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.

作者杰弗里•豪斯霍尔德 (1900—1988)， 英国著名作家，出生于英国布里斯托尔，1922年在牛津大学马格达伦学院取得英国文学学士学位。二战期间曾就职于英国情报部门，并在中欧、中东、美国及南美等地从事过各式各样的工作，一生阅历丰富。杰弗里•豪斯霍尔德在悬疑惊悚小说领域极富盛名，《暴戾人》是他最广为人知的一部扛鼎之作。他其余的作品还包括《阴影中的守望者》《无耻的正义》 《高地》《欲望之箭》等。

译者王涛，中国当代优秀翻译家，他翻译并编撰了许多有关外国文化的著作，涉及英美文学、历史、社会学等多个方面。其代表译作有《第二次世界大战》《红星照耀中国》等。