But the book takes care never to reveal which of Hitler or Stalin was the target - on purpose, I think - and I think the cover illustration is a blunder. The cover of my 1977 Penguin edition shows a picture of Hitler in the crosshairs, which to be fair is pretty likely who Household intended. It's never made precisely clear who that is - a country on one side or the other of Poland, which leaves two pretty evil candidates as of the late 30s. Rogue Male opens with the never named first person protagonist aiming a rifle with a telescopic sight from 550 yards at a certain Head of State. Rogue Male itself has been filmed at least twice, as Man Hunt in 1941 and as Rogue Male for TV in 1976. Rogue Male remains his most famous novel, though Arabesque (made into a movie with Gregory Peck, as I recall) is also well known. He spent the War as an Intelligence Officer in Rumania, then returned to a fairly successful career writing. This is his second novel, published in 1939. He began writing in the US, then returned to England. Household was a British writer, born 1900, died 1988, who spent some time in the US "just in time for the Depression". Though perhaps not: it has been reprinted as recently as 2007, and it has been cited by David Morrell as a significant influence on First Blood (the Morrell novel that introduced Rambo to the world). It's not really forgotten, but it has, I think entered a phase of slow drifting out of any sort of general consciousness. Geoffrey Household's Rogue Male is a classic thriller.
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