Just Finished Reading: Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household (FP: 1939)

Apparently bored with hunting big game across the world the unnamed narrator decides he needs something else to occupy his mind, something deadlier than tigers or more cunning than lions – Man. Not just any man, indeed not just anyone but someone important, well-guarded and highly dangerous. A head of state in a totalitarian country, someone worth stalking and, just maybe killing. But by chance the stalk fails and the hunter is captured in the act. At first refusing to believe that he is acting alone on a personal dare his interrogators finally accept the truth. But they can’t put him on trial – no matter how well staged. He must die for his crime but in a way that looks like an unfortunate accident. Thrown from a cliff the hunter survives purely by good luck but within hours becomes the hunted, first across Europe and then back to England itself. Set upon in the London Underground and forced to defend himself he kills one of his assailants and the police become involved. Running from the law as well as determined enemy agents, unwilling to involve his friends and unable to involve the Government he must rely on his own cunning honed to perfection by a lifetime of hunting wild creatures across the globe. But has he met his match in the team sent out to hunt him down in his own backyard?

I’d heard about this book long before its reissue in 2014. It was a wartime classic produced in number and given to soldiers as both entertainment and as a teaching aid in escape and evasion tactics. I could see why. The author delights in finding interesting, imaginative and practical ways to move across the countryside undetected as well as what to do if flushed out of hiding. Whilst not exactly a textbook of field craft it does clearly indicate the mind set required by those being hunted by dedicated enemies in both a urban and rural environment. The initial losing of his ‘tail’ in London was a real page turner especially as I used the Tube system for the 6 years I lived in London so could easily visualise many of the places he mentioned and clearly knew well. The other thing that I found equally interesting was the main characters observations of late 1930’s English (and especially Class) culture. I guess that I’m just a natural born Sociologist or maybe an Anthropologist so I find this kind of thing frankly fascinating. It’s one of the many reasons I like reading some of the older books in my collection. Some of the casual asides which probably meant little at the time, except maybe the addition of some local colour, really stick out with the perspective of decades or even centuries of history between the written word and the modern reader. What passed unremarked in 1939 seems truly odd in 2016. How times (and mores) have changed.

On further investigation I found that this largely forgotten classic author of suspense fiction had written quite a few works including a sequel to Rogue Male where the protagonist returns to Germany to finish his original assignment. So far I haven’t managed to source a copy but I’ll keep looking until I find one. I want to know how he did next time! Recommended.