History Literature / RogueMale

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

A 1939 {{thriller}} novel written by Geoffrey Household, in which a bored upper-class British hunter is found and arrested on the grounds of an [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler un-named European dictator]]'s residence with his hunting rifle in hand. His claim, maintained under torture, that he was stalking the dictator purely as an exercise in the skill of the hunt and that he had no intention of firing is so audacious that it is almost believed -- but nonetheless he cannot be allowed to live. To execute such a well-connected Briton would cause an international incident, so his captors decide to kill him by throwing him over a cliff so that his body will show injuries consistent with accidental death. Though badly injured he survives and manages to make his way to the Channel and from there back to England. Where he discovers that home does not mean safety, nor an end to the pursuit.

-->-- Epigraph to ''Literature/RogueMale''

1939 thriller written by Geoffrey Household in which a bored upper-class British hunter is arrested in the grounds of an [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler un-named dictator]]'s residence with his hunting rifle in hand. His claim, maintained under torture, that he was stalking the dictator purely as an exercise in the skill of the hunt and that he had no intention of firing is so audacious that it is almost believed - but nonetheless he cannot be allowed to live. To execute such a well-connected Briton would cause an international incident, so his captors decide to kill him by throwing him over a cliff so that his body will show injuries consistent with accidental death. Though badly injured he survives and manages to make his way to the Channel and from there back to England. Where he discovers that home does not mean safety, nor an end to the pursuit.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The protagonist instructing Muller on how to spend a night, concealed, in Lisbon. [[RedLightDistrict "If you drink a coffee at any of the bars in the centre of the town,]] I expect some way of passing a discreet but pleasant night will occur to you." Muller later repeats these instructions 'crudely'.

* OhCrap: Muller when the protagonist [[spoiler: holds him at gunpoint after having killed Quive-Smith and escaped from his lair]]. He also exhibited [[BringMeMyBrownPants 'all the involuntary reactions of panic']]

1939 thriller written by Geoffrey Household in which a bored upper-class British hunter is arrested in the grounds of an [[AdolfHitler un-named dictator]]'s residence with his hunting rifle in hand. His claim, maintained under torture, that he was stalking the dictator purely as an exercise in the skill of the hunt and that he had no intention of firing is so audacious that it is almost believed - but nonetheless he cannot be allowed to live. To execute such a well-connected Briton would cause an international incident, so his captors decide to kill him by throwing him over a cliff so that his body will show injuries consistent with accidental death. Though badly injured he survives and manages to make his way to the Channel and from there back to England. Where he discovers that home does not mean safety, nor an end to the pursuit.

->"'' The behavior of a rogue may fairly be described as individual, separation from its fellows appearing to increase both in cunning and ferocity. These solitary beasts, exasperated by chronic pain or widowerhood, are occasionally found among all the larger carnivores and graminivores, and are generally males, though, in the case of hippopotami, the wanton viciousness of the cows is not to be disregarded.''"

1939 thriller written by Geoffrey Household in which a bored upper-class British hunter is arrested in the grounds of an [[AdolfHitler un-named dictator]]'s residence with his hunting rifle in hand. His claim, maintained under torture, that he was stalking the dictator purely as an exercise in the skill of the hunter and that he had no intention of firing is so audacious that it is almost believed - but nonetheless he cannot be allowed to live. To execute such a well-connected Briton would cause an international incident, so his captors decide to kill him by throwing him over a cliff so that his body will show injuries consistent with accidental death. Though badly injured he survives and manages to make his way to the Channel and from there back to England. Where he discovers that home does not mean safety, nor an end to the pursuit.

* {{Epigraph}}: As quoted above. It contains a TitleDrop and foreshadows the cunning and ferocity that the solitary protagonist demonstrates in the story. A hint as to his motives is also given.

* {{Epigraph}}: As quoted above, and containing a TitleDrop and a foreshadowing of the cunning and ferocity that the solitary protagonist demonstrates in the story. A hint as to his motives is also given.

* ImprovisedCatapult: Making savagely ironic use of materials provided by his enemies, [[spoiler: namely the sinews and skin from the dead body of a cat of which the he had been fond, killed by his pursuers and thrust into his dugout to torment him]], the protagonist improvises a catapault to power a bolt of LaserGuidedKarma in [[spoiler: Major Quive-Smith]]'s direction.

1939 thriller written by Geoffrey Household in which a bored upper-class British hunter is arrested in the grounds of an [[AdolfHitler un-named dictator]]'s residence with his hunting rifle in hand. His claim, maintained under torture, that he was stalking the dictator purely as an exercise in the hunter's skill and that he had no intention of firing is so audacious that it is almost believed, but nonetheless he cannot be allowed to live. To execute such a well-connected Briton would cause an international incident, so his captors decide to kill him by throwing him over a cliff so that his body will show injuries consistent with accidental death. Though badly injured he survives and manages to make his way to the Channel and from there back to England. Where he discovers that home does not mean safety, nor an end to the pursuit.

* ColdSniper: The unnamed protagonist thinks of himself as this, until, when in an apparently hopeless situation, he admits to himself that he had more personal and tragic motives that he had not allowed himself to think about [[spoiler:- his lover (implied to be Jewish) was executed by the dictator]].

* ImprovisedCatapult: Making savagely ironic use of materials provided by his enemies, [[spoiler: namely the sinews and skin from the dead body of a cat of which the he had been fond, killed by his pursuers and thrust into his dugout to torment him]], the protagonist improvises a catapult to power a bolt of LaserGuidedKarma in [[spoiler: Major Quive-Smith]]'s direction.

* EvenMooksHaveLovedOnes: The protagonist appears to worry about this trope when the landlady of Johns, [[spoiler: the agent he killed in Aldwych Station]], mentions John's 'poor old mother' in press interviews. Subverted when this comment disappears from later editions of the press, suggesting the mother was a cover story for his work.

1939 thriller written by Geoffrey Household in which a bored upper-class British hunter is arrested in the grounds of an [[AdolfHitler un-named dictator]]'s residence with his hunting rifle in hand. His claim that he was stalking the dictator purely as an exercise in the hunter's skill and that he had no intention of firing is so audacious that it is almost believed, but nonetheless he cannot be allowed to live. To execute such a well-connected Briton would cause an international incident, so, after torturing him, his captors decide to kill him by throwing him over a cliff so that his body will show injuries consistent with accidental death. Though badly injured he survives and manages to make his way to the Channel and from there back to England. Where he discovers that home does not mean safety, nor an end to the pursuit.

* ImprovisedCatapult: Making savagely ironic use of materials provided by his enemies, [[spoiler: namely the sinews and skin from the dead body of a cat of which the he had been fond, killed by his pursuers and thrust into his dugout to torment him]], the protagonist improvises a catapault to power a bolt of LaserGuidedKarma in [[spoiler: Major Quive-Smith]]'s direction.
* KindheartedCatLover: In a distant, respectful way (and while living almost as a wild animal himself), the protagonist enters into a cautious friendship with a wild cat.