimes with hesitation. These Ratings can be a bit more elusive, so the moment a Reader tries to hold on to them they might try to slip away. Others stay and are perfectly pleased to hang around long enough for the Reader to point out their finer details. These creatures don't grip the Reader and neither does the Reader hold on too firmly to them, but nevertheless a clear and definite moment can be shared with these soft natured Ratings.
But some Ratings are far more elusive than those mentioned above. There are several tricks these Ratings employ in order not to be found:
One way for them is to hide away in a huge book, preferably of a technical, experimental nature to make access for the Reader into their habitat more difficult. Huge sentences and uncommon words are the trees in which they hide. These creatures are mostly left alone. Sometimes a domesticated Rating is thrown into their dense Woods, but it never survives for long and is easily shot down by the experienced Readers stalking these lands, who are out to find the real deal. Whenever a Reader returns to Goodreads with one of those specimens, he is considered a Hero. Banquets and statues will be raised in his honour.
But some Ratings don't need big books to hide in. They don't need to hide themselves, because they are experts in hiding their Rating character. The Reader can stumble upon one early on in a book and put it in his bag and carry on, only to find later on, upon checking the bag, the creature has changed its appearance completely. What was once a smelly creature of boils and warts suddenly transformed into a delicate creature that is soft to the touch, emitting scents of fresh springs and green fields. Still later it changes into a grey stone, inanimate, with no specific traits. At that point the Reader can only count himself lucky to have it in the bag already, for in this rocky manifestation they can be particularly hard to find in the wild.
These are the dangerous Shapeshifting Ratings. They should be approached with extreme caution, for Readers have been found losing their senses or even worse, their Reviews, over these sly creatures.
The Researcher identified three methods to deal with the Shapeshifting Ratings:
* You let them go. You decide to leave the book be without a Rating, or to bring in a domesticated one to ease the mind.
* You kill them during a certain phase of their Shapeshifting, freezing them in their tracks and forever solidifying them into the shape they last chose, at the expense of their richness of character but with the award of having caught a clear Rating. This requires harsh decision taking on the part of the Reader. The dead Rating will in these cases tell more about the Reader rather than the book it lived in.
* You observe the Rating patiently and watch it transform, taking note of each transformation and what caused it. This is a very time intensive process and the resulting Review may not be helpful to fellow Readers, nor entertaining., since these observations tend to be all over the place. The Researcher thinks this the best option, out of love for the creatures, but recognises the practical problems of keeping a live Shapeshifting Rating in the less than flexible confines of the Review.
Of course, this is all theory. The Researcher therefore decided to attach an addendum to this study, in which he tries to describe his hunt for the Rogue Male Rating. A case study into the life, and death, of a Shapeshifting Rating that was particularly hard to pin down.
_______________________________
Part II: In pursuit of the Rogue Male Rating
This book is marketed as "simply the best escape and pursuit story yet written", and if I hold it against that light, the outlines of a two-star Rating become clearly visible.
I started reading this book with the idea that this would be a quick, exciting read. A little snack in between bigger volumes. In the end it took more than a week to finish it. What happened?
The first thing that happened is that this book was published in 1939. That's close to a century ago. And sadly not all of its elements are as timeless as you would expect an escape and pursuit story to be. I simply could not identify myself with the protagonist, and the settings in which he found himself were not painted vividly for me. 1939 is when people knew their everyday stuff it seems. A bush was not simply a bush. A bush had a name. Gorse, sloe and any other name that would make me reach for the dictionary and break immersion, only to find out it's all a bush or a tree or some agricultural tool that really wasn't worth the effort. Is the book to be blamed for that, or is it my limited vocabulary? Who cares, this is my Rating-hunt, blame doesn't come into it.
In describing the settings and travels the author used many words that were completely foreign to me, all in order to refer to perfectly mundane and every day things, to such an extent that I felt lost. In 1939 England, a roof is no longer a roof, but this alien thing consisting of slates, gables and copings.
The main character is on the run, I get that, but that shouldn't stand in the way of the reader getting him. The intense descriptions made me feel like one of his pursuers, confused and at a loss, during most of the beginning of the book. When the first person narrator (who remains nameless) describes his movements in and out of the subway stations, I found it impossible to follow. This could lead one to wonder if that effect was intentional, but I decided it wasn't. Or that even if it was, it wasn't a nice reading experience.
The main problem I had was exactly this overall reading experience: this book doesn't really feel like a story. It's more of an essay. The author sat down and thought through the following hypothesis: "I am forced to go on the run." Questions: "Where would I run to? Where would I stay and hide? What would I do? Where would I go? How would I survive on my own?".
The ideas that he comes up with in answering these questions are very ingenious: covering tracks, digging holes, making weapons and showing the importance of patience and endurance and getting along with cats, but still the scientific hypothesis always shines through. The story, meant for giving this academic approach a bit of flesh, blood and warmth, can't quite cover up a narrative that is rather wooden or metallic at best.
But in the end, despite the finding of the two-star specimen earlier on, I found a three-star Rating in my bag. It looked nice and friendly, but knowing it to be a Shapeshifter Rating and not wanting to lose my mind, I killed it dead and its three stars are now hanging above this review like a deer's antlers above a fireplace.
Two stars are for the ingenious solutions Geoffrey Household proposed for those on the run, albeit in a rather dry fashion. One extra star is for the insights into what moves people, what motivates them. When pursuer confronts the pursued, a conversation takes place that, accompanied with a strong inner monologue, carries important philosophical messages and casts a whole new light on the story. A little twist in the narrative that endows a story that was wooden with a pulse. A pulse of which I would have hoped it had been more perceptible, but a pulse nonetheless.
On a re-read I wouldn't be surprised to find more traces of this philosophical aspect, on what it means to be alone, on what it means to lose who you love, what it means to have an identity, lose it and find a new one, and other such important questions. Just thinking about it makes the Rating shift through its five spectra all over again. But right now I can't be bothered with that. I'm just glad with another Rating in the bag and over the fireplace. Three stars and that's it.
The only advice I can give, in summary, is not to approach this as an escape and pursuit story. It's not exciting enough to deliver on that, but don't let that lead you to underestimate this book: it carries a rich message. But like its protagonist, it's a rogue. Catching it might prove bothersome.
Part I: A Study of Ratings
musings that may not interest (potential) readers of this book
Part II: In pursuit of the Rogue Male Rating
the book review
___________
Part I: A Study of Ratings
Goodreads Ratings, such a strange species, aren't they? We've all seen them, we all know them, we've all had some in our care, but still they retain a certain air of mystery. Their purpose: categorisation. Their paradox: their growing population becomes ever more complex and Ratings themselves become difficult to categorise.
This study is part of an effort to more closely examine these interesting creatures.
The first distinction to be made is the one between domesticated Ratings and wild Ratings. Emphasis in this study will be put on the latter because of the Researcher's preference, but a word should perhaps be written on the domesticated creatures for the sake of completeness.
A domesticated Rating is very much like livestock: bred and taken care of by the Reader. The Reader has a field of preconceptions and a constant stream of public opinion feeding into these crops, which in turn are the main form of nourishment of the domesticated Rating. They are much less distinct than their wild counterparts, mainly due to inbreeding and an unvaried diet. These Ratings serve perfectly well for the Reader who considers them as a means. They are used to accompany those books that either don't have any wild Ratings in them or for books which have Ratings living in them that are simply too hard to find for a particular Reader. Like putting cows in a forest.
The Researcher sees merit in these breeding programs, but has observed there is more to the wonderful world of Ratings. The Researcher considers these magnificent creatures not as a means, but as a treasure to be found. Most books don't need mass-produced Ratings to accompany them, for they hold the beautiful beasts within themselves. These are the wild Ratings, and hunting for them, luring them and catching them is what this Researcher claims the Goodreads grounds are really for.
So let us consider these wild Ratings for a moment.
First, you have the Ratings that, though wild, are easy to find. In some books, wild Ratings will just jump right at you. Consider the following examples:
Some Ratings will come at you through their excellence and their abundance of stars and colours, showing their worth with so much conviction they are inescapable throughout the entire reading of the book. You know that what you've got on your hands is a prize specimen, and the specimen itself is intent on flaunting its qualities every chance it gets. These are instances where the Reader doesn't catch the Rating. The Rating catches him.
Other Ratings draw attention to themselves through their extreme inferiority. Their stench pervades every word and it doesn't take a reader long to locate them crawling close to earth, to pick them up by the neck and expose them for all to see. Horrid creatures who give themselves away like a huge rotten egg in a delicate rose garden. It's a one-star-stinker. The Reader catches the smell and it never lets him go.
Other Ratings come at you through their perfectly likable character. The Reader extends a hand and the Rating comes to sniff at it, though sometimes with hesitation. These Ratings can be a bit more elusive, so the moment a Reader tries to hold on to them they might try to slip away. Others stay and are perfectly pleased to hang around long enough for the Reader to point out their finer details. These creatures don't grip the Reader and neither does the Reader hold on too firmly to them, but nevertheless a clear and definite moment can be shared with these soft natured Ratings.
But some Ratings are far more elusive than those mentioned above. There are several tricks these Ratings employ in order not to be found:
One way for them is to hide away in a huge book, preferably of a technical, experimental nature to make access for the Reader into their habitat more difficult. Huge sentences and uncommon words are the trees in which they hide. These creatures are mostly left alone. Sometimes a domesticated Rating is thrown into their dense Woods, but it never survives for long and is easily shot down by the experienced Readers stalking these lands, who are out to find the real deal. Whenever a Reader returns to Goodreads with one of those specimens, he is considered a Hero. Banquets and statues will be raised in his honour.
But some Ratings don't need big books to hide in. They don't need to hide themselves, because they are experts in hiding their Rating character. The Reader can stumble upon one early on in a book and put it in his bag and carry on, only to find later on, upon checking the bag, the creature has changed its appearance completely. What was once a smelly creature of boils and warts suddenly transformed into a delicate creature that is soft to the touch, emitting scents of fresh springs and green fields. Still later it changes into a grey stone, inanimate, with no specific traits. At that point the Reader can only count himself lucky to have it in the bag already, for in this rocky manifestation they can be particularly hard to find in the wild.
These are the dangerous Shapeshifting Ratings. They should be approached with extreme caution, for Readers have been found losing their senses or even worse, their Reviews, over these sly creatures.
The Researcher identified three methods to deal with the Shapeshifting Ratings:
* You let them go. You decide to leave the book be without a Rating, or to bring in a domesticated one to ease the mind.
* You kill them during a certain phase of their Shapeshifting, freezing them in their tracks and forever solidifying them into the shape they last chose, at the expense of their richness of character but with the award of having caught a clear Rating. This requires harsh decision taking on the part of the Reader. The dead Rating will in these cases tell more about the Reader rather than the book it lived in.
* You observe the Rating patiently and watch it transform, taking note of each transformation and what caused it. This is a very time intensive process and the resulting Review may not be helpful to fellow Readers, nor entertaining., since these observations tend to be all over the place. The Researcher thinks this the best option, out of love for the creatures, but recognises the practical problems of keeping a live Shapeshifting Rating in the less than flexible confines of the Review.
Of course, this is all theory. The Researcher therefore decided to attach an addendum to this study, in which he tries to describe his hunt for the Rogue Male Rating. A case study into the life, and death, of a Shapeshifting Rating that was particularly hard to pin down.
_______________________________
Part II: In pursuit of the Rogue Male Rating
This book is marketed as "simply the best escape and pursuit story yet written", and if I hold it against that light, the outlines of a two-star Rating become clearly visible.
I started reading this book with the idea that this would be a quick, exciting read. A little snack in between bigger volumes. In the end it took more than a week to finish it. What happened?
The first thing that happened is that this book was published in 1939. That's close to a century ago. And sadly not all of its elements are as timeless as you would expect an escape and pursuit story to be. I simply could not identify myself with the protagonist, and the settings in which he found himself were not painted vividly for me. 1939 is when people knew their everyday stuff it seems. A bush was not simply a bush. A bush had a name. Gorse, sloe and any other name that would make me reach for the dictionary and break immersion, only to find out it's all a bush or a tree or some agricultural tool that really wasn't worth the effort. Is the book to be blamed for that, or is it my limited vocabulary? Who cares, this is my Rating-hunt, blame doesn't come into it.
In describing the settings and travels the author used many words that were completely foreign to me, all in order to refer to perfectly mundane and every day things, to such an extent that I felt lost. In 1939 England, a roof is no longer a roof, but this alien thing consisting of slates, gables and copings.
The main character is on the run, I get that, but that shouldn't stand in the way of the reader getting him. The intense descriptions made me feel like one of his pursuers, confused and at a loss, during most of the beginning of the book. When the first person narrator (who remains nameless) describes his movements in and out of the subway stations, I found it impossible to follow. This could lead one to wonder if that effect was intentional, but I decided it wasn't. Or that even if it was, it wasn't a nice reading experience.
The main problem I had was exactly this overall reading experience: this book doesn't really feel like a story. It's more of an essay. The author sat down and thought through the following hypothesis: "I am forced to go on the run." Questions: "Where would I run to? Where would I stay and hide? What would I do? Where would I go? How would I survive on my own?".
The ideas that he comes up with in answering these questions are very ingenious: covering tracks, digging holes, making weapons and showing the importance of patience and endurance and getting along with cats, but still the scientific hypothesis always shines through. The story, meant for giving this academic approach a bit of flesh, blood and warmth, can't quite cover up a narrative that is rather wooden or metallic at best.
But in the end, despite the finding of the two-star specimen earlier on, I found a three-star Rating in my bag. It looked nice and friendly, but knowing it to be a Shapeshifter Rating and not wanting to lose my mind, I killed it dead and its three stars are now hanging above this review like a deer's antlers above a fireplace.
Two stars are for the ingenious solutions Geoffrey Household proposed for those on the run, albeit in a rather dry fashion. One extra star is for the insights into what moves people, what motivates them. When pursuer confronts the pursued, a conversation takes place that, accompanied with a strong inner monologue, carries important philosophical messages and casts a whole new light on the story. A little twist in the narrative that endows a story that was wooden with a pulse. A pulse of which I would have hoped it had been more perceptible, but a pulse nonetheless.
On a re-read I wouldn't be surprised to find more traces of this philosophical aspect, on what it means to be alone, on what it means to lose who you love, what it means to have an identity, lose it and find a new one, and other such important questions. Just thinking about it makes the Rating shift through its five spectra all over again. But right now I can't be bothered with that. I'm just glad with another Rating in the bag and over the fireplace. Three stars and that's it.
The only advice I can give, in summary, is not to approach this as an escape and pursuit story. It's not exciting enough to deliver on that, but don't let that lead you to underestimate this book: it carries a rich message. But like its protagonist, it's a rogue. Catching it might prove bothersome.
August 4, 2016
This book is considered to be a classic of the thriller genre. After finishing it, I can understand why. And also why, like most classics, it seriously underwhelmed me.
The novel revolves around the premise of a man, simultaneously on the run from the police and the baddies, fighting it out in rural England. Interestingly, it is a war of attrition than one of aggression: with the protagonist holed up in a burrow and the antagonist waiting outside. There is surprisingly little violence (only three scenes, and the torture scene at the beginning described elliptically), and no acts of daredevilry usual in such tales of the recent past. This is a very English thriller, if I may term it like that!
The unnamed protagonist, the "Rogue Male" of the title, is on the run from the minions of a dictator of a European country (in 1939, it is obvious who this is). His crime? "Sport-stalking" the great man and sighting him through the cross-hairs of his rifle, at which time he was caught. Our hero says he never intended to shoot, but of course nobody believes him. Tortured horrendously and left for dead, he manages to return to England. Since he is rather well-known, and England's relations with the dictator's country is peaceful, he does not want to approach the police; rather he decides to run from the agents of the enemy who are obviously pursuing him. During his flight, he is forced to commit murder in self-defence, and suddenly, the Crown constabulary are also baying for his blood. Hemmed in from all sides, the rogue male goes literally to earth in Dorset, and it is here where the surprisingly low-key climax is played out.
The thing I most liked about the novel is this part, where there is absolutely no action in the traditional sense: the protagonist is walled up in a burrow, choking in the fumes of his own excrement, while his nemesis patiently waits outside. They even talk in perfect King's English to each other - there's nary a cuss-word! And the denouement, the last-minute turning of the table when it comes is appropriately unexpected and satisfying.
However, to offset this, there were a lot of things I disliked. First, the story is written in such a flat way that any possibility of suspense is killed effectively (however, I thought Hitchcock could have made something out of it!) - and the first person narrator effectively precludes the possibility of anything happening to the protagonist. Second, I could not empathise at all with the rogue male, or any of the characters. Third, the story felt extremely contrived just to bring about that final climactic sequence.
It's a fast read, and I see that many of my friends here on GR has liked it very much - so I have to say that my two stars is personal.
The novel revolves around the premise of a man, simultaneously on the run from the police and the baddies, fighting it out in rural England. Interestingly, it is a war of attrition than one of aggression: with the protagonist holed up in a burrow and the antagonist waiting outside. There is surprisingly little violence (only three scenes, and the torture scene at the beginning described elliptically), and no acts of daredevilry usual in such tales of the recent past. This is a very English thriller, if I may term it like that!
The unnamed protagonist, the "Rogue Male" of the title, is on the run from the minions of a dictator of a European country (in 1939, it is obvious who this is). His crime? "Sport-stalking" the great man and sighting him through the cross-hairs of his rifle, at which time he was caught. Our hero says he never intended to shoot, but of course nobody believes him. Tortured horrendously and left for dead, he manages to return to England. Since he is rather well-known, and England's relations with the dictator's country is peaceful, he does not want to approach the police; rather he decides to run from the agents of the enemy who are obviously pursuing him. During his flight, he is forced to commit murder in self-defence, and suddenly, the Crown constabulary are also baying for his blood. Hemmed in from all sides, the rogue male goes literally to earth in Dorset, and it is here where the surprisingly low-key climax is played out.
The thing I most liked about the novel is this part, where there is absolutely no action in the traditional sense: the protagonist is walled up in a burrow, choking in the fumes of his own excrement, while his nemesis patiently waits outside. They even talk in perfect King's English to each other - there's nary a cuss-word! And the denouement, the last-minute turning of the table when it comes is appropriately unexpected and satisfying.
However, to offset this, there were a lot of things I disliked. First, the story is written in such a flat way that any possibility of suspense is killed effectively (however, I thought Hitchcock could have made something out of it!) - and the first person narrator effectively precludes the possibility of anything happening to the protagonist. Second, I could not empathise at all with the rogue male, or any of the characters. Third, the story felt extremely contrived just to bring about that final climactic sequence.
It's a fast read, and I see that many of my friends here on GR has liked it very much - so I have to say that my two stars is personal.
July 2, 2023
"He who has learned to not to intrude his emotions upon his fellows has also learned not to intrude them upon himself."
- Rogue Male, Geoffrey Household
I've never read Household before. I picked this one up because it was an early thriller (published in 1939) and was made into a movie (Man Hunt) directed by Frtiz Lang. I was scrolling through NYRB's offerings and I guess the moment was just right. The novel is short, interesting and well-paced (meat and potatoes for any book considered a thriller). It gave me similar vibes to The 39 Steps which was published in 1915,* and which I can't imagine wasn't an influence to Household. The 39 Steps is set in a pre-WWI Europe, while Rogue Male was set in a pre-WWII Europe. RM also seemed to possess similar qualities to the short story The Most Dangerous Game which was published in 1924.
When I think back to my childhood I also felt it echoed in My Side of the Mountain and Deathwatch. (p 1973). Looking backwards, you can see how My Side of the Mountain possesses some influence from Rogue Male (replace a cave with a tree and a cat with a hawk). But the stronger relationship is definitely between 'The Most Dangerous Game' and 'Deathwatch'.
Anyway, enough nostalgia. The book is a must for those interested in early thrillers and cat & mouse novels. It isn't heavy and is a nice palate cleanser between other novels.
* I also apologize of being a bit OCD on publication dates here. I was just curious about how all of thesse books aligned in time and space.
- Rogue Male, Geoffrey Household
I've never read Household before. I picked this one up because it was an early thriller (published in 1939) and was made into a movie (Man Hunt) directed by Frtiz Lang. I was scrolling through NYRB's offerings and I guess the moment was just right. The novel is short, interesting and well-paced (meat and potatoes for any book considered a thriller). It gave me similar vibes to The 39 Steps which was published in 1915,* and which I can't imagine wasn't an influence to Household. The 39 Steps is set in a pre-WWI Europe, while Rogue Male was set in a pre-WWII Europe. RM also seemed to possess similar qualities to the short story The Most Dangerous Game which was published in 1924.
When I think back to my childhood I also felt it echoed in My Side of the Mountain and Deathwatch. (p 1973). Looking backwards, you can see how My Side of the Mountain possesses some influence from Rogue Male (replace a cave with a tree and a cat with a hawk). But the stronger relationship is definitely between 'The Most Dangerous Game' and 'Deathwatch'.
Anyway, enough nostalgia. The book is a must for those interested in early thrillers and cat & mouse novels. It isn't heavy and is a nice palate cleanser between other novels.
* I also apologize of being a bit OCD on publication dates here. I was just curious about how all of thesse books aligned in time and space.
July 11, 2022
I remember seeing a British film version of this book in the 1970s, starring Peter O’Toole, though I don’t recall much of the detail. The book itself came to my mind after reading the review by my GR Friend Dax:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Introduction to the edition I read comments that R.L.Stevenson’s “Kidnapped” was the book that started the “hunted man” genre, and that John Buchan and Graham Greene picked up that baton before passing it to Geoffrey Household, who published this novel in 1939. As I’m sure others will have commented, “Rogue Male” is told from the perspective of a single unnamed narrator, who tries but fails to assassinate Hitler, and is then pursued by Nazi agents (though neither Hitler nor the Nazis are specifically identified in the novel).
“I distrust patriotism, the reasonable man can find little in these days that is worth dying for. But dying against – there’s enough iniquity in Europe to carry the most urbane or decadent into battle.”
There’s only one other significant character, the narrator’s main enemy, who calls himself Major Quive-Smith. Other characters do appear but only briefly before they fade out of the story.
Much of the book is taken up with descriptions of the author hiding, mostly in enclosed places. At one point he stows away on a ship. In London there is a chase scene in the Underground, and at one point the narrator hides in one of the tunnels. In the best-known section of the book, he creates a den by digging out a cave from one side of a disused sunken lane in Dorset, with the lane itself covered by thorn bushes. It’s in this place that he comes to terms with his own true motives.
I found Rogue Male to be a decent read, well-written and cleverly plotted. There are some exciting chase scenes but taken as a whole I didn’t find it to be “edge of the seat” stuff. However, this novel of a lone man with only his wits to use against a gang of ruthless enemies certainly caught the public imagination.
The book is apparently acknowledged as the inspiration for the 1980s movie “First Blood”, showing its continued cultural influence.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Introduction to the edition I read comments that R.L.Stevenson’s “Kidnapped” was the book that started the “hunted man” genre, and that John Buchan and Graham Greene picked up that baton before passing it to Geoffrey Household, who published this novel in 1939. As I’m sure others will have commented, “Rogue Male” is told from the perspective of a single unnamed narrator, who tries but fails to assassinate Hitler, and is then pursued by Nazi agents (though neither Hitler nor the Nazis are specifically identified in the novel).
“I distrust patriotism, the reasonable man can find little in these days that is worth dying for. But dying against – there’s enough iniquity in Europe to carry the most urbane or decadent into battle.”
There’s only one other significant character, the narrator’s main enemy, who calls himself Major Quive-Smith. Other characters do appear but only briefly before they fade out of the story.
Much of the book is taken up with descriptions of the author hiding, mostly in enclosed places. At one point he stows away on a ship. In London there is a chase scene in the Underground, and at one point the narrator hides in one of the tunnels. In the best-known section of the book, he creates a den by digging out a cave from one side of a disused sunken lane in Dorset, with the lane itself covered by thorn bushes. It’s in this place that he comes to terms with his own true motives.
I found Rogue Male to be a decent read, well-written and cleverly plotted. There are some exciting chase scenes but taken as a whole I didn’t find it to be “edge of the seat” stuff. However, this novel of a lone man with only his wits to use against a gang of ruthless enemies certainly caught the public imagination.
The book is apparently acknowledged as the inspiration for the 1980s movie “First Blood”, showing its continued cultural influence.
September 3, 2025
An unnamed Englishman's attempt to assassinate an unnamed European dictator is foiled. He escapes back to England, where he begins a game of cat and mouse with the secret police of the European country. Although cornered, he never gives up hope, and sanguine ingenuity may just save the day. Geoffrey Household subtly and entertainingly examines the nexus of politics and violence. Was the Englishman's venture in tyrannicide justified? Perhaps—he sought retribution for the extinguishment of liberty and life. However, as evinced by the rise of Octavian following Caesar's assassination, there is no guarantee that liberty and peace will be restored with political violence.
June 4, 2019
I defy anyone to read this novel at a measured and reflective pace; it’s one for wolfing. I devoured it at speed.
On the surface, this is simply a piece of very successful genre fiction—people compare it with John Buchan’s The Thirty-Nine Steps, and there are certainly similarities of plot (hero pursued by enemy agents; takes to the hills). It’s an infinitely better book than Buchan’s, though, in my opinion. It’s extremely well written, for one thing: taut, spare, understated, occasionally elliptical. And although the unnamed narrator can initially seem a classic, square-jawed, teflon thriller hero, he reveals himself across the course of the novel as much more psychologically complex and vulnerable than he first appears.
The narrator is also interestingly metaphysically unstable, as Robert Macfarlane points out in his excellent introduction to my edition (also available here http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/...). He spends much of the novel in some kind of netherworld between rational, sentient life and primeval pure existence. There’s a prolonged, semi-conscious moment in the opening pages where it’s not at all clear to him where the dividing line falls between him and the surrounding, inanimate world.
There was a pulped substance all around me, in the midst of which I carried on my absurd consciousness. I had supposed that this bog was me; it tasted of blood.
This passage is a foretaste of the later, long stretch in the novel that he spends in a hole in the ground, almost literally disintegrating. This is the core of the novel, and it’s quite compelling. Household has a Defoe-like ability to draw out the philosophical implications of the survival-outside-society motif, and he brilliantly exploits the Stevensonian theme of the double in his treatment of his protagonist’s relationship with his main persecutor, the fetchingly pseudonymed Major Quive-Smith. I was interested to see that Household cites Stevenson and Conrad as his literary ancestors. I saw no reason to argue with that.
There were a few things I didn’t like quite so much. The retrospective love interest is pretty perfunctory, and inspires some of the least convincing writing in the novel (not too much of it, fortunately). One would think that would be quite a serious weakness, since so much is made to hang on the love story, psychologically and in plot terms—but, curiously, I didn’t feel it detracted from my enjoyment of the work. Perhaps that’s because it’s compensated for by the narrator’s much more satisfying relationships with his alter ego Quive-Smith and his trusty familiar Asmodeus. Splendid stuff.
On the surface, this is simply a piece of very successful genre fiction—people compare it with John Buchan’s The Thirty-Nine Steps, and there are certainly similarities of plot (hero pursued by enemy agents; takes to the hills). It’s an infinitely better book than Buchan’s, though, in my opinion. It’s extremely well written, for one thing: taut, spare, understated, occasionally elliptical. And although the unnamed narrator can initially seem a classic, square-jawed, teflon thriller hero, he reveals himself across the course of the novel as much more psychologically complex and vulnerable than he first appears.
The narrator is also interestingly metaphysically unstable, as Robert Macfarlane points out in his excellent introduction to my edition (also available here http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/...). He spends much of the novel in some kind of netherworld between rational, sentient life and primeval pure existence. There’s a prolonged, semi-conscious moment in the opening pages where it’s not at all clear to him where the dividing line falls between him and the surrounding, inanimate world.
There was a pulped substance all around me, in the midst of which I carried on my absurd consciousness. I had supposed that this bog was me; it tasted of blood.
This passage is a foretaste of the later, long stretch in the novel that he spends in a hole in the ground, almost literally disintegrating. This is the core of the novel, and it’s quite compelling. Household has a Defoe-like ability to draw out the philosophical implications of the survival-outside-society motif, and he brilliantly exploits the Stevensonian theme of the double in his treatment of his protagonist’s relationship with his main persecutor, the fetchingly pseudonymed Major Quive-Smith. I was interested to see that Household cites Stevenson and Conrad as his literary ancestors. I saw no reason to argue with that.
There were a few things I didn’t like quite so much. The retrospective love interest is pretty perfunctory, and inspires some of the least convincing writing in the novel (not too much of it, fortunately). One would think that would be quite a serious weakness, since so much is made to hang on the love story, psychologically and in plot terms—but, curiously, I didn’t feel it detracted from my enjoyment of the work. Perhaps that’s because it’s compensated for by the narrator’s much more satisfying relationships with his alter ego Quive-Smith and his trusty familiar Asmodeus. Splendid stuff.
June 15, 2021
"I told my story: how I couldn’t yet walk with any ease, and so had thought of spending a holiday in drifting down the river from town to town and realizing a dream of my youth."
Rogue Male was entertaining. I think every individual harbors fantasies of being on the run. I have not read another book like this one. It is full of deep insights into human nature and society. While also being a terrific action adventure full of surprising thrills. At the core of the main characters adventures is the desire to be free and alone and be in touch with nature. But is this really possible in the earth alienated culture that we live in? I almost felt like I was reading a book by a being from some other realm or age.
"There is no fearing dreams when they produce work. It is when they feed upon themselves that one becomes uncertain of reality, unable to distinguish between the present in one’s mind and the present as it appears to the outer world."
Rogue Male was entertaining. I think every individual harbors fantasies of being on the run. I have not read another book like this one. It is full of deep insights into human nature and society. While also being a terrific action adventure full of surprising thrills. At the core of the main characters adventures is the desire to be free and alone and be in touch with nature. But is this really possible in the earth alienated culture that we live in? I almost felt like I was reading a book by a being from some other realm or age.
"There is no fearing dreams when they produce work. It is when they feed upon themselves that one becomes uncertain of reality, unable to distinguish between the present in one’s mind and the present as it appears to the outer world."
November 15, 2018
Rogue Male is a chase book that gains momentum as it goes along. When the clever protagonist (being pursued) meets his match in an equally clever antagonist (giving pursuit), the reader can't help but breeze through pages to see who wins the high-stakes chess match.
Luckily, I stopped reading Victoria Nelson's introduction when I sensed it might give up too much of the plot. I went back to it after finishing the book and yes, it did, which makes one wonder why it's not an afterword instead of an introduction. It's good. It's just in the wrong place. So don't read it first if you pick up the nyrb version of this book.
Anyway, set back in time a bit, this novel pits an ever-polite Brit against an equally polite German. All I can say is, beware of polite people. They kill politely. Also, it's a tough book for claustrophobes. Our hero is ultimately chased into a burrow, an underground lair where he draws comparison to animals holed away from hunters above. The description of "life" in this close space is not for the faint-hearted, especially when the climax arrives and the match of wits reaches its height.
At only 180 pp., this is a quick read and a well-written suspense tale. I found the ending particularly clever. John Gardner, a man who knew something about writing, called it "a classic." Who am I to second guess the dead?
Luckily, I stopped reading Victoria Nelson's introduction when I sensed it might give up too much of the plot. I went back to it after finishing the book and yes, it did, which makes one wonder why it's not an afterword instead of an introduction. It's good. It's just in the wrong place. So don't read it first if you pick up the nyrb version of this book.
Anyway, set back in time a bit, this novel pits an ever-polite Brit against an equally polite German. All I can say is, beware of polite people. They kill politely. Also, it's a tough book for claustrophobes. Our hero is ultimately chased into a burrow, an underground lair where he draws comparison to animals holed away from hunters above. The description of "life" in this close space is not for the faint-hearted, especially when the climax arrives and the match of wits reaches its height.
At only 180 pp., this is a quick read and a well-written suspense tale. I found the ending particularly clever. John Gardner, a man who knew something about writing, called it "a classic." Who am I to second guess the dead?
August 12, 2016
An unnamed narrator, a Brit on a shooting trip in Poland, decides to wander over to an unnamed dictator's (clearly Hitler) compound across the border. (His reasons for doing this are revealed later). After hours of surveilling the property, he is caught with the dictator in his rifle sights, tortured (the torture is "off-page"), dropped over a cliff and presumed dead. He is not dead, and he goes on the run. The novel consists of the hunt for the unnamed narrator.
I'm a John Buchan fan, and the similarities to his adventure novels were quickly apparent in Rogue Male: protagonists who are well-educated, even upper class, yet improbably macho. They live by their wits in the out of doors, chased by evil conspirators. When they kill, it's usually in self-defense. They can flee through a dense forest without leaving a twig snapped, sleep upright in the crotches of trees, MacGyver an animal carcass into a slingshot, and they always have enough cash on hand (in the proper national currency) to buy rowboats, sleeping bags, or another man's clothes off his back. Or they steal the clothes from the river bank when the man jumps nude into the swimming hole (this happened all the time in the olden days).
The introduction mentions that this genre is sometimes called "wilderness procedurals," which is clever.
This narrator, though, has internal monologues and opinions which are decidedly unBuchanesque (Buchan's protagonists don't engage in a huge amount of self-reflection):
She was a sturdy wench in corduroy shorts no longer than bum-bags, and with legs so red that the golden hairs showed as continuous fur. Not my taste at all. But my taste is far from eugenic.
May 23, 2011
Incredible stuff. A big game hunter decides, on what he tells himself is a mere whim, to stalk somewhat bigger game than usual - the dictator of a certain central European nation. He is caught, tortured and left for dead. Only, he refuses to die, battling against crippling injuries and skilled pursuers to make his way back to his native England where he goes to ground - literally - and waits out the chase. It's a harrowing story of self-realisation as the hunter turns hunted and draws on previously untapped reserves of energy and invention as well as of patience and endurance, coming face to face with the true story behind his own motivations in the process. This is a gripping book, but it's also gruelling - there's very little external action - what there is, is swift and brutal - lots and lots of skulking and burrowing and simply biding of time while mental processes tick over. A gripping if unusual (and unusually demanding) thriller and a superb character study. Household's other work seems out of print; if any of it is even a tenth as good as this, he deserves a full-scale revival.
September 23, 2016
I came to 'Rogue Male' by Geoffrey Household knowing very little about it, other than it is regarding by many as a classic.
The set up is simple - the story told with understated economy and amusing nonchalance - and the reader is plunged straight into the action from the very first page.
It's 1938, and our stiff upper lipped English aristocrat narrator has left England with the possible intention of assassinating an unnamed European dictator (resembling Hitler). He is caught by the dictator's secret service guards and, having been badly tortured, is thrown over a cliff and left for dead. His initial challenge is to leave the country despite being barely able to walk, with limited use of his hands, and with only one fully functioning eye.
The book's lack of names helps to create a simple, taut narrative, as does the very simple plot which is essentially how one man, pushed to the limits of endurance, has to evade resourceful foreign assassins.
The second half of the story plays out in Dorset, where the protagonist ultimately burrows down into a hidden lane, complete with very evocative descriptions that demonstrate how well Geoffrey Household must have known this area.
'Rogue Male' is a classic suspense story and was surely groundbreaking back in 1939. That, unlike most adventure fiction from its era, it is every bit as exciting in 2016 is testimony to Geoffrey Household’s storytelling skills aligned to a simple, enduring, tense and gruelling story.
My research suggests that Geoffrey Household’s other books did not attain the dizzying heights of Rogue Male, however I am still inclined to read more of his work, so compelling was 'Rogue Male’.
I also plan to watch the 1977 film adaptation with Peter O’Toole.
As an interesting postscript, Robert Macfarlane wrote a book called 'Holloway' with Stanley Donwood and Dan Richards in which Macfarlane relates a trip he made with the late Roger Deakin to find the Holloway that plays such an important part in Rogue Male....
Holloway - a hollow way, a sunken path. A route that centuries of foot-fall, hoof-hit, wheel-roll and rain-run have harrowed deep down into bedrock.
In July 2005, Robert Macfarlane and Roger Deakin travelled to explore the holloways of South Dorset's sandstone. They found their way into a landscape of shadows, spectres & great strangeness.
Six years later, after Deakin's early death, Macfarlane returned to the holloway with the artist Stanley Donwood and writer Dan Richards. The book is about those journeys and that landscape
It was also where Geoffrey Household’s son scattered the author’s ashes.
The set up is simple - the story told with understated economy and amusing nonchalance - and the reader is plunged straight into the action from the very first page.
It's 1938, and our stiff upper lipped English aristocrat narrator has left England with the possible intention of assassinating an unnamed European dictator (resembling Hitler). He is caught by the dictator's secret service guards and, having been badly tortured, is thrown over a cliff and left for dead. His initial challenge is to leave the country despite being barely able to walk, with limited use of his hands, and with only one fully functioning eye.
The book's lack of names helps to create a simple, taut narrative, as does the very simple plot which is essentially how one man, pushed to the limits of endurance, has to evade resourceful foreign assassins.
The second half of the story plays out in Dorset, where the protagonist ultimately burrows down into a hidden lane, complete with very evocative descriptions that demonstrate how well Geoffrey Household must have known this area.
'Rogue Male' is a classic suspense story and was surely groundbreaking back in 1939. That, unlike most adventure fiction from its era, it is every bit as exciting in 2016 is testimony to Geoffrey Household’s storytelling skills aligned to a simple, enduring, tense and gruelling story.
My research suggests that Geoffrey Household’s other books did not attain the dizzying heights of Rogue Male, however I am still inclined to read more of his work, so compelling was 'Rogue Male’.
I also plan to watch the 1977 film adaptation with Peter O’Toole.
As an interesting postscript, Robert Macfarlane wrote a book called 'Holloway' with Stanley Donwood and Dan Richards in which Macfarlane relates a trip he made with the late Roger Deakin to find the Holloway that plays such an important part in Rogue Male....
Holloway - a hollow way, a sunken path. A route that centuries of foot-fall, hoof-hit, wheel-roll and rain-run have harrowed deep down into bedrock.
In July 2005, Robert Macfarlane and Roger Deakin travelled to explore the holloways of South Dorset's sandstone. They found their way into a landscape of shadows, spectres & great strangeness.
Six years later, after Deakin's early death, Macfarlane returned to the holloway with the artist Stanley Donwood and writer Dan Richards. The book is about those journeys and that landscape
It was also where Geoffrey Household’s son scattered the author’s ashes.
February 15, 2024
This certainly had me on the edge of the seat, or jumping out of it at several points - with the tension.
And I enjoyed Rogue Male's visceral interaction with the Dorset countryside. The only downside I felt was that Household had his "knickers in a twist" over the plot lines.
For example Major Quive-Smith - our hero's arch-enemy is compelled to ask "Why did you miss?" - the trigger squeeze that would have taken out Herr H., but still, "you managed to dispatch the guy at Aldywch station without a tremor?" I had the same difficulty, trying to reconcile the two actions from the same man, which I suppose is why the writer gives Rogue the opportunity to explain from his burrow in the ground.
Then we had a lot of info about The Girl - which clues us into our hero's motivation for the assassination attempt. An attempt, not a kill - which is predetermined, given that the novel/thriller was published in 1939 - a successful hit would have altered Modern History. This failure, however, creates tension(the wrong kind) with character integrity- how could he have missed given that revenge for The Girl is his only motivation? You see, our writer had a good idea - he said "what if... I had a hero who tried that -" and then Geoffrey got himself all tied up in knots trying to balance character with what is essentially an Action Driven plot.
To recap: my main "uumm?" was with the "tag", murdered at Aldwych junction - a plot device to ensure we understand Our Man has a killer on his tail - it ups the anti, but then doesn't fit with what we later come to know of Rogue's moral character. Ah well - asking too much.
Nevermind - I enjoyed the action, and the pitting of our two main characters. And there is some superb writing.
There is a scene where our Man climbs onto the roof of the farmer's barn in order to spy on Quive-Smith who is stationed with the farmer. We just know that the roof is going to cave, but Household keeps up the suspense right to the second where our Man is almost safe, and then... ... following the roof collapse, a conversation between the farmer and Quive-Smith about the "three 'undred year old roof", and we know that Q-Smith isn't for one second fooled by the rotten beam etc. etc.
Our Man, crawls on his belly along the barn wall, having waited and waited to ensure the Major is inside the farmhouse, but ... no he's not. He tracks our Man back to his hideout in the lane.
There are some incredible tensions built up - and held by our complete dedication to our unnamed male's survival - boy oh boy are we rooting for him.
And I enjoyed Rogue Male's visceral interaction with the Dorset countryside. The only downside I felt was that Household had his "knickers in a twist" over the plot lines.
For example Major Quive-Smith - our hero's arch-enemy is compelled to ask "Why did you miss?" - the trigger squeeze that would have taken out Herr H., but still, "you managed to dispatch the guy at Aldywch station without a tremor?" I had the same difficulty, trying to reconcile the two actions from the same man, which I suppose is why the writer gives Rogue the opportunity to explain from his burrow in the ground.
Then we had a lot of info about The Girl - which clues us into our hero's motivation for the assassination attempt. An attempt, not a kill - which is predetermined, given that the novel/thriller was published in 1939 - a successful hit would have altered Modern History. This failure, however, creates tension(the wrong kind) with character integrity- how could he have missed given that revenge for The Girl is his only motivation? You see, our writer had a good idea - he said "what if... I had a hero who tried that -" and then Geoffrey got himself all tied up in knots trying to balance character with what is essentially an Action Driven plot.
To recap: my main "uumm?" was with the "tag", murdered at Aldwych junction - a plot device to ensure we understand Our Man has a killer on his tail - it ups the anti, but then doesn't fit with what we later come to know of Rogue's moral character. Ah well - asking too much.
Nevermind - I enjoyed the action, and the pitting of our two main characters. And there is some superb writing.
There is a scene where our Man climbs onto the roof of the farmer's barn in order to spy on Quive-Smith who is stationed with the farmer. We just know that the roof is going to cave, but Household keeps up the suspense right to the second where our Man is almost safe, and then... ... following the roof collapse, a conversation between the farmer and Quive-Smith about the "three 'undred year old roof", and we know that Q-Smith isn't for one second fooled by the rotten beam etc. etc.
Our Man, crawls on his belly along the barn wall, having waited and waited to ensure the Major is inside the farmhouse, but ... no he's not. He tracks our Man back to his hideout in the lane.
There are some incredible tensions built up - and held by our complete dedication to our unnamed male's survival - boy oh boy are we rooting for him.
August 31, 2013
The first-person protagonist of this book is unnamed, but everyone he meets knows who he is. He does not have a job, as far as the story is told; rather, he is an adventurer and a famous one. He is caught trying to assassinate a European tyrant (also unnamed but clearly Hitler), tortured, left for dead; and then when he is clearly not dead and back in England, bad guys pop up like some child's pounding game. At one level the book is about his very specific step-by-step flight and concealment. He lives off the land. Of course, the book is also about what kind of man he is. He is a swashbuckler, yes; but he is also a man of deep reflection.
At one point, our narrator considers, after the facts, that there is a simple logic to the actions he took. He did A because of B and because he wanted to avoid C. But, he considers, he wasn't thinking that at the time. It seemed to me though that his logic and reason were clear then and clear now. He realized later only the mistakes he made.
---- ---- ---- ----
There is a wonderful dialogue with his attorney, verbal and epistolary.
---- ---- ---- ----
I liked this, but it is as 'thriller' as I get.
---- ---- ---- ----
There is often an odd sequence to the books we read. We don't usually read A because of B and to avoid C. Or maybe we do sometimes. Before this I read The Island of Second Sight, where a German moves to Mallorca before World War II. He sees his homeland with a sharpened focus from his new perch. In Rogue Male, our protagonist considers that his time away gave him a better focus of his native land. I followed this with The Poet of Tolstoy Park, where the protagonist there, like the Rogue Male here, gave up a former life, both preferring the seclusion of their own souls, the feel of the earth, the redemption in an eccentric task.
At one point, our narrator considers, after the facts, that there is a simple logic to the actions he took. He did A because of B and because he wanted to avoid C. But, he considers, he wasn't thinking that at the time. It seemed to me though that his logic and reason were clear then and clear now. He realized later only the mistakes he made.
---- ---- ---- ----
There is a wonderful dialogue with his attorney, verbal and epistolary.
---- ---- ---- ----
I liked this, but it is as 'thriller' as I get.
---- ---- ---- ----
There is often an odd sequence to the books we read. We don't usually read A because of B and to avoid C. Or maybe we do sometimes. Before this I read The Island of Second Sight, where a German moves to Mallorca before World War II. He sees his homeland with a sharpened focus from his new perch. In Rogue Male, our protagonist considers that his time away gave him a better focus of his native land. I followed this with The Poet of Tolstoy Park, where the protagonist there, like the Rogue Male here, gave up a former life, both preferring the seclusion of their own souls, the feel of the earth, the redemption in an eccentric task.
May 28, 2019
Not your typical suspense story. ‘Rogue Male’ stands apart because of the narrator’s complexity and the slow reveal of his true motives, his past, and the emotions he previously repressed. Household also tackles class hierarchy, patriotism and the Third Reich. The unnamed Dictator in the story is clearly intended to be Hitler. Excellent read.
January 31, 2011
I first noticed this book some time ago when perusing the CWA list of Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time, first published in 1990. With the hope of someday being able to get through all of these books, I bought the NYRB edition of Rogue Male to add to my ever-growing mountain range of books to read. Funny though -- it's not what I would consider a crime novel, per se; imho it reads more like a spyish/thriller type thing along the lines of Buchan's The Thirty-Nine Steps. Nevertheless, it was quite intriguing (and I can now cross it off of the list), well written and life outside of this book just sort of melted away as I was reading it. It's the sort of story where once you get comfortable with the action, things take another turn, so that you never quite get into a complacent mode and it ends up leaving you a bit unsettled throughout.
As the novel opens, the narrator, an unnamed man (likely someone of importance and means in Britain) has just escaped death after he misses his target of an attempted assassination somewhere in Central Europe, an unnamed dictator. He has obviously been held and questioned, his captors wondering whether or not he was an agent of the British government on a mission. His answer was that he was "a sportsman who couldn't resist the temptation to stalk the impossible," hoping to make them believe that he was a "bored and wealthy Englishman who had hunted all commoner game" who found "perverse pleasure in hunting the biggest game on earth." In the long run, he realized that no matter what they believed, his days were numbered, and that his captors would have to kill him. After being severely tortured, he was taken to the edge of a cliff and put over, but he managed to hold on until he dropped, crashing into a deep marsh. The plan -- his body was to be discovered for some time at the foot of the cliff so that it would look like a hunting accident. But the narrator has other plans that did not include dying. The authorities realize soon enough that he's still alive, and he has to make his escape without leaving any traces. That story is harrowing enough, but the main thrust of the novel is what happens once he makes it back to England ... it is then that that the reality becomes one of the hunter becoming the hunted as he realizes that no matter who or where he is, his enemies cannot allow him to stay alive. He has to literally "go to ground," in hopes of surviving.
Rogue Male is written in the first person, a look back at events that transpired some time earlier. The narrator doesn't always put things in a linear perspective, and if not read carefully, the story might seem a bit confusing; above all, the why of how our narrator finds himself with a rifle in his hands aiming at this dictator is not so clear. He claims not to be an anarchist or to have any specific political leanings, or to be on a government mission, so the question is one of how all of this came to be, and the reader doesn't know whether or not he can actually trust the narrator on that point. But the in the long run, what makes this book so good is how the author sets the tension level high to begin with, then ratchets it up bit by bit to pull off a rather nail-biting tale of suspense. His use of first-person narrative offers his readers a more human and realistic perspective of the plight of the main character, and there's no space or time wasted on superfluous dialogue that would have little or no bearing on the story. And by keeping the whys until the very end of the novel, the reader finds him or herself focused only on the immediate action at hand.
As noted, once I started reading, things outside of me and this book just disappeared and I managed to finish this novel in one sitting. There's a certain element of the whole "cat-and-mouse" game here, especially toward the end, and it was a delight to watch events transpire as I felt my own tension level rising wondering how the heck the narrator was going to get out of his various predicaments. This is one of those novels you have to read for yourself, but it's wholly satisfying as far as action, writing and especially getting into the psyche of the narrator as he fights to stay alive and out of the clutches of his enemies. People who enjoy well-written suspense will enjoy this book, and those who are interested in the early days of the genre will probably also like it.
As the novel opens, the narrator, an unnamed man (likely someone of importance and means in Britain) has just escaped death after he misses his target of an attempted assassination somewhere in Central Europe, an unnamed dictator. He has obviously been held and questioned, his captors wondering whether or not he was an agent of the British government on a mission. His answer was that he was "a sportsman who couldn't resist the temptation to stalk the impossible," hoping to make them believe that he was a "bored and wealthy Englishman who had hunted all commoner game" who found "perverse pleasure in hunting the biggest game on earth." In the long run, he realized that no matter what they believed, his days were numbered, and that his captors would have to kill him. After being severely tortured, he was taken to the edge of a cliff and put over, but he managed to hold on until he dropped, crashing into a deep marsh. The plan -- his body was to be discovered for some time at the foot of the cliff so that it would look like a hunting accident. But the narrator has other plans that did not include dying. The authorities realize soon enough that he's still alive, and he has to make his escape without leaving any traces. That story is harrowing enough, but the main thrust of the novel is what happens once he makes it back to England ... it is then that that the reality becomes one of the hunter becoming the hunted as he realizes that no matter who or where he is, his enemies cannot allow him to stay alive. He has to literally "go to ground," in hopes of surviving.
Rogue Male is written in the first person, a look back at events that transpired some time earlier. The narrator doesn't always put things in a linear perspective, and if not read carefully, the story might seem a bit confusing; above all, the why of how our narrator finds himself with a rifle in his hands aiming at this dictator is not so clear. He claims not to be an anarchist or to have any specific political leanings, or to be on a government mission, so the question is one of how all of this came to be, and the reader doesn't know whether or not he can actually trust the narrator on that point. But the in the long run, what makes this book so good is how the author sets the tension level high to begin with, then ratchets it up bit by bit to pull off a rather nail-biting tale of suspense. His use of first-person narrative offers his readers a more human and realistic perspective of the plight of the main character, and there's no space or time wasted on superfluous dialogue that would have little or no bearing on the story. And by keeping the whys until the very end of the novel, the reader finds him or herself focused only on the immediate action at hand.
As noted, once I started reading, things outside of me and this book just disappeared and I managed to finish this novel in one sitting. There's a certain element of the whole "cat-and-mouse" game here, especially toward the end, and it was a delight to watch events transpire as I felt my own tension level rising wondering how the heck the narrator was going to get out of his various predicaments. This is one of those novels you have to read for yourself, but it's wholly satisfying as far as action, writing and especially getting into the psyche of the narrator as he fights to stay alive and out of the clutches of his enemies. People who enjoy well-written suspense will enjoy this book, and those who are interested in the early days of the genre will probably also like it.
October 15, 2011
oh, i've only clicked four stars and it created an empty review. goodreads fooled me into thinking that it would simply add it to my already read list. now, i have no choice but to write a review to cover my tracks and spin an undisentangable web of deceit and cunning.
this plan was simple enough, the first step though, was to get some coffee to kick my brain into its thinking position. i needed some ground coffee, coffee machine, cooker, water, one and a half teaspoonfuls of brown sugar and a cup, and i knew only too well, that i could get all those down in the kitchen. i've worked out the routines of my housemates on my first day here and they never bothered to change them. two of them nearing bed time, unlikely to leave the perimeter of their bedrooms. the only one still awake was monika in the room adjacent to the kitchen. i could just discern tv noises from that direction, so i patiently waited till the ad break, let her go to the bathroom and back to her programme. i've been practicing opening the door to my room for months and now, without any apparent effort, i've swung it open in one silky move, smooth like a snake's skin. i've descended the stairs one by one, ball of foot first, for silence and ergonomics, not heel, like the usual urban dweller would. i was careful enough to hold the banister rail for added balance. from the stairs, i gently stepped onto a floor board. there's one thing you must remember while walking on wooden floor, the right balance of speed. too fast and you'll walk right into an, invisible in the darkness, door frame, or even worse, kick the vacuum that's positioned in the corner, under the telephone shelf. too slow, and you'll exert undue pressure on a board and it'll scream out a tortured creak. i was shivering with excitement, i was on the track of the coffee jar, the nocturnal predator wide awake and in full possession of my body and soul. i had to fight hard to suppress the animal instinct ,to turn the light on, the remaining bit of human in me knew, that it would give me away too soon.
i was negotiating the narrow space between the table and the radiator when i heard some stirring upstairs. it must have been matteo or sarah deciding that they needed to brush their teeth before bed, damn them. i knew their habits well, but now, i had to think fast...
this plan was simple enough, the first step though, was to get some coffee to kick my brain into its thinking position. i needed some ground coffee, coffee machine, cooker, water, one and a half teaspoonfuls of brown sugar and a cup, and i knew only too well, that i could get all those down in the kitchen. i've worked out the routines of my housemates on my first day here and they never bothered to change them. two of them nearing bed time, unlikely to leave the perimeter of their bedrooms. the only one still awake was monika in the room adjacent to the kitchen. i could just discern tv noises from that direction, so i patiently waited till the ad break, let her go to the bathroom and back to her programme. i've been practicing opening the door to my room for months and now, without any apparent effort, i've swung it open in one silky move, smooth like a snake's skin. i've descended the stairs one by one, ball of foot first, for silence and ergonomics, not heel, like the usual urban dweller would. i was careful enough to hold the banister rail for added balance. from the stairs, i gently stepped onto a floor board. there's one thing you must remember while walking on wooden floor, the right balance of speed. too fast and you'll walk right into an, invisible in the darkness, door frame, or even worse, kick the vacuum that's positioned in the corner, under the telephone shelf. too slow, and you'll exert undue pressure on a board and it'll scream out a tortured creak. i was shivering with excitement, i was on the track of the coffee jar, the nocturnal predator wide awake and in full possession of my body and soul. i had to fight hard to suppress the animal instinct ,to turn the light on, the remaining bit of human in me knew, that it would give me away too soon.
i was negotiating the narrow space between the table and the radiator when i heard some stirring upstairs. it must have been matteo or sarah deciding that they needed to brush their teeth before bed, damn them. i knew their habits well, but now, i had to think fast...
January 2, 2018
Rogue Male has an irresistible thriller premise: our narrator, an expert hunter, is caught drawing a bead on Hitler (or, more accurately, Never Specifically Hitler). He claims, not entirely implausibly, that he never intended to shoot, that he only wanted to see whether or not he could get close enough to do so; he winds up tortured and left for dead.
Eminently capable at dealing with the wilderness, and reasonably astute about dealing with people in general, Our Man then tries to make his way back home to England before anyone can realize he's still alive. The novel then becomes an elaborate cat-and-mouse game as Our Man hides out in the countryside and tries to stay alive despite police attention, curious villagers, and one all-too-sharp secret agent on the other side.
The novel is ostensibly the three-part diary of Our Man, and Household makes good use of that format, creating an immediately likable voice--assuming you're vulnerable to a kind of English gentleman sense of honor and sportsmanship, which I am--and also letting Our Man eventually talk himself through his own denials and equivocations. He's keeping a secret from himself, one that is only barely alluded to early on, and it's the revelation of his true motives that drives him even more than the desire to stay alive. This gives the novel a tight, claustrophobic psychological tension in addition to the very well-done wilderness-survival and fugitive-improvisation suspense tacks. At just slightly under two hundred pages in my edition, this is a taunt, finely-crafted, and well-paced suspense story and has rightfully earned its classic status.
Eminently capable at dealing with the wilderness, and reasonably astute about dealing with people in general, Our Man then tries to make his way back home to England before anyone can realize he's still alive. The novel then becomes an elaborate cat-and-mouse game as Our Man hides out in the countryside and tries to stay alive despite police attention, curious villagers, and one all-too-sharp secret agent on the other side.
The novel is ostensibly the three-part diary of Our Man, and Household makes good use of that format, creating an immediately likable voice--assuming you're vulnerable to a kind of English gentleman sense of honor and sportsmanship, which I am--and also letting Our Man eventually talk himself through his own denials and equivocations. He's keeping a secret from himself, one that is only barely alluded to early on, and it's the revelation of his true motives that drives him even more than the desire to stay alive. This gives the novel a tight, claustrophobic psychological tension in addition to the very well-done wilderness-survival and fugitive-improvisation suspense tacks. At just slightly under two hundred pages in my edition, this is a taunt, finely-crafted, and well-paced suspense story and has rightfully earned its classic status.
February 21, 2022
130811: this is sort of an original thriller-type, after The 39 Steps. there is something classical, pure, about this first-person narrative from the perspective of a would-be assassin. there is nothing extra. everything conveys simply what is done and what happens. this has also the affect of hollowing out the character, which on the one hand makes him easy to slip into, on the other, hard to identify with, if you are not the likely reader. it was published in 1939, as an entertainment, and this reader might have been expected to be middle class briton, not given to skepticism about his politics, distrust of foreigners etc. it is an error to conclude it is too simple, though by the time recognizable motivation is offered, the book is almost over. propulsive pulp political piece...
January 19, 2008
More books should be as compactly and neatly composed as this was. It's refreshing not to feel as if the author were dragging events on for the sake of gravity. The tone speaks for itself. Another accomplishment: I've already forgotten what small troubles I had with the plotting and protagonist because i was so satisfied by the ending.
January 18, 2014
Rogue Male is a strange book, if for no other reason than we never discover the name of the hero. All we know is the first name of his solicitor, the assumed name of his pursuer, and the last name of the character he calls The Second Murderer (after Shakespeare). Yet Geoffrey Household has considerable influence on Ian Fleming's James Bond novels, among others.
Rogue Male is pure adventure. The Hero walks from Poland into Germany, visits Berchtesgaden and draws a bead with his hunting rifle on Adolph Hitler, when he is jumped by one of his guards. (Of course, Household never tells us it is Germany and Hitler that was the hero's goal -- it's just that it could have been nowhere else and no one else.
Our hero manages to escape, but he is pursued, both by the police for a murder he had to commit by throwing one of his pursuers on the third rail of a tube station, and by "Major Quive-Smith," who is in the pay of the Nazis.
Oddly, he thinks the only way to survive is by digging a hole for himself in rural Dorsetshire. For almost half the novel, the narrator is either planning his underground hidey-hole or actually hiding there. His pursuers eventually catch up with him, but I have been sworn to secrecy about the ending. In fact, you don't know my name, what country I'm from, whether I'm left-handed or right-handed, and what my preference is in savory spices.
In any case, this book is enjoyable despite my thinking it couldn't work. If the story sounds familiar to you, it was filmed by Fitz Lang as Man Hunt starring George Sanders and for TV in the 1970s starring Peter O'Toole.
Rogue Male is pure adventure. The Hero walks from Poland into Germany, visits Berchtesgaden and draws a bead with his hunting rifle on Adolph Hitler, when he is jumped by one of his guards. (Of course, Household never tells us it is Germany and Hitler that was the hero's goal -- it's just that it could have been nowhere else and no one else.
Our hero manages to escape, but he is pursued, both by the police for a murder he had to commit by throwing one of his pursuers on the third rail of a tube station, and by "Major Quive-Smith," who is in the pay of the Nazis.
Oddly, he thinks the only way to survive is by digging a hole for himself in rural Dorsetshire. For almost half the novel, the narrator is either planning his underground hidey-hole or actually hiding there. His pursuers eventually catch up with him, but I have been sworn to secrecy about the ending. In fact, you don't know my name, what country I'm from, whether I'm left-handed or right-handed, and what my preference is in savory spices.
In any case, this book is enjoyable despite my thinking it couldn't work. If the story sounds familiar to you, it was filmed by Fitz Lang as Man Hunt starring George Sanders and for TV in the 1970s starring Peter O'Toole.
December 8, 2018
The upshot on this -- and no surprise: This novel is far better than Fritz Lang's 1941 World War II thriller film version (Man Hunt), though the latter has its strengths and pleasures. An entirely new character is written into the film, a romantic interest and hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold played by Joan Bennett, who steals the movie, lending a bit of screwball comedy sensibility that the mostly humorless novel lacks. Bennett's good-time Cockney gal thus serves the same narrative purpose (ultimately) as the feral cat, Asmodeus, does in the book. The protag's relationship with the cat in the book is far more interesting than the human "romance" in the film, though. The long European escape and shipboard sojourn that make up most of the first half of the novel is cut to a brief few minutes in the movie, and the English countryside survival adventure that makes up almost all of the second half of the novel is basically cut into one little scene in the movie. The interrogation episode in Nazi Germany that is recalled in first-person flashback in the novel is elongated extensively for the film to set up a more obvious rivalry, and "Thornton's" (he's unnamed in the novel) arch-enemy Quive-Smith -- who is only slowly learned about from clues over the course of the book rather interestingly -- is introduced straight away in the film for the obvious conflict set-up. At least he's played by George Sanders, who was pretty much the ideal suave Nazi. To the film's credit, it does touch upon the book's moral dilemma that makes up its most interesting thought-point (Thornton's supposedly sporting and superior "moral" imperatives and Quive-Smith's ability to call them into question, thus presenting the protag with an interesting bit of self-reflection). The movie's ending has a rather fun and rousing patriotic propaganda slant, which is actually ironic in a good way, compared to the far more amorphous end in the novel. Both provide interesting alternative finales.
This is a great book, and the movie suffers in comparison. It was a great read while sitting around getting jury duty assignments a couple of weeks ago. I was going to write more, as I had taken extensive comparison notes, but have other things to do...
KR@KY 2018
This is a great book, and the movie suffers in comparison. It was a great read while sitting around getting jury duty assignments a couple of weeks ago. I was going to write more, as I had taken extensive comparison notes, but have other things to do...
KR@KY 2018
November 17, 2024
An interesting, suspenseful, compelling escape and pursuit novel. Lots of plot twists with a satisfying, surprising resolution.
This book was first published in 1939.
This book was first published in 1939.
sampled
August 26, 2016Stopped around pg 75, nearly halfway through -- the opening pages were so amazing I thought I was in for a treat but once he makes it to London all air goes out of it. The prose seemed like someone ran clear English into Google translate so it'd come out as obtuse British, which isn't a bad thing as long as the story propels the odd language along. In tone and approach seemed modern although written in the '30s. Disappointed in myself for quitting on it but I can only read a few paragraphs at a time at this point before I either zone out or start to skim. I hardly care about the narrator or his perceptions -- I guess you could say my general interest in the novel has fallen off a cliff (sans miraculous landing in a marsh).
March 24, 2012
Geoffrey Household’s 1939 thriller novel Rogue Male deals with a plot to kill HItler. Only it’s not actually a plot, it’s more of a solo mission that at first seems to have no real motive.
Hitler is never mentioned by name and the attempted assassination takes place in an unnamed central European nation but it’s perfectly clear who the target is. He’s a dictator who is seen as a potential threat to Britain and his country shares a border with Poland.
More interesting than the subject matter is the unusual structure of the book. Instead of leading up gradually to the assassination, the attempt takes place on the very first page. So I’m not giving away any spoilers by revealing that the attempt fails. The would-be assassin (who is also the narrator) is captured and tortured but refuses to say anything of his motives and insists he acted alone. Since the interrogation has failed to produce anything of value the decision is made to dispose of the assassin. Against the odds and suffering from horrific injuries he survives, and sets out on a nightmarish return journey to England.
So who is this would-be dictator-killer? He is an English big-game hunter. He tells us his story in three sections, each written at different stages of what will turn out to be quite an adventure, and quite an ordeal.
While the story opens with the attempt on the dictator’s life there are no extended flashbacks, as you might expect. His story starts with his assassination attempt, although he will certainly reflect upon his actions leading up to that event. Initially he tells us he has no real idea why he did what he did, other than the fact that having had a life-long passion for hunting he thought it would be a challenge to stalk the most dangerous prey of all (shades of the Most Dangerous Game here). He claims that he had no intention of actually pulling the trigger - it was merely a kind of game with himself.
He is a wealthy man and quite well-known, although he never tells us who he really is. He fears that his actions may bring embarrassment and even disgrace to both himself and his country. For this reason, and also because he fears that the dictator’s secret police may be hunting him (by this time they will have discovered that he did not die as they expected him to). So he determines to go into hiding. Being a solitary man by nature, and given that he has spent much of his life in various wild places, he chooses to hide out not in the anonymity of a city but in the countryside.
As his story progresses he faces the slowly dawning realisation of the true reasons that drove him to stalk the dictator, and he faces also the realisation of what the consequences of that self-knowledge must entail.
He also comes to see that he cannot remain the hunted forever.
This is clearly not a mere potboiler nor is it a conventional thriller novel. It obviously has some affinities to the sorts of spy stories that Eric Ambler and Graham Greene were starting to write in the 1930s, with its amateur assassin hero and its emphasis on psychology. It’s also representative of the more literary kind of thriller that was emerging at that time.
That’s not to say that it doesn’t work very well as a suspense thriller. It’s a taut and very tense story and it’s gripping and highly entertaining in its own very individualistic way.
Recommended.
Hitler is never mentioned by name and the attempted assassination takes place in an unnamed central European nation but it’s perfectly clear who the target is. He’s a dictator who is seen as a potential threat to Britain and his country shares a border with Poland.
More interesting than the subject matter is the unusual structure of the book. Instead of leading up gradually to the assassination, the attempt takes place on the very first page. So I’m not giving away any spoilers by revealing that the attempt fails. The would-be assassin (who is also the narrator) is captured and tortured but refuses to say anything of his motives and insists he acted alone. Since the interrogation has failed to produce anything of value the decision is made to dispose of the assassin. Against the odds and suffering from horrific injuries he survives, and sets out on a nightmarish return journey to England.
So who is this would-be dictator-killer? He is an English big-game hunter. He tells us his story in three sections, each written at different stages of what will turn out to be quite an adventure, and quite an ordeal.
While the story opens with the attempt on the dictator’s life there are no extended flashbacks, as you might expect. His story starts with his assassination attempt, although he will certainly reflect upon his actions leading up to that event. Initially he tells us he has no real idea why he did what he did, other than the fact that having had a life-long passion for hunting he thought it would be a challenge to stalk the most dangerous prey of all (shades of the Most Dangerous Game here). He claims that he had no intention of actually pulling the trigger - it was merely a kind of game with himself.
He is a wealthy man and quite well-known, although he never tells us who he really is. He fears that his actions may bring embarrassment and even disgrace to both himself and his country. For this reason, and also because he fears that the dictator’s secret police may be hunting him (by this time they will have discovered that he did not die as they expected him to). So he determines to go into hiding. Being a solitary man by nature, and given that he has spent much of his life in various wild places, he chooses to hide out not in the anonymity of a city but in the countryside.
As his story progresses he faces the slowly dawning realisation of the true reasons that drove him to stalk the dictator, and he faces also the realisation of what the consequences of that self-knowledge must entail.
He also comes to see that he cannot remain the hunted forever.
This is clearly not a mere potboiler nor is it a conventional thriller novel. It obviously has some affinities to the sorts of spy stories that Eric Ambler and Graham Greene were starting to write in the 1930s, with its amateur assassin hero and its emphasis on psychology. It’s also representative of the more literary kind of thriller that was emerging at that time.
That’s not to say that it doesn’t work very well as a suspense thriller. It’s a taut and very tense story and it’s gripping and highly entertaining in its own very individualistic way.
Recommended.
February 5, 2018
My copy of Rogue Male is one published by the New York Review Of Books as part of their Classics series. It’s easy to see why they chose it also, it is so typically British.
It is a story told by a failed assassin. An attempt made on a dictator of an unnamed country, but we are told, close to Poland. From then on our protagonist is on the run, first across Poland and the east of Germany, then the south of England. Despite his desperate situation he always acts with proper morals and an exaggerated sort of Englishness. There’s certainly something Ian Fleming must owe to Household, but this was written in 1939 and set just a few years before, so war and patriotism was very much on everyone’s mind. It stands the test of time and remains a page-turning and exciting thriller. There is a real element of ‘Boys’ Own’ about it also, in the various survival skills that are necessary during the chase.
Despite being involved in a chase to the death, breaking the law is still ‘not on’:
I did the nine twisting miles into Bridport in eleven minutes and ten miles along the Dorchester road in ten minutes. I hated that speed at the time, and I’m ashamed of it. No driver has a right to average more than forty; if he wants to terrify his fellows there are always a few wars going on, and either side will be glad to let him indulge his pleasure and get some healthy exercise at the same time.
Having stolen or borrowed the sports car in the first place:
I stuck ten pounds in the owner’s licence with pencilled apologies and my sincere hope that the notes would cover his night’s lodgings and any incidental loss.
Just a couple of other memorable quotes:
I am not ashamed to remember that I was frightened, shocked and careless. To be shot from ambush is horribly unnerving.
He’s a reasonable man, I told myself. He plays chess.
It is a story told by a failed assassin. An attempt made on a dictator of an unnamed country, but we are told, close to Poland. From then on our protagonist is on the run, first across Poland and the east of Germany, then the south of England. Despite his desperate situation he always acts with proper morals and an exaggerated sort of Englishness. There’s certainly something Ian Fleming must owe to Household, but this was written in 1939 and set just a few years before, so war and patriotism was very much on everyone’s mind. It stands the test of time and remains a page-turning and exciting thriller. There is a real element of ‘Boys’ Own’ about it also, in the various survival skills that are necessary during the chase.
Despite being involved in a chase to the death, breaking the law is still ‘not on’:
I did the nine twisting miles into Bridport in eleven minutes and ten miles along the Dorchester road in ten minutes. I hated that speed at the time, and I’m ashamed of it. No driver has a right to average more than forty; if he wants to terrify his fellows there are always a few wars going on, and either side will be glad to let him indulge his pleasure and get some healthy exercise at the same time.
Having stolen or borrowed the sports car in the first place:
I stuck ten pounds in the owner’s licence with pencilled apologies and my sincere hope that the notes would cover his night’s lodgings and any incidental loss.
Just a couple of other memorable quotes:
I am not ashamed to remember that I was frightened, shocked and careless. To be shot from ambush is horribly unnerving.
He’s a reasonable man, I told myself. He plays chess.
September 26, 2011
Am very glad to have come across this novel, and I'll certainly be looking for more by Household. The narrative voice is completely compelling and the story suspenseful.
Victoria Nelson, in her introduction, calls it a "wilderness procedural." Kafka, Robert Louis Stevenson, Defoe are mentioned. I thought too of Coetzee's 'The Life & Times of Michael K.,' and I wondered if Coetzee had read this. The novels are quite different but both men escape from 'civilization' and live on the run, close to (or within, in this case) the land. Of course, Coetzee's vision is bleaker...it's South Africa not England.
David Kowalski should read this and review it.
And you, dear Reader, should too.
But if you get this edition, do NOT read Nelson's introduction before you read the novel. Unless, of course, you want to know what will transpire...and what fun would that be??
Victoria Nelson, in her introduction, calls it a "wilderness procedural." Kafka, Robert Louis Stevenson, Defoe are mentioned. I thought too of Coetzee's 'The Life & Times of Michael K.,' and I wondered if Coetzee had read this. The novels are quite different but both men escape from 'civilization' and live on the run, close to (or within, in this case) the land. Of course, Coetzee's vision is bleaker...it's South Africa not England.
David Kowalski should read this and review it.
And you, dear Reader, should too.
But if you get this edition, do NOT read Nelson's introduction before you read the novel. Unless, of course, you want to know what will transpire...and what fun would that be??
March 4, 2016
I started this book thinking that I already knew the basic plot from watching the film. I quickly realized that I had confused this with another story with a slightly similar premise of a man being hunted.
In this, the unnamed protagonist is both the hunter and the hunted. I was bothered for a while in the first section with this man's motivation for his "sporting stalk" of a leader of a foreign country but this is eventually explained in the final section.
Now that I have finished, I do vaguely recall seeing a film based on this (starring Walter Pigeon I think). If I am remembering correctly, there were some pretty significant differences & the book is better. I will have to look for the film so I can refresh my memory.
In this, the unnamed protagonist is both the hunter and the hunted. I was bothered for a while in the first section with this man's motivation for his "sporting stalk" of a leader of a foreign country but this is eventually explained in the final section.
Now that I have finished, I do vaguely recall seeing a film based on this (starring Walter Pigeon I think). If I am remembering correctly, there were some pretty significant differences & the book is better. I will have to look for the film so I can refresh my memory.
May 27, 2020
This might be the slowest faced paced novel I've ever read.
It's fast and then slow....then picks up, then slow again and then towards the end it runs through a stop sign and never stops.
In parts, it's written so well, but in a way that makes you feel underwhelmed.
I liked the premise (an assassin becoming the hunted), but like above, as soon as something would happen, it would drop back down to a miserably slow pace.
I must say that there is a scene with a part of an animal that is ingeniously macabre and McGuyver-esque that gave me the 'OH HELL YEAH' type moment, but that was about the only time I had that feeling for the duration of the book.
Not bad.
It's fast and then slow....then picks up, then slow again and then towards the end it runs through a stop sign and never stops.
In parts, it's written so well, but in a way that makes you feel underwhelmed.
I liked the premise (an assassin becoming the hunted), but like above, as soon as something would happen, it would drop back down to a miserably slow pace.
I must say that there is a scene with a part of an animal that is ingeniously macabre and McGuyver-esque that gave me the 'OH HELL YEAH' type moment, but that was about the only time I had that feeling for the duration of the book.
Not bad.
February 13, 2009
supposedly the beginning of the modern suspense novel, this book is about an english big game hunter in a foreign country who gets a yen to see if it might be possible-- just possible, mind you, in a theoretical sense-- to assassinate the leader of that country as he relaxes at his country estate. things get pretty hairy pretty fast and although this was written 70 years ago it is by no means for the faint of heart. or the claustrophobic. there's some stuff in here i doubt i will ever forget.
p.s. there's a big blurb on the cover by john le carre, and that blurb is there for a reason.
p.s. there's a big blurb on the cover by john le carre, and that blurb is there for a reason.
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