Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household with special guest David Morrell!

ROGUE MALE (1939) is an enduring masterpiece of mystery, adventure, suspense, and the sheer thrill of the chase. Described by author Geoffrey Household as a “bastard offspring of Stevenson and Conrad,” it’s “the best escape and pursuit story yet written, with lip-chewing tension right to the end.” –The Times (UK)

Special guest David Morrell, New York Times bestselling author of First Blood (the classic thriller that inspired the RAMBO movies) joins us. Check out the conversation starters below. Weigh in, and you might just get an on-air shoutout and a fab sticker!

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The NYT praised Geoffrey Household for developing suspense into an art form. The Times (UK) called it, “Simply the best escape and pursuit story yet written.”

What We Know About Geoffrey Household + the Narrator

A wealthy, well-known, unnamed Englishman, not yet 40, is a sportsman “who couldn’t resist the temptation to stalk the impossible.” He has no grievances and has a “sense of adventure.” He’s not an anarchist or fanatic. He becomes obsessed with stalking the biggest game of all, a European “great man” in a country near Poland. The country resembles Germany; the dictator, Hitler. He’s caught before the kill and pursued across Europe by Nazi assassins.

Geoffrey Household had a sales job for an ink manufacturer and loved his adventurous life (Europe, South America). Britain entered the war on 9/03/39. He served in British intelligence. He said his feeling toward Nazi Germany “had the savagery of a personal vendetta” (Against the Wind).

“The Almighty looks after the rogue male”

Geoffrey Household writes: “The behavior of a rogue may be described as individual, separation from its fellows appearing to increase both cunning and ferocity. These solitary beasts [are] found among all the larger carnivores and graminivores, and are generally male.”

PART I – ESCAPE / SURFACE – The Hunter Becomes the Hunted (AUGUST)

The narrator is tortured and thrown off a cliff. He walks, crawls, curses, and cries, slipping in and out of consciousness, doing rather than thinking, using the “reasoning of a hunted beast.”

“In these days of visas and identification cards it is impossible to travel without leaving a trail that can, with patience, bribery, and access to public records, be picked up.”

“It was a convenience to have no existence. Had I stolen a watch instead of stalking the head of a nation, my photograph would have been in all the police stations.”

He has a passport, maps, and money. He speaks the language well.