58 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 58 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A gentleman enters an insurance office with perfect manners—and gives a quiet observer reason to doubt him.
In Charles Dickens's Hunted Down, trust is part of the business. An experienced insurance man tells the story from his London office, where judging strangers matters. Julius Slinkton seems agreeable, warm and devoted to those close to him. Yet his polished manner raises a question: what does such careful kindness conceal?
Meltham, a calm man connected with the office, suspects Slinkton and quietly tests his doubts. The narrator is drawn into a pursuit that demands patience rather than force. Those in Slinkton's care trust him, and their lives matter. Suspense grows through watching and waiting, as outward goodness becomes harder to separate from calculation.
What you’ll discover
- A gentleman worth watching Meet Julius Slinkton, whose warmth makes doubting him feel almost unreasonable.
- Patience under pressure Follow Meltham as he tests suspicion without rushing to seize the first chance.
- Trust as a risk Enter an insurance office where careful questions reach beyond figures into human character.
- Kindness with another purpose Look beneath public good deeds and affectionate words for the aims they may hide.
- A steady telling voice Feel suspense gather through an office man's plain account of an unsettling pursuit.
Who will love it
For readers who love early crime fiction, suspense and studies of character, and anyone drawn to hidden guilt, deceptive manners and justice pursued through careful observation.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A fine gentleman enters the insurance office
- One quiet man begins to watch
- Kindness becomes a cover for calculation
- A long pursuit of patience against patience
- What the story says about trust and appearances
- How Dickens builds suspense with a plain voice
Who’s who
- Julius SlinktonA polished, agreeable gentleman whose warm manner and talk of family hide his true aims and make him hard to doubt.
- MelthamA calm, patient man who suspects Slinkton and works quietly, with a private purpose, to test his suspicion.
- The narratorAn experienced man of the insurance office who tells the tale, judges people for a living and is slowly drawn into the pursuit.
- The people in Slinkton's careThose close to Slinkton, who trust his kindness and whose lives matter greatly to the story's outcome.
Formats and delivery
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 58 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 7 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Braccato
by Charles Dickens · 1859
A charming visitor enters a life insurance office, where quiet watchers begin to doubt the kindness in his manners.
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In short
Hunted Down is a short story by Charles Dickens, first published in 1859 and printed in magazines on both sides of the Atlantic. It belongs to his later years, when he wrote for the weekly press and knew his readers wanted tales of crime, patience and hidden guilt.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A fine gentleman enters the insurance office
The story begins in a life insurance office, in the busy commercial London that Dickens knew well. A man of business tells the tale in the first person. He is used to judging people across a desk, and he takes pride in reading them. His trade is risk, and so he has learned to ask what a person gains when another person dies.
Into this setting comes Julius Slinkton, a man who seems made to be liked. He is well dressed, easy in speech and calm in every gesture. He talks of family, of duty and of prudence. He is exactly the sort of customer an office would be glad to welcome.
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What is Hunted Down by Charles Dickens about?
It is a short crime story about a pleasant, well-mannered man whom some people in a life insurance office begin to suspect. Patient watching and careful questions drive the plot rather than chases or violence.
When was Hunted Down written?
Dickens wrote it in 1859, and it appeared in magazines in America and Britain. It is a work of fiction from his later career, when he often wrote shorter pieces for weekly publications.
Is Hunted Down a detective story?
Yes, it is counted among the early detective stories in English. The investigator is not a police officer but a patient private man, and the focus is on observation and nerve.
The author
Charles Dickens
1812–1870 · English novelist
Charles Dickens was an English novelist born in Portsmouth in 1812. He lived in London and later at Gad’s Hill Place in Kent, where he died in 1870. His books include The Pickwick Papers (1836–1837), A Christmas Carol (1843), David Copperfield (1849–1850), and Great Expectations (1860–1861).
More by Charles Dickens
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