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Streets of Paris, Streets of Murder #2
Three to Kill
Businessman Georges Gerfaut witnesses a murder—and is pursued by the killers. His conventional life knocked off the rails, Gerfaut turns the tables and sets out to track down his pursuers. Along the way, he learns a thing or two about himself. . . . Manchette—masterful stylist, ironist, and social critic—limns the cramped lives of professionals in a neoconservative world.
"Manchette has appropriated and subverted the classic thriller [with] descriptions of undiluted action, violence and suspense [and] a perspective on evil, a disenchanted world of manipulation and fury . . . ." —Times Literary Supplement
"The petty exigencies of the classic thriller find themselves summarily reduced to cremains by the fiery blue jets of Jean-Patrick Manchette's concision, intelligence, tension, and style." —Jim Nisbet, author of Lethal Injection and Prelude to a Scream
"Manchette is a must for the reading lists of all noir fans. . . . Manchette deserves a higher profile among noir fans." —Publishers Weekly
"Manchette . . . performs miracles within this simple story. His style is very matter of fact, stark and almost cool like the jazz his hero or anti-hero Gerfaut devours at every opportunity. Yet in this short novel there is no lack of atmosphere, excitement, characters or descriptive writing, it is just the total lack of unnecessary material that makes the story seem so lean and mean." —Norman Price, EuroCrime
"A social satire cum suspense equally interested in dissecting everyday banalities and manufacturing thrills. Writing with economy, deadpan irony, and an eye for the devastating detail, Manchette spins pulp fiction into literature." —Kirkus Reviews
"While there isn’t much that’s obviously moral—in the good-versus-evil sense—[this novel] demonstrate[s] why Manchette is hailed as the man who kicked the French crime novel or “polar” out of the apolitical torpor into which it had fallen by the time he started publishing his “neo-polars” in the 1970s. . . . Grim and cerebral as they feel, it’s remarkable how comic—in an absurdist, laugh-or-you’ll-cry way—these books are, as if Manchette had decided that poking fun at the products of the capitalist system were the fittest way to attack the system itself." —Jennifer Howard, Boston Review
"The pace is fast, the action sequences are superb, and the effect is just as striking as it must have been when the book was first published in 1976." —Laura Wilson, The Guardian
"[T]he novel is brilliantly written, replete with allusions to art, literature, and music, papered with the very texture and furniture of our lives. Manchette is Camus on overdrive, at one and the same time white-hot, ice-cold. He deserves much the same attention." —James Sallis, Review of Contemporary Fiction
Jean-Patrick Manchette (1942—1995) rescued the French crime novel from the grip of stodgy police procedurals — restoring the noir edge by virtue of his post-1968 leftism. Today, Manchette is a totem to the generation of French mystery writers who came in his wake. Jazz saxophonist, political activist, and screen writer, Manchette was influenced as much by Guy Debord as by Gustave Flaubert. City Lights has published more of work, including The Gunman.
"Manchette has appropriated and subverted the classic thriller [with] descriptions of undiluted action, violence and suspense [and] a perspective on evil, a disenchanted world of manipulation and fury . . . ." —Times Literary Supplement
"The petty exigencies of the classic thriller find themselves summarily reduced to cremains by the fiery blue jets of Jean-Patrick Manchette's concision, intelligence, tension, and style." —Jim Nisbet, author of Lethal Injection and Prelude to a Scream
"Manchette is a must for the reading lists of all noir fans. . . . Manchette deserves a higher profile among noir fans." —Publishers Weekly
"Manchette . . . performs miracles within this simple story. His style is very matter of fact, stark and almost cool like the jazz his hero or anti-hero Gerfaut devours at every opportunity. Yet in this short novel there is no lack of atmosphere, excitement, characters or descriptive writing, it is just the total lack of unnecessary material that makes the story seem so lean and mean." —Norman Price, EuroCrime
"A social satire cum suspense equally interested in dissecting everyday banalities and manufacturing thrills. Writing with economy, deadpan irony, and an eye for the devastating detail, Manchette spins pulp fiction into literature." —Kirkus Reviews
"While there isn’t much that’s obviously moral—in the good-versus-evil sense—[this novel] demonstrate[s] why Manchette is hailed as the man who kicked the French crime novel or “polar” out of the apolitical torpor into which it had fallen by the time he started publishing his “neo-polars” in the 1970s. . . . Grim and cerebral as they feel, it’s remarkable how comic—in an absurdist, laugh-or-you’ll-cry way—these books are, as if Manchette had decided that poking fun at the products of the capitalist system were the fittest way to attack the system itself." —Jennifer Howard, Boston Review
"The pace is fast, the action sequences are superb, and the effect is just as striking as it must have been when the book was first published in 1976." —Laura Wilson, The Guardian
"[T]he novel is brilliantly written, replete with allusions to art, literature, and music, papered with the very texture and furniture of our lives. Manchette is Camus on overdrive, at one and the same time white-hot, ice-cold. He deserves much the same attention." —James Sallis, Review of Contemporary Fiction
Jean-Patrick Manchette (1942—1995) rescued the French crime novel from the grip of stodgy police procedurals — restoring the noir edge by virtue of his post-1968 leftism. Today, Manchette is a totem to the generation of French mystery writers who came in his wake. Jazz saxophonist, political activist, and screen writer, Manchette was influenced as much by Guy Debord as by Gustave Flaubert. City Lights has published more of work, including The Gunman.
134 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
34 people are currently reading
1816 people want to read
About the author
Jean-Patrick Manchette
67 books325 followersJean-Patrick Manchette was a French crime novelist credited with reinventing and reinvigorating the genre. He wrote ten short novels in the seventies and early eighties, and is widely recognized as the foremost French crime fiction author of the 1970s - 1980s . His stories are violent, existentialist explorations of the human condition and French society.
Manchette was politically to the left and his writing reflects this through his analysis of social positions and culture. His books are reminiscent of the nouvelle vague crime films of Jean-Pierre Melville, employing a similarly cool, existential style on a typically American genre (film noir for Melville and pulp novels for Manchette).
Three of his novels have been translated into English. Two were published by San Francisco publisher City Lights Books (3 To Kill [from the French "Le petit bleu de la côte ouest"] and The Prone Gunman [from the French "La Position du tireur couché"]). A third, Fatale, was released by New York Review Books Classics in 2011.
Manchette believed he had gone full circle with his last novel, which he conceived as a "closure" of his Noir fiction. In a 1988 letter to a journalist, Manchette said:
" After that, as I did not have to belong to any kind of literary school, I entered a very different work area. In seven years, I have not done anything good. I'm still working at it."
In 1989, finally having found new territory he wanted to explore, Manchette started writing a new novel, La Princesse du Sang" ("Blood Princess"), an international thriller, which was supposed to be the first book in a new cycle, a series of novels covering five decades from the post-war period to present times. He died from cancer before completing it.
Starting in 1996, a year after Manchette's death, several unpublished works were released, showing how very active he was during in the years preceding his death.
In 2009, Fantagraphics Books released an English-language version of French cartoonist Jacques Tardi's adaptation of Le petit bleu, under the new English title 'West Coast Blues.' Fantagraphics released a second Tardi adaptation, of "La Position du tireur couché" (under the title "Like a Sniper Lining Up His Shot" ) in the summer of 2011, and has scheduled a third one, of "Ô Dingos! Ô Châteaux!" (under the title "Run Like Crazy Run Like Hell") in summer 2014. Manchette himself was a fan of comics, and his praised translation of Alan Moore's Watchmen into French remains in print.
Manchette was politically to the left and his writing reflects this through his analysis of social positions and culture. His books are reminiscent of the nouvelle vague crime films of Jean-Pierre Melville, employing a similarly cool, existential style on a typically American genre (film noir for Melville and pulp novels for Manchette).
Three of his novels have been translated into English. Two were published by San Francisco publisher City Lights Books (3 To Kill [from the French "Le petit bleu de la côte ouest"] and The Prone Gunman [from the French "La Position du tireur couché"]). A third, Fatale, was released by New York Review Books Classics in 2011.
Manchette believed he had gone full circle with his last novel, which he conceived as a "closure" of his Noir fiction. In a 1988 letter to a journalist, Manchette said:
" After that, as I did not have to belong to any kind of literary school, I entered a very different work area. In seven years, I have not done anything good. I'm still working at it."
In 1989, finally having found new territory he wanted to explore, Manchette started writing a new novel, La Princesse du Sang" ("Blood Princess"), an international thriller, which was supposed to be the first book in a new cycle, a series of novels covering five decades from the post-war period to present times. He died from cancer before completing it.
Starting in 1996, a year after Manchette's death, several unpublished works were released, showing how very active he was during in the years preceding his death.
In 2009, Fantagraphics Books released an English-language version of French cartoonist Jacques Tardi's adaptation of Le petit bleu, under the new English title 'West Coast Blues.' Fantagraphics released a second Tardi adaptation, of "La Position du tireur couché" (under the title "Like a Sniper Lining Up His Shot" ) in the summer of 2011, and has scheduled a third one, of "Ô Dingos! Ô Châteaux!" (under the title "Run Like Crazy Run Like Hell") in summer 2014. Manchette himself was a fan of comics, and his praised translation of Alan Moore's Watchmen into French remains in print.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 182 reviews
December 25, 2020
Jean-Patrick Manchette (1942-1995) – French crime novelist who revived the genre in France beginning in the 1970s with his super-cool style of extreme violence mixed with caustic social and political commentary.
In Elmore Leonard’s novel Tishomingo Blues, stunt diver Dennis Lenahan, an honest, straightlaced athlete, is practicing his stunt platform diving eighty feet above a pool of water behind a Tunica, Mississippi hotel when he witnesses a murder and is subsequently embroiled in the murky, deadly world of crime. It’s this clashing of two worlds that makes Leonard’s novel so compelling.
There's a similar dynamic in Three to Kill where Georges Gerfaut, an everyday kind of guy, a company manager, an engineer by education, through the simple act of providing aid to a victim of a car crash, becomes a prime target for two seasoned hit men.
I'm not giving anything away here since right up front in the first chapters we come across an example of Jean-Patrick's slick foreshadowing: “The attempt on Gerfaut’s life did not take place immediately, but it was not long in coming: just three days.”
The novel's rapid-fire action will bring to mind such films as Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill. And, oh, how music blares on radios and stereos, jazz and popular singers like Leonard Cohen, no big surprise, since jazz and popular music are kings in snazzy, hip 1970s France. And let’s recall Jean-Patrick Manchette was himself a jazz sax player.
Cars and guns also receive a special call out - for such a cool, new brand of crime fiction we have not just a red sedan but a Lancia Beta 1800, not just a target pistol but a SIG P210-5 9mm automatic. These souped-up objects pack a punch, provide the speed, add a dash of glamour and give the men and women in Manchette’s world an enhanced identity.
Even more than his jazz sax, let’s not forget Manchette was also involved in leftist Marxist politics prior to becoming a crime writer. His interest in politics, specifically the pitfalls and corrosiveness of capitalism comes through loud and clear. For example, one of the characters, a kingpin of killing from the Dominican Republic, was a leader in the military responsible for torturing and murdering peasants affiliated with the revolutionary leftist, anti-capitalists. The lesson to be learned: how money and power corrupt and quickly lead to violence, a way of dealing with problems that spills over into the general society where anyone can be the victim of an eruption of violence in the least likely of places, swimming among a crown at a beach or pumping gas at a service station.
In such a modern world, life imitates art, men and women continually envision themselves as a character in a work of contemporary fiction, or more usually, an American action film. This is exactly the case when Georges Gerfaut finds himself in a life-threatening predicament that reminds him both of a crime novel and a American Western. Such is life in the late twentieth century - images and memories are linked not with classical literature or lessons learned in school but with popular culture and the crustiness of the here and now. Thus, these great lines: “From an aesthetic point of view, the landscape was highly romantic. From Gerfaut’s point of view, it was absolute shit.”
Fortunately, the world still contains people who are not all about greed and ego – an old man helps Gerfaut not to be paid but for that good old-time feeling: compassion for another human being. On the other end of the spectrum, Gerfaut encounters a young lady who tells him, “When I was nineteen I married a surgeon. He was crazily in love with me, the moron. It was only a civil marriage. We were divorced after five years, and I took him for every penny I could get.”
We might think Manchette is making an observation about the older and younger generations but this would be short-sighted since there are other oldsters who exhibit a fair share of greed and ego and younger people who are kind. Perhaps this is the more accurate expression of the author’s philosophy: as powerful as social forces can be, we are still free to choose what type of people we become.
Life is rarely all black and white. Manchette captures the humanity of the two hit men, their squabbling, their fatigue, their suffering, even their tastes in food and reading material, the young one likes comics, especially Spiderman. And that kingpin of killing, Alonso, boss of the two hit men, has warm, fuzzy feelings for Elizabeth, his bull mastiff, occasionally giving her an extra helping of meat. Alonso also enjoys listening to Mendelssohn or Liszt and reads war novels by C.S. Forester when he isn’t looking at photos in Playboy and masturbating, mostly without success.
I can imagine many readers in France and elsewhere over the years have put themselves in Georges Gerfaut’s shoes. Even the meekest accountant-type has dreams of adventure and danger but, alas, the vast majority of middle-aged men (and women) are never attacked by hit men or take up automatic weapons to extract revenge against a killer. That’s the way it goes – at least they can read about Georges.
One last reflection. I read where critic Chris Morgan cites how Manchette would find today’s noir alien to his sensibilities since, to take one example, David Lynch's films are voyeuristic rather than crusading, viewing depravity at a safe distance rather than confronting such degrading behavior directly.
For Jean-Patrick Manchette, morality is a key to building a good society and his cool, violent novels served as his vehicle to wake people up to this truth.
Jean-Patrick Manchette (1942-1995)
September 13, 2020
Μόλις διάβασα ένα και γαμώ τα βιβλία. Η ιστορία «με είχε» από την αρχή μέχρι το τέλος. Μα πρώτα απ’ όλα βρισκόμαστε στο Παρίσι και στα χι ψι θέρετρα του Ατλαντικού. Φυσικά και θα με είχε. Κάθε λεπτομέρεια μου έπαιζε κι από ένα παιχνίδι ατμόσφαιρας, από τις τζαζίλες και τις μπλουζιές μέχρι τα gitanes και το Habit Rouge του Guerlain που η μυρωδιά του ήρθε στη μύτη μου.
Μια μικροανωμαλία εντοπίστηκε στην κουκίδα αυτή του σύμπαντος, εκεί κοντά στο Παρίσι, θαρρείς. Η εντροπία εντάθηκε κι έτσι πήγαν κι έγιναν διάφορες μικροενέργειες για την επιδιόρθωση του σφάλματος. Μικροδιορθωτικές κινήσεις για μια κάποια αποκατάσταση. Κι αυτή η διεργασία λαμβάνει ίσως χώρα αέναα, στο συν άπειρο.
Είναι σαν να έβλεπα ένα έργο, από αυτά τα γαλλικά τα κουκουρούκου που παλιότερα θα με έκαναν έξαλλη καθότι θα με άφηναν μετέωρη στο τέλος, που όμως τώρα αυτό το ατελές τέλος είναι που θα με «τσακώσει», το τέλος που θα λάβει χώρα μέσα στο μυαλό μου μετά την ταινία.
Θα έλεγα ότι είναι μια ιστορία βουτηγμένη μέσα στο παράλογο και την παραφροσύνη, όπως είναι δηλαδή και η ίδια η ζωή στην οποία ζούμε. Ατμόσφαιρα σκοτεινή, με απλότητα, με υπαρξιακές και πολιτικές μικροδόσεις, σε ανιχνεύσιμες ποσότητες τόσο όσο. Δε χρειάζεται όμως και τόση ανάλυση.
Αν είναι έτσι αυτό το néo-polar, θα ήθελα κι άλλο, μαζί με ένα 4 roses, merci.
Μια μικροανωμαλία εντοπίστηκε στην κουκίδα αυτή του σύμπαντος, εκεί κοντά στο Παρίσι, θαρρείς. Η εντροπία εντάθηκε κι έτσι πήγαν κι έγιναν διάφορες μικροενέργειες για την επιδιόρθωση του σφάλματος. Μικροδιορθωτικές κινήσεις για μια κάποια αποκατάσταση. Κι αυτή η διεργασία λαμβάνει ίσως χώρα αέναα, στο συν άπειρο.
Είναι σαν να έβλεπα ένα έργο, από αυτά τα γαλλικά τα κουκουρούκου που παλιότερα θα με έκαναν έξαλλη καθότι θα με άφηναν μετέωρη στο τέλος, που όμως τώρα αυτό το ατελές τέλος είναι που θα με «τσακώσει», το τέλος που θα λάβει χώρα μέσα στο μυαλό μου μετά την ταινία.
Θα έλεγα ότι είναι μια ιστορία βουτηγμένη μέσα στο παράλογο και την παραφροσύνη, όπως είναι δηλαδή και η ίδια η ζωή στην οποία ζούμε. Ατμόσφαιρα σκοτεινή, με απλότητα, με υπαρξιακές και πολιτικές μικροδόσεις, σε ανιχνεύσιμες ποσότητες τόσο όσο. Δε χρειάζεται όμως και τόση ανάλυση.
Αν είναι έτσι αυτό το néo-polar, θα ήθελα κι άλλο, μαζί με ένα 4 roses, merci.
September 10, 2018
I so love this book. Originally published in 1976 and republished by City Light Books of San Francisco in 2002, it seems the blueprint for some of the best cinema of the past twenty years. It has the unmistakable tongue-in-cheek wildly casual violence of a film like Get Shorty but does it with such savoir faire that one knows this author is a true original. I note the author died a young man in 1995, but he wrote for the cinema also and indeed many scenes in this delightfully concise crime novel seem to contain their own stage direction.
A successful, disdainful sales executive finds himself first to the scene of a car wreck, and having delivered the injured motorist to the hospital, finds himself pursued by hitmen.
It was such a relief to find myself in the hands of a master after a string of effortful new novels: slightly over 100 pages in length, it offers more delight than many do with three times the length. This is as much a classic as a Dashiell Hammett mystery and one hopes and expects Manchette is better known in France than he is abroad.
A successful, disdainful sales executive finds himself first to the scene of a car wreck, and having delivered the injured motorist to the hospital, finds himself pursued by hitmen.
It was such a relief to find myself in the hands of a master after a string of effortful new novels: slightly over 100 pages in length, it offers more delight than many do with three times the length. This is as much a classic as a Dashiell Hammett mystery and one hopes and expects Manchette is better known in France than he is abroad.
April 28, 2019
Ένας εραστής της τζαζ, της λογοτεχνίας, του καλού σκοτσέζικου/ενίοτε και μπερμπον, ένας εραστής της ζωής, χωρίς απαραίτητα αρχή, μέση και τέλος..
J.P. Manchette
J.P. Manchette
January 3, 2021
Good Samaritan Georges Gerfaut received no thanks for bringing an accident victim to the hospital. It was found that the victim had been shot before he crashed the car, and Georges was a possible witness. The killers now had Georges in their sights. After several attempts on his life, Georges goes on the run. He wants to find out who and why these hit-men are trying to kill him, and eliminate them first. Georges is also a man stuck in a rut in a bland life. He recharges himself while he is in hiding, rises to the challenge when he is in danger, and does not hesitate to use vigilante justice.
Although Jean-Patrick Manchette uses a spare writing style, he gives a vivid picture of Georges. He is a middle manager salesman who likes to knock back Cutty Sark, smoke Gitanes, drive expensive fast cars, listen to jazz, and has left political leanings. Georges resembles his creator quite a bit. This is a fast-paced, noir mystery with lots of suspense and black humor packed into 134 pages. The translator, Donald Nicholson-Smith, did a great job too.
Although Jean-Patrick Manchette uses a spare writing style, he gives a vivid picture of Georges. He is a middle manager salesman who likes to knock back Cutty Sark, smoke Gitanes, drive expensive fast cars, listen to jazz, and has left political leanings. Georges resembles his creator quite a bit. This is a fast-paced, noir mystery with lots of suspense and black humor packed into 134 pages. The translator, Donald Nicholson-Smith, did a great job too.
May 20, 2018
Ίσως ο μοναδικός μη-Αμερικανός που θα μπορούσε να υπερηφανευθεί πως έγραψε Noir ως… Αμερικανός (όπως αντίστοιχα ο Jean-Pierre Melville, είναι ο μόνος Ευρωπαίος που έκανε κάτι αντίστοιχο στο σινεμά). Πρόκειται φυσικά για τιμητικό τίτλο, δεδομένου πως το είδος αυτό αποτελεί γέννημα-θρέμμα της απέναντι όχθης του Ατλαντικού.
Διευκρινίζω εδώ πως -σε αντίθεση με τα βρετανικά αστυνομικά, τα σκανδιναβικά θρίλερ κ.ο.κ.- το Noir είναι Λογοτεχνία και οι συγγραφείς που ασχολήθηκαν (οι καλύτεροι εξ αυτών) Λογοτέχνες.
Ο Manchette ήταν από τους κορυφαίους του είδους – στυλίστας που θα μπορούσε άνετα να εισέλθει στο Πάνθεον, δίπλα στον αγαπημένο του R. Chandler. Το "Μελαγχολικό κομμάτι…" ανήκει στις κορυφαίες του στιγμές.
Διευκρινίζω εδώ πως -σε αντίθεση με τα βρετανικά αστυνομικά, τα σκανδιναβικά θρίλερ κ.ο.κ.- το Noir είναι Λογοτεχνία και οι συγγραφείς που ασχολήθηκαν (οι καλύτεροι εξ αυτών) Λογοτέχνες.
Ο Manchette ήταν από τους κορυφαίους του είδους – στυλίστας που θα μπορούσε άνετα να εισέλθει στο Πάνθεον, δίπλα στον αγαπημένο του R. Chandler. Το "Μελαγχολικό κομμάτι…" ανήκει στις κορυφαίες του στιγμές.
May 29, 2023
Very simple setup and a whole lot of action. Can't miss with Manchette.
July 2, 2017
Το πρώτο κομμάτι του βιβλίου εξελίσσεται στις αρχές Ιουλίου -στην αρχή των διακοπών ενός συνηθισμένου στελέχους με οικογένεια. Ίδιες μέρες δηλαδή που διάβασα το βιβλίο, με έναν καύσωνα που τα έκαψε όλα. Αυτό το βιβλίο κατάφερε να με κάνει να σκεφτώ το τσιγάρο που έχω κόψει έστω για λίγα λεπτά...Μου έφερε αναμνήσεις, τότε που ο μπαμπάς μας νοίκιαζε σε VHS ταινίες νουαρ και εμείς τρέχαμε τα απογεύματα του Σαββάτου ή της Κυριακής να ρουφίξουμε. Μου έφερε αναμνήσεις με τσιγάρα και ανεμιστήρες. Αναμνήσεις με Cutty και νερό στη Μυτιλήνη. Και πιο πρόσφατες αναμνήσεις, με κατεβασμένες γκρίλιες στο σπίτι του φίλου μου με μια δισκοθήκη τζαζ δίσκους και να προσπαθεί να μου μάθει τί είναι τζαζ. Πόσο μάστορας ο Manchette και πόσο κρατάει τον αναγνώστη του. O Manchette εκπρόσωπος του "νεο-πολαρ" και "νονός" των όσων όμορφων νεο-πολαρ διαβάζουμε απο τη Γαλλία, στο επιμετρο του βιβλίου έχει παραχωρήσει μια ενδιαφέρουσα συνεντευξη στο περιοδικό POLAR τον Ιούνιο του 1980. Παραθέτω το απόσπασμα: "Και εμείς κι αυτοί θα συνεχίσουμε να κάνουμε τη δουλειά μας, παρόλο που μας κατατρέχουν η αγορά, η κριτική και δυό χιλιάδες χρόνια πολιτισμού που είναι στοιβαγμένα πάνω στα κεφάλια μας. Ή θα πεθάνουμε ή θα είμαστε ηλίθιοι. Μπορούμε επίσης να τρελαθούμε, είναι πιο μοντέρνο. Η πρόγνωσή μου για τη συνέχεια είναι εντελώς δυσοίωνη". Αυτά και καλή ανάγνωση, εάν και εφ'όσον το βρείτε διότι έχει εξαντληθεί!
August 22, 2015
Excellent, very fast-paced thriller. Loved it!
February 6, 2022
Τι βιβλίο!!!
May 12, 2020
This novella-length noir thriller by the late Jean-Patrick Manchette (translated into English) held me both riveted and saw me dusting off my well-thumbed France Road Atlas (2002 edition) for the second time this year. A one-time political activist, the author is credited with reinvigorating the French novel, a worthy successor to Simeon.
His protagonist is Georges Gerfaut, unassuming middle-manager, loyal husband and father of two daughters who, on the eve of the annual family vacation on the coast, does the noble thing by stopping at a road accident and takes the bleeding driver to a hospital in Troyes, then walks out, unaware that his sheltered life is about to be shattered, by two hitmen sent to eliminate him.
The writing here is constrained, with the narrative at times moving back and forth, as Gerfaut goes on the run, suffering hardships that living on the fringe of society entails, finding friendship in unlikely places, until – spurred by tragedy he returns to Paris to investigate the scene of the accident and discovers the driver’s identity. Part pulp fiction, I agree with other reviewers on the similarity to Dashiell Hammett.
Verdict: well worth a look.
His protagonist is Georges Gerfaut, unassuming middle-manager, loyal husband and father of two daughters who, on the eve of the annual family vacation on the coast, does the noble thing by stopping at a road accident and takes the bleeding driver to a hospital in Troyes, then walks out, unaware that his sheltered life is about to be shattered, by two hitmen sent to eliminate him.
The writing here is constrained, with the narrative at times moving back and forth, as Gerfaut goes on the run, suffering hardships that living on the fringe of society entails, finding friendship in unlikely places, until – spurred by tragedy he returns to Paris to investigate the scene of the accident and discovers the driver’s identity. Part pulp fiction, I agree with other reviewers on the similarity to Dashiell Hammett.
Verdict: well worth a look.
July 6, 2021
Most folks who find themselves pursued by hired killers after witnessing a murder would roll over and give up, but not Georges Gerfaut. Gerfaut is a pretty tough dude, much to his surprise. Three people want him dead? They're welcome to try, if Gerfaut doesn't get them first.
Three to Kill is another slim thriller from Jean-Patrick Manchette (who writes twice as well as most Americans, and at half the length), and it is so much better than Fatale. After Manchette's first book, I was intrigued. After this one, I'm a fan. It's damn near perfect. Check it out.
Three to Kill is another slim thriller from Jean-Patrick Manchette (who writes twice as well as most Americans, and at half the length), and it is so much better than Fatale. After Manchette's first book, I was intrigued. After this one, I'm a fan. It's damn near perfect. Check it out.
June 29, 2025
Μέχρι στιγμής η μόνη επαφή που είχα με τον Μανσετ ήταν μέσω φίλων και λοιπών αναγνωστών που επισήμαναν την αξία του για κάθε άτομο που του αρέσει το νουάρ και τα λογοτεχνικά παρακλάδια του. Πράγματι, η νουάρ λογοτεχνία έρχεται συχνά πυκνά στο αναγνωστικό μου προσκήνιο, καθώς αναγνωρίζω τη σημασία της να είναι ταυτόχρονα εγγυημένα καλή λογοτεχνία, αλλά παράλληλα να μην θεωρείται 'βαρια'. Τέλος πάντων, για να μην πολυλογω, το ραντεβού μου με τον Μανσετ ήταν διαρκώς αναβαλλομενο, χωρίς κανένα λόγο και για αυτό αποφάσισα να τον συναντήσω μέσα από το Μελαγχολικό Κομμάτι της Δυτικής Ακτής.
Ξεκίνησα την ανάγνωση χωρίς καμία προσδοκία και με τα ελάχιστα λόγια του οπισθοφυλλου σαν εισαγωγή. Ο Ζωρζ Ζερφω τρέχει σε έναν αυτοκινητόδρομο ακούγοντας τζαζ και έχοντας καθαρίσει δύο άτομα μέσα στο προηγούμενο έτος. Όχι η τυπική αρχή για νουάρ, αλλά μια αρχή που αρμόζει σε έναν συγγραφέα σαν τον Μανσετ. Γιατί ο τελευταίος γράφει στη ταραγμένη γαλλική δεκαετία του 1970 που παίρνει τη σκυτάλη από τις προηγούμενες δεκαετίες αναταραχών: ο πόλεμος στην Αλγερία, το 68, ο Ντε Γκωλ είναι προσφατα γεγονότα και έχουν βοηθήσει στη ζύμωση του λογοτέχνη Μανσετ, αλλά και στους χαρακτήρες του. Ο Ζερφω δεν είναι ένας έμπειρος ιδιωτικός ντετέκτιβ που θα λύσει την υπόθεση, αλλά ένας μικροαστός που δουλεύει σε μια εταιρεία και που βλέπει μέσα από το γυαλί της ρουτίνας τους πρώην συντρόφους του να κυρησσουν απεργίες, να διαδηλώνουν και να μάχονται για τα δικαιώματα τους.
Η απόφαση του να βοηθήσει έναν άνθρωπο που ήταν στόχος δύο δολοφόνων θα τον εμπλέξει σε μια χιτσκοκικη περιπέτεια εφάμιλλη του North by Northwest, δείχνοντας ταυτόχρονα την κινηματογραφική φλέβα που κατέχει ο Μανσετ στη γραφή του.
Το κυριότερο όμως είναι πως ουσιαστικά ο Ζερφω είναι ένας χαρακτήρας εγκλωβισμένος στον μικροαστισμο του και που ξαφνικά του δίνεται η δυνατότητα να βρει διέξοδο στη ρουτίνα του μέσω της περιπέτειας. Είναι δε εκπληκτικό του πόσο ξεκάθαρο μας κάνει ο Μανσετ να καταλάβουμε τον μηδενισμό που διακατέχει τον Ζερφω, ο οποίος βουτάει σε αυτή τη περιπέτεια χωρίς να ξέρει κολύμπι, αλλά με κάθε πρόθεση να γλυτώσει από την ασφάλεια της ακτής που έφτιαξε ο ίδιος για τον εαυτό του. Είναι επίσης σημαντικό πως όσο η ζωή του Ζερφω περιπλέκεται, αυτός δεν έχει καν πρόθεση να κοιτάξει πίσω. Η καταδίωξη, ο νέος έρωτας, η φύση έρχονται σε ευθεία αντιπαραβολή με το γραφείο, την οικογένεια, και το Παρίσι και τον κάνουν να νιώθει πιο ζωντανός από ποτέ.
Ίσως εδώ ο Μανσετ να προβάλει τις δικές του αντιλήψεις σχετικά με τους κοινωνικούς αγώνες της προηγούμενης δεκαετίας και το ποσό ατελεσφοροι ήταν. Ίσως ο Ζερφω να είναι η ενσάρκωση της απογοήτευσης που προκύπτει όταν μια ζωή ή έστω μερικά έντονα χρόνια σκληρών πολιτικών αγώνων δεν αποβαίνουν πουθενά και κάνουν τους πρωταγωνιστές τους είτε παρωχημενους, είτε μέλη επιχειρήσεων τις οποίες θα είχαν στο στόχαστρο πριν μερικά χρόνια.
Ίσως πάλι ο Ζερφω να είναι η προβολή των σκέψεων και συναισθημάτων του Μανσετ. Ας είναι τοτε. Ακόμη και η νουάρ λογοτεχνία μπορεί να επωφεληθεί στο μέγιστο από τα προσωπικά βιώματα του συγγραφέα και να οδηγήσει σε κάτι μοναδικό.
Ξεκίνησα την ανάγνωση χωρίς καμία προσδοκία και με τα ελάχιστα λόγια του οπισθοφυλλου σαν εισαγωγή. Ο Ζωρζ Ζερφω τρέχει σε έναν αυτοκινητόδρομο ακούγοντας τζαζ και έχοντας καθαρίσει δύο άτομα μέσα στο προηγούμενο έτος. Όχι η τυπική αρχή για νουάρ, αλλά μια αρχή που αρμόζει σε έναν συγγραφέα σαν τον Μανσετ. Γιατί ο τελευταίος γράφει στη ταραγμένη γαλλική δεκαετία του 1970 που παίρνει τη σκυτάλη από τις προηγούμενες δεκαετίες αναταραχών: ο πόλεμος στην Αλγερία, το 68, ο Ντε Γκωλ είναι προσφατα γεγονότα και έχουν βοηθήσει στη ζύμωση του λογοτέχνη Μανσετ, αλλά και στους χαρακτήρες του. Ο Ζερφω δεν είναι ένας έμπειρος ιδιωτικός ντετέκτιβ που θα λύσει την υπόθεση, αλλά ένας μικροαστός που δουλεύει σε μια εταιρεία και που βλέπει μέσα από το γυαλί της ρουτίνας τους πρώην συντρόφους του να κυρησσουν απεργίες, να διαδηλώνουν και να μάχονται για τα δικαιώματα τους.
Η απόφαση του να βοηθήσει έναν άνθρωπο που ήταν στόχος δύο δολοφόνων θα τον εμπλέξει σε μια χιτσκοκικη περιπέτεια εφάμιλλη του North by Northwest, δείχνοντας ταυτόχρονα την κινηματογραφική φλέβα που κατέχει ο Μανσετ στη γραφή του.
Το κυριότερο όμως είναι πως ουσιαστικά ο Ζερφω είναι ένας χαρακτήρας εγκλωβισμένος στον μικροαστισμο του και που ξαφνικά του δίνεται η δυνατότητα να βρει διέξοδο στη ρουτίνα του μέσω της περιπέτειας. Είναι δε εκπληκτικό του πόσο ξεκάθαρο μας κάνει ο Μανσετ να καταλάβουμε τον μηδενισμό που διακατέχει τον Ζερφω, ο οποίος βουτάει σε αυτή τη περιπέτεια χωρίς να ξέρει κολύμπι, αλλά με κάθε πρόθεση να γλυτώσει από την ασφάλεια της ακτής που έφτιαξε ο ίδιος για τον εαυτό του. Είναι επίσης σημαντικό πως όσο η ζωή του Ζερφω περιπλέκεται, αυτός δεν έχει καν πρόθεση να κοιτάξει πίσω. Η καταδίωξη, ο νέος έρωτας, η φύση έρχονται σε ευθεία αντιπαραβολή με το γραφείο, την οικογένεια, και το Παρίσι και τον κάνουν να νιώθει πιο ζωντανός από ποτέ.
Ίσως εδώ ο Μανσετ να προβάλει τις δικές του αντιλήψεις σχετικά με τους κοινωνικούς αγώνες της προηγούμενης δεκαετίας και το ποσό ατελεσφοροι ήταν. Ίσως ο Ζερφω να είναι η ενσάρκωση της απογοήτευσης που προκύπτει όταν μια ζωή ή έστω μερικά έντονα χρόνια σκληρών πολιτικών αγώνων δεν αποβαίνουν πουθενά και κάνουν τους πρωταγωνιστές τους είτε παρωχημενους, είτε μέλη επιχειρήσεων τις οποίες θα είχαν στο στόχαστρο πριν μερικά χρόνια.
Ίσως πάλι ο Ζερφω να είναι η προβολή των σκέψεων και συναισθημάτων του Μανσετ. Ας είναι τοτε. Ακόμη και η νουάρ λογοτεχνία μπορεί να επωφεληθεί στο μέγιστο από τα προσωπικά βιώματα του συγγραφέα και να οδηγήσει σε κάτι μοναδικό.
June 10, 2012
Three to Kill is the last of the Manchette ouevre currently translated in to English and I seem to have saved the best for last. This slim volume is a matter of factly violent novel, an indictment of the spurious nature of the petite bourgeois lifestyle, a wilderness adventure tale of self discovery in the vein of The Thirty-Nine Steps and a bleak piece of noir existentialism rolled in to one.
The influence of Georges Simenon is more obviously evident than ever, this being the story of a lost middle manager rejecting the self imposed shackles of his life after a traumatic event - his attempted murder in this case - and much like Kees Popinga realising that life can continue without possessions and that cosmetic appearances are not as important as he first thought.
Whilst the criticism of French society isn't as direct as in his other novels the message is as obvious as ever, especially with the fabulously unexpected (and perhaps implausible) final chapter turning the screw just a little tighter. As with Simenon and even the Martin Beck series of literary crime novels the criticism of society and human nature in the work of Manchette walks hand in hand with and even subjugates the crimes themselves and it is for this that Manchette is seemingly deified by French critics.
I hope that there are more Manchette's being translated for future publication as he was a wonderful novellist who could achieve much more with his prose as others in a quarter of the word count and I just can't see myself learning French any time soon sadly.
The influence of Georges Simenon is more obviously evident than ever, this being the story of a lost middle manager rejecting the self imposed shackles of his life after a traumatic event - his attempted murder in this case - and much like Kees Popinga realising that life can continue without possessions and that cosmetic appearances are not as important as he first thought.
Whilst the criticism of French society isn't as direct as in his other novels the message is as obvious as ever, especially with the fabulously unexpected (and perhaps implausible) final chapter turning the screw just a little tighter. As with Simenon and even the Martin Beck series of literary crime novels the criticism of society and human nature in the work of Manchette walks hand in hand with and even subjugates the crimes themselves and it is for this that Manchette is seemingly deified by French critics.
I hope that there are more Manchette's being translated for future publication as he was a wonderful novellist who could achieve much more with his prose as others in a quarter of the word count and I just can't see myself learning French any time soon sadly.
January 11, 2026
First read, 2015. This is a reread. 4.5 rounded up
Marvelous bit of noir. I can see why Houllebeque's early style is said to have been modelled on Manchette.
Marvelous bit of noir. I can see why Houllebeque's early style is said to have been modelled on Manchette.
April 1, 2010
Another lean, perfect slice of noir genius from Manchette. He takes the pulp thriller loads it with irony, political disgust, graphic violence, unpredictable plot twists, believable characters, and black humor and makes it only something Manchette could write.
March 13, 2022
Ένας καλός Σαμαρείτης γίνεται στόχος επαγγελματιών δολοφόνων εξαιτίας της καλής του πράξης και αναγκάζεται να αφήσει για λίγο τη ρουτινιάρικη συμβιβασμένη ζωή του. Η ιστορία κλιμακώνεται εξαιρετικά μέχρι το φινάλε, κρατώντας σταθερά το ενδιαφέρον. Σίγουρα θα αναζητήσω και άλλα βιβλία του Μάνσετ.
March 14, 2015
Τρίτο βιβλίο του Ζαν Πατρίκ Μανσέτ που διαβάζω, μετά το "Μοιραία" και το "Η πρηνής θέση του σκοπευτή". Η "Μοιραία" ήταν ένα αργό στην αρχή, αλλά ιδιαίτερα γρήγορο και βίαιο από την μέση και μετά βιβλίο, με δυνατές εικόνες και απλό αλλά ενδιαφέρον σενάριο. "Η πρηνής θέση του σκοπευτή", πάλι, ήταν ένα εξαιρετικό νουάρ μυθιστόρημα με πολύ καλοδουλεμένο σενάριο, γαμάτη ατμόσφαιρα και ενδιαφέροντες χαρακτήρες.
Το "Μελαγχολικό κομμάτι της δυτικής ακτής" μου φάνηκε το ίδιο εξαιρετικό με τα προηγούμενα δυο βιβλία, μικρό σε μέγεθος αλλά γεμάτο σε πλοκή και βία.
Ο Ζορζ Ζερφό είναι εμπορικό στέλεχος μιας θυγατρικής της ΙΤΤ και πατέρας δυο παιδιών. Σε κάποια από τις βόλτες του δίχως συγκεκριμένο προορισμό με το αυτοκίνητό του, βλέπει στην άκρη του δρόμου ένα τρακαρισμένο αυτοκίνητο και έναν άντρα εμφανώς τραυματισμένο στο καπό του αυτοκινήτου. Την ίδια ώρα περνάει σαν σφαίρα από δίπλα ένα άλλο αυτοκίνητο (...). Ο Ζερφό παίρνει τον τραυματισμένο άντρα, τον βάζει στο αυτοκίνητό του και τον μεταφέρει στο νοσοκομείο της κοντινότερης πόλης. Εκεί όμως αλλάζει γνώμη, δεν μένει για να δώσει τα στοιχεία του και να τον δουν αστυνομικοί και φεύγει.
Μετά από μέρες φεύγει με την οικογένεια του για καλοκαιρινές διακοπές. Στην παραλία θα γίνει μια απόπειρα δολοφονίας εναντίον του από δυο άγνωστους άντρες. Θα την γλιτώσει και θα ξεφύγει. Και από τότε αρχίζει ένα κυνηγητό και μπόλικες αιματηρές σκηνές θα ακολουθήσουν. Η ζωή του Ζερφό θα αλλάξει δραματικά για πολλούς μήνες. Ο Ζερφό, όμως, θα αποδειχτεί πολύ σκληρό καρύδι... Και κάποια στιγμή θα μάθει ποιοι και γιατί τον κυνηγάνε.
Εξαιρετική νουάρ ατμόσφαιρα, απλή αλλά ενδιαφέρουσα πλοκή, καλοί χαρακτήρες και ωραίες περιγραφές των σκηνών βίας, των ανθρώπων και των τοπίων. Η γραφή του Μανσέτ κλασικά σε υψηλά επίπεδα, με το γνωστό χιούμορ του. Σίγουρα από τους αγαπημένους μου συγγραφείς αστυνομικών μυθιστορημάτων, θα αναζητήσω και τα υπόλοιπα βιβλία του που έχουν μεταφραστεί στα ελληνικά. Εξαιρετικός συγγραφέας που σε λίγες σελίδες μπορεί να γράψει δυνατές ιστορίες με βάθος.
Το "Μελαγχολικό κομμάτι της δυτικής ακτής" μου φάνηκε το ίδιο εξαιρετικό με τα προηγούμενα δυο βιβλία, μικρό σε μέγεθος αλλά γεμάτο σε πλοκή και βία.
Ο Ζορζ Ζερφό είναι εμπορικό στέλεχος μιας θυγατρικής της ΙΤΤ και πατέρας δυο παιδιών. Σε κάποια από τις βόλτες του δίχως συγκεκριμένο προορισμό με το αυτοκίνητό του, βλέπει στην άκρη του δρόμου ένα τρακαρισμένο αυτοκίνητο και έναν άντρα εμφανώς τραυματισμένο στο καπό του αυτοκινήτου. Την ίδια ώρα περνάει σαν σφαίρα από δίπλα ένα άλλο αυτοκίνητο (...). Ο Ζερφό παίρνει τον τραυματισμένο άντρα, τον βάζει στο αυτοκίνητό του και τον μεταφέρει στο νοσοκομείο της κοντινότερης πόλης. Εκεί όμως αλλάζει γνώμη, δεν μένει για να δώσει τα στοιχεία του και να τον δουν αστυνομικοί και φεύγει.
Μετά από μέρες φεύγει με την οικογένεια του για καλοκαιρινές διακοπές. Στην παραλία θα γίνει μια απόπειρα δολοφονίας εναντίον του από δυο άγνωστους άντρες. Θα την γλιτώσει και θα ξεφύγει. Και από τότε αρχίζει ένα κυνηγητό και μπόλικες αιματηρές σκηνές θα ακολουθήσουν. Η ζωή του Ζερφό θα αλλάξει δραματικά για πολλούς μήνες. Ο Ζερφό, όμως, θα αποδειχτεί πολύ σκληρό καρύδι... Και κάποια στιγμή θα μάθει ποιοι και γιατί τον κυνηγάνε.
Εξαιρετική νουάρ ατμόσφαιρα, απλή αλλά ενδιαφέρουσα πλοκή, καλοί χαρακτήρες και ωραίες περιγραφές των σκηνών βίας, των ανθρώπων και των τοπίων. Η γραφή του Μανσέτ κλασικά σε υψηλά επίπεδα, με το γνωστό χιούμορ του. Σίγουρα από τους αγαπημένους μου συγγραφείς αστυνομικών μυθιστορημάτων, θα αναζητήσω και τα υπόλοιπα βιβλία του που έχουν μεταφραστεί στα ελληνικά. Εξαιρετικός συγγραφέας που σε λίγες σελίδες μπορεί να γράψει δυνατές ιστορίες με βάθος.
Read
September 26, 2023A middling bourgeoise businessman is targeted for assassination, and finds himself forced to discover the tiger which has always lurked beneath his surface. Again Manchette shows an enormous genius for reconstituting hackneyed genre premise (in broad strokes this could be a very bad Liam Neeson movie) into a savage commentary on the hideous banalities of the modern age. At turns hysterical and horrifying, this is my favorite Manchette (no small praise), and something of a masterpiece. Strong recommendation
9.26.23 An assassination attempt offers a bourgeois father opportunity to escape his conventional existence, kill several people. One of Manchette's best.
9.26.23 An assassination attempt offers a bourgeois father opportunity to escape his conventional existence, kill several people. One of Manchette's best.
September 5, 2018
Jean-Patrick Manchette is, I am coming to believe, the French equivalent of Jim Thompson.
Three to Kill tells the story of George Gerfaut, a Paris businessman, who witnesses an auto accident late at night. He finds the driver still standing, but bleeding from his side. Gerfaut takes him to a nearby hospital and continues on his way without talking to the police. It turns out the accident was a foiled assassination attempt, and the bleeding was from a bullet. The assassins come after Gerfaut, who manages to kill both of them. Then he finds out who paid for the killings and goes after him. Quite satisfactory, if a little bloody at times.
This is the third Manchette I have read, and I find myself beginning to develop a taste for his work.
Three to Kill tells the story of George Gerfaut, a Paris businessman, who witnesses an auto accident late at night. He finds the driver still standing, but bleeding from his side. Gerfaut takes him to a nearby hospital and continues on his way without talking to the police. It turns out the accident was a foiled assassination attempt, and the bleeding was from a bullet. The assassins come after Gerfaut, who manages to kill both of them. Then he finds out who paid for the killings and goes after him. Quite satisfactory, if a little bloody at times.
This is the third Manchette I have read, and I find myself beginning to develop a taste for his work.
February 8, 2019
Perfect little thriller in its own way...should have read in French, I think it would "bite" more, but the translation by the great Donald Nicholson-Smith is excellent. Note to Ian Fleming, this is how you use brands (Guerlain, Cutty Sark) and music (west coast jazz) to set the scene, rather than incite aspiration.
November 12, 2013
So awesome! A tight, smart, and brutal noir, Three to Kill tells you right away who’s going to eat dirt (even the heavy’s dog is quickly marked for death), so Manchette can have you focus on the how and why. A more or less typical revenge plot - a guy in the wrong place at the wrong time becomes hunted, then hunter – is the foundation of a more interesting psychological study. The author considers how a relatively normal person could live an action movie cliché – become a “man of action” who can survive multiple assassination attempts by two seasoned hit men and then hunt down person who hired them. The solution of course, is, he’s stopped being a normal person. When we meet him, our protagonist is in a rut. Disillusioned but not quite sure by what, he uses a botched hit as an excuse to step outside of his life, family, and society in general. He starts his life over in the wilderness until one of the killers (and with him society) eventually finds him.
As I was reading I couldn’t help but be reminded of writing from J.G. Ballard and Slavoj Zizek. Manchette strips the main character of all his normal signifiers and expectations, giving him a freedom to act. But there is also another theme that explores how much of our personalities and even the tools of our rebellion are products of the system and environment we find ourselves in. Upon returning from almost a year out in the wilderness, and having dispatched the man who ordered the hit on him (and the justification for his life on the run), our protagonist has no other option but to resume his former life.
As I was reading I couldn’t help but be reminded of writing from J.G. Ballard and Slavoj Zizek. Manchette strips the main character of all his normal signifiers and expectations, giving him a freedom to act. But there is also another theme that explores how much of our personalities and even the tools of our rebellion are products of the system and environment we find ourselves in. Upon returning from almost a year out in the wilderness, and having dispatched the man who ordered the hit on him (and the justification for his life on the run), our protagonist has no other option but to resume his former life.
June 5, 2016
It is such a tremendous pleasure to find an author who for some reason or other has escaped me. Perhaps it was when I read a recent Fred Vargas that Manchete's name was quoted as an influence in another review. It has taken me a while since then to get into action and secure one of his more acclaimed tales.
Manchete's writing is wonderful. This is one of the very best crime fiction novels I have read, and they are numerous. Looking back at it, it is such a simple story, and yet so engrossing. It is 9 months in the life of Paris businessman, Georges Gerfaut. This period takes place just after the protagonist stop his car when driving on the peripherique late one night to help a fellow driver who has crashed.
It's total unpredictability appeals greatly. It is also one of those rare books where the violence, though quite extreme, is key to the story.
So I'm started, I am a Manchete fan. Unfortunately his short life means it won't take me long to get through all of his work, but I am thoroughly looking forward to it.
Manchete's writing is wonderful. This is one of the very best crime fiction novels I have read, and they are numerous. Looking back at it, it is such a simple story, and yet so engrossing. It is 9 months in the life of Paris businessman, Georges Gerfaut. This period takes place just after the protagonist stop his car when driving on the peripherique late one night to help a fellow driver who has crashed.
It's total unpredictability appeals greatly. It is also one of those rare books where the violence, though quite extreme, is key to the story.
So I'm started, I am a Manchete fan. Unfortunately his short life means it won't take me long to get through all of his work, but I am thoroughly looking forward to it.
November 3, 2015
Manchette is the type of author that never gives you a dull moment; he's always going in the direction that you think he's going, but without really drawing it out, people die just as quickly as they are born, no densely laid out suspense, just dead. Dead as dead can be.
It's all about the thrill and the music. Jazz mostly, light the cigarette, relax and enjoy the ride.
If you're into NYRB's as I am, check out his 'The Mad and the Bad' and 'Fatale'. If you want a noir with entertainment and a great atmosphere, check it out.
It's all about the thrill and the music. Jazz mostly, light the cigarette, relax and enjoy the ride.
If you're into NYRB's as I am, check out his 'The Mad and the Bad' and 'Fatale'. If you want a noir with entertainment and a great atmosphere, check it out.
October 17, 2020
review of
Jean-Patrick Manchette's 3 to Kill
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - October 16-17, 2020
I learned about this author by reading mention of him in Paco Ignacio Taibo II's Life Itself (my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ). Since Taibo is one of my favorite crime fiction writers I respect his opinion & decided to check out Manchette. I comment on this in the review:
""Send me a package by Frontier Bus Lines, a bunch of black ribbons for the Olivetti portable, the cotton ones they sell at the shop on the corner, as well as the original, which is in a red briefcase with a lock, and a pile of novels by J. P. Ma"[n]"chette that I left on my side of the bed" - p 10
"For those of you who may be too young to remember, an "Olivetti" is a brand of typewriter, so he's asking for the things that provide the ink that the keys impress upon. As for "Machette"? I don't know his or her work so I look them up online & find nothing. BUT THAT'S BECAUSE THE NAME WAS MISSPELLED "Machette" instead of "Manchette". Later in this bk it was spelled correctly so I looked for books by him again & ordered 5 online.
""If you're going to divorce me, for God's sake send me the blue turtleneck sweater and the aspirins, Manchette's novels,""
This is the 1st Manchette I've read. The main character, Georges Gerfaut, is presented partially in terms of his musical tastes. That always interests me.
"a tape player is quietly diffusing West Coast-style jazz: Gerry Mulligan, Jimmy Giuffre, Bud Shank, Chico Hamilton. I know, for instance, that at one point it is Rube Bloom and Ted Koehler's "Truckin'" that is playing, as recorded by the Bob Brookmeyer Quintet." - pp 3-4
One of the killers has a highly specific sexual fetish.
"Women were attracted to him. After a while they would discover that the only thing he wanted from women was to be beaten. He did not beat them in return and had absolutely no wish to penetrate them. So women would break off with him, except for the perversely sadistic ones. But he got rid of the perversely sadistic ones the moment he realized they were getting pleasure from beating him. They disgusted him, he said." - p 6
Wouldn't you love to read his online dating profile? Then there's the other guy from the Dominican Republic.
"To San Isidro were regularly brought persons suspected of collusion with the class enemy, and the job of the SIM under Alonso's direction was to make them talk by beating them, raping them, slicing them up, electrocuting them, castrating them, drowning them in places ingeniously designed for that purpose, and cutting their heads off.
"On 30 May 1961, Trujillo the Benefactor of the Fatherland got himself riddled with bullets on a road by a commando group whose members, along with some accomplices, were later apprehended. For Alonso and Elias the halcyon days were over, or almost." - p 7
Yes, these 2 last characters are indeed as 'unsavory' as they seem. I, at least, wdn't eat them.
Alonso's musical tastes is different from George's.
"His LP collection fell into three categories. First, high classical: Bach, Mozart, Beethoven. Second, syrupy American popular singers: Mel Tormé or Billy May. Alonso never played anything from those two categories, however. What he played, from the moment he returned from his walk with Elizabeth, was Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, or Liszt." - pp10-11
What do you make of that? The torturer/murderer likes a gay composer & a Jewish one.
By page 16, a previous owner of the bk had apparently gotten lost in the not-really-very-labyrinthian-yet plot & 'corrected' the text incorrectly by changing "her" to "him" & "my doormat" to "the street".
""I don't know her," he was saying. "I found her lying on my doormat.["]"
Confusing, isn't it? Unless you too have read this bk you don't know what this means or who's correct: me or the anonymous marginaliaist (now, now, let's not quibble about whether that word's 'real' or not lest someone prove that YOU'RE NOT REAL).
There's all sorts of crossing paths with assassins w/o anything coming of it at the time.
"Up ahead a pair of taillights—the Italian sports car? was it perhaps a Lancia Beta?—had just been enveloped by the night." - p 13
It must've been a big envelope. Have you ever been enveloped by the night? Half the time they forget to lick the flap so it's easy to get out.
"So Gerfaut took the Mercedes and went to rent a television in Royan. On the return trip he overtook a Lancia Beta 1800 sedan." - p 34
As you may've surmised, Manchette goes for political detail to set the mood.
"He is one of those who were in the entrance to the Charonne metro station at a bad moment: 17 October 1961, when police cornered Algerian protestors there. He is also one of those who came out alive. The next year, six months after his release from the hospital, Liétard set upon a lone policeman late one night in Rue Brancion, beat the man savagely with his own baton and left him naked, two ribs and jaw broken, handcuffed to the iron railings around the Vaugirard slaughterhouses." - p 41
Well, well.. Did you know about that "bad moment"? I didn't, now I do. Isn't reading wonderful?
"The Paris massacre of 1961 occurred on 17 October 1961, during the Algerian War (1954–62). Under orders from the head of the Parisian police, Maurice Papon, the French National Police attacked a demonstration by 30,000 pro-National Liberation Front (FLN) Algerians. After 37 years of denial and censorship of the press, in 1998 the French government finally acknowledged 40 deaths, although there are estimates of 100 to 300 victims. Death was due to heavy-handed beating by the police, as well as mass drownings, as police officers threw demonstrators in the river Seine.
"The massacre was intentional, as substantiated by historian Jean-Luc Einaudi, who won a trial against Papon in 1999 (Papon had been convicted in 1998 of crimes against humanity for his role under the Vichy collaborationist regime during World War II). Official documentation and eyewitness accounts within the Paris police department suggest that Papon directed the massacre himself. Police records show that he called for officers in one station to be "subversive" in quelling the demonstrations, and assured them protection from prosecution if they participated."
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_m...
Gerfaut goes thru quite an unexpected ordeal. On the way he's helped by some exploited immigrant workers.
"There were eight loggers, encamped beneath a canvas sheet held up by stakes. Their blankets were filthy, and they slept on bundled branches and leaves. They had stale bread, a little Algerian wine, cheese, bad coffee, big sacks of dried peas and beans, and three magazines filled with obscene photographs. Their professional equipment consisted of axes and saws and two Homelite chain saws. Their presence in France was illegal, they had no kind of social security, and they earned only slightly more than half the minimum wage for some sixty to seventy hours of work per week." - p 76
As far as the world knows, Gerfaut has disappeared. Unknown to them, he's been thrown upon his resources & is struggling to survive. After he's been missing for awhile, he finds a newspaper that mentions him. This is his 1st inkling of how his disappearance has been rc'vd.
"Still, the day after the couple's departure he had lit the fire with a copy of the evening France-Soir from the day before, which the pair had left behind. By chance, as he scrunched the newspaper up into loose airy balls, his eye had fallen upon a very short article—no more than filler—headed "Possible New Light Thrown on Disappearance of Paris Executive Georges Gerfaut After Massacre of Last Summer," which was a very long title for such a brief item." - p 94
We get to read about the musical tastes of these murderers, another killer enters the picture, Carlo, & we learn about what he's reading.
"In a metal suitcase on a baggage stand were a change of clothes, the S&W .45, the three knives and the steel, the garrote, the blackjack, and all the rest. Carlo's toilet bag was in the bathroom, and on the bedside table was a science-fiction novel by Jack Williamson in French translation." - p 100
Alonso the torturer/murderer is writing his memoirs. One wonders whether Manchette is mocking other such memoirs by people of highly suspect personal histories. Think about someone like Henry Kissinger, e.g., 'civilized' on the outside & brutal in his actual effect.
"The best way to end violence is to punish those who resort to it, whatever their position in society. Generally speaking, such individuals are not very numerous. And that is why, in principle, representative democracy has always seemed to me the best way to run a nation. Sadly, the countries of the free world are prevented from living according to their principles, because communist subversion insinuates itself into their organism and brings on recurrent and endemic attacks of decay." - p 125
I usually find the author's brief bios at the end to be illuminating. This one's no exception.
"Jean-Patrick Manchette (1942-1995) rescued the French crime novel from the grip of stodgy police procedurals—restoring the noir edge by virtue of his post-1968 leftism. Today, Manchette is a totem to the generation of French mystery writers who came in his wake. Jazz saxophonist, political activist, and screen writer, Manchette was influenced as much by Guy Debord as by Dashiell Hammett." - p 135
Indeed. This was a good thriller as well as good political commentary. I'll be reading more by him.
Jean-Patrick Manchette's 3 to Kill
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - October 16-17, 2020
I learned about this author by reading mention of him in Paco Ignacio Taibo II's Life Itself (my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ). Since Taibo is one of my favorite crime fiction writers I respect his opinion & decided to check out Manchette. I comment on this in the review:
""Send me a package by Frontier Bus Lines, a bunch of black ribbons for the Olivetti portable, the cotton ones they sell at the shop on the corner, as well as the original, which is in a red briefcase with a lock, and a pile of novels by J. P. Ma"[n]"chette that I left on my side of the bed" - p 10
"For those of you who may be too young to remember, an "Olivetti" is a brand of typewriter, so he's asking for the things that provide the ink that the keys impress upon. As for "Machette"? I don't know his or her work so I look them up online & find nothing. BUT THAT'S BECAUSE THE NAME WAS MISSPELLED "Machette" instead of "Manchette". Later in this bk it was spelled correctly so I looked for books by him again & ordered 5 online.
""If you're going to divorce me, for God's sake send me the blue turtleneck sweater and the aspirins, Manchette's novels,""
This is the 1st Manchette I've read. The main character, Georges Gerfaut, is presented partially in terms of his musical tastes. That always interests me.
"a tape player is quietly diffusing West Coast-style jazz: Gerry Mulligan, Jimmy Giuffre, Bud Shank, Chico Hamilton. I know, for instance, that at one point it is Rube Bloom and Ted Koehler's "Truckin'" that is playing, as recorded by the Bob Brookmeyer Quintet." - pp 3-4
One of the killers has a highly specific sexual fetish.
"Women were attracted to him. After a while they would discover that the only thing he wanted from women was to be beaten. He did not beat them in return and had absolutely no wish to penetrate them. So women would break off with him, except for the perversely sadistic ones. But he got rid of the perversely sadistic ones the moment he realized they were getting pleasure from beating him. They disgusted him, he said." - p 6
Wouldn't you love to read his online dating profile? Then there's the other guy from the Dominican Republic.
"To San Isidro were regularly brought persons suspected of collusion with the class enemy, and the job of the SIM under Alonso's direction was to make them talk by beating them, raping them, slicing them up, electrocuting them, castrating them, drowning them in places ingeniously designed for that purpose, and cutting their heads off.
"On 30 May 1961, Trujillo the Benefactor of the Fatherland got himself riddled with bullets on a road by a commando group whose members, along with some accomplices, were later apprehended. For Alonso and Elias the halcyon days were over, or almost." - p 7
Yes, these 2 last characters are indeed as 'unsavory' as they seem. I, at least, wdn't eat them.
Alonso's musical tastes is different from George's.
"His LP collection fell into three categories. First, high classical: Bach, Mozart, Beethoven. Second, syrupy American popular singers: Mel Tormé or Billy May. Alonso never played anything from those two categories, however. What he played, from the moment he returned from his walk with Elizabeth, was Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, or Liszt." - pp10-11
What do you make of that? The torturer/murderer likes a gay composer & a Jewish one.
By page 16, a previous owner of the bk had apparently gotten lost in the not-really-very-labyrinthian-yet plot & 'corrected' the text incorrectly by changing "her" to "him" & "my doormat" to "the street".
""I don't know her," he was saying. "I found her lying on my doormat.["]"
Confusing, isn't it? Unless you too have read this bk you don't know what this means or who's correct: me or the anonymous marginaliaist (now, now, let's not quibble about whether that word's 'real' or not lest someone prove that YOU'RE NOT REAL).
There's all sorts of crossing paths with assassins w/o anything coming of it at the time.
"Up ahead a pair of taillights—the Italian sports car? was it perhaps a Lancia Beta?—had just been enveloped by the night." - p 13
It must've been a big envelope. Have you ever been enveloped by the night? Half the time they forget to lick the flap so it's easy to get out.
"So Gerfaut took the Mercedes and went to rent a television in Royan. On the return trip he overtook a Lancia Beta 1800 sedan." - p 34
As you may've surmised, Manchette goes for political detail to set the mood.
"He is one of those who were in the entrance to the Charonne metro station at a bad moment: 17 October 1961, when police cornered Algerian protestors there. He is also one of those who came out alive. The next year, six months after his release from the hospital, Liétard set upon a lone policeman late one night in Rue Brancion, beat the man savagely with his own baton and left him naked, two ribs and jaw broken, handcuffed to the iron railings around the Vaugirard slaughterhouses." - p 41
Well, well.. Did you know about that "bad moment"? I didn't, now I do. Isn't reading wonderful?
"The Paris massacre of 1961 occurred on 17 October 1961, during the Algerian War (1954–62). Under orders from the head of the Parisian police, Maurice Papon, the French National Police attacked a demonstration by 30,000 pro-National Liberation Front (FLN) Algerians. After 37 years of denial and censorship of the press, in 1998 the French government finally acknowledged 40 deaths, although there are estimates of 100 to 300 victims. Death was due to heavy-handed beating by the police, as well as mass drownings, as police officers threw demonstrators in the river Seine.
"The massacre was intentional, as substantiated by historian Jean-Luc Einaudi, who won a trial against Papon in 1999 (Papon had been convicted in 1998 of crimes against humanity for his role under the Vichy collaborationist regime during World War II). Official documentation and eyewitness accounts within the Paris police department suggest that Papon directed the massacre himself. Police records show that he called for officers in one station to be "subversive" in quelling the demonstrations, and assured them protection from prosecution if they participated."
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_m...
Gerfaut goes thru quite an unexpected ordeal. On the way he's helped by some exploited immigrant workers.
"There were eight loggers, encamped beneath a canvas sheet held up by stakes. Their blankets were filthy, and they slept on bundled branches and leaves. They had stale bread, a little Algerian wine, cheese, bad coffee, big sacks of dried peas and beans, and three magazines filled with obscene photographs. Their professional equipment consisted of axes and saws and two Homelite chain saws. Their presence in France was illegal, they had no kind of social security, and they earned only slightly more than half the minimum wage for some sixty to seventy hours of work per week." - p 76
As far as the world knows, Gerfaut has disappeared. Unknown to them, he's been thrown upon his resources & is struggling to survive. After he's been missing for awhile, he finds a newspaper that mentions him. This is his 1st inkling of how his disappearance has been rc'vd.
"Still, the day after the couple's departure he had lit the fire with a copy of the evening France-Soir from the day before, which the pair had left behind. By chance, as he scrunched the newspaper up into loose airy balls, his eye had fallen upon a very short article—no more than filler—headed "Possible New Light Thrown on Disappearance of Paris Executive Georges Gerfaut After Massacre of Last Summer," which was a very long title for such a brief item." - p 94
We get to read about the musical tastes of these murderers, another killer enters the picture, Carlo, & we learn about what he's reading.
"In a metal suitcase on a baggage stand were a change of clothes, the S&W .45, the three knives and the steel, the garrote, the blackjack, and all the rest. Carlo's toilet bag was in the bathroom, and on the bedside table was a science-fiction novel by Jack Williamson in French translation." - p 100
Alonso the torturer/murderer is writing his memoirs. One wonders whether Manchette is mocking other such memoirs by people of highly suspect personal histories. Think about someone like Henry Kissinger, e.g., 'civilized' on the outside & brutal in his actual effect.
"The best way to end violence is to punish those who resort to it, whatever their position in society. Generally speaking, such individuals are not very numerous. And that is why, in principle, representative democracy has always seemed to me the best way to run a nation. Sadly, the countries of the free world are prevented from living according to their principles, because communist subversion insinuates itself into their organism and brings on recurrent and endemic attacks of decay." - p 125
I usually find the author's brief bios at the end to be illuminating. This one's no exception.
"Jean-Patrick Manchette (1942-1995) rescued the French crime novel from the grip of stodgy police procedurals—restoring the noir edge by virtue of his post-1968 leftism. Today, Manchette is a totem to the generation of French mystery writers who came in his wake. Jazz saxophonist, political activist, and screen writer, Manchette was influenced as much by Guy Debord as by Dashiell Hammett." - p 135
Indeed. This was a good thriller as well as good political commentary. I'll be reading more by him.
March 2, 2016
Flawed middle manager Georges Gerfaut, with more booze and controlled substances inside him than he should have, is driving home through the night when he sees a car that's been driven off the road. He rescues the driver, discovers he's been shot up, and gets him to the nearest hospital, but then (for obvious reasons) decides to duck out before the cops arrive. A few days later, while holidaying at the shore with his wife and two daughters, he narrowly escapes the attempt of two hitmen to try to murder him. He goes on the run, but that only draws the hitmen toward him . . .
Georges eventually turns the tables, but that's just about the only unsurprising thing about this novel. How he gets to that point is a constantly twisting tale; from one page to the next, I generally couldn't predict what might happen next, or even who (including Georges) might survive.
The book's full of harshness but it's also frequently very funny; it's a hardboiled piece on the one hand, a black comedy on the other. Manchette sticks in, too, the occasional schoolboy joke which, if you happen like me to be a schoolboy (albeit a somewhat elderly one), is much to be giggled at. For example, this description of the woman who becomes a major new romantic interest for Georges:
I very much liked this book, and have made a note to read as much more of Manchette's work as I possibly can.
Had I more time I'd expand on these notes, but right now I'm up against a deadline.
Georges eventually turns the tables, but that's just about the only unsurprising thing about this novel. How he gets to that point is a constantly twisting tale; from one page to the next, I generally couldn't predict what might happen next, or even who (including Georges) might survive.
The book's full of harshness but it's also frequently very funny; it's a hardboiled piece on the one hand, a black comedy on the other. Manchette sticks in, too, the occasional schoolboy joke which, if you happen like me to be a schoolboy (albeit a somewhat elderly one), is much to be giggled at. For example, this description of the woman who becomes a major new romantic interest for Georges:
She resembled a very good ad for a vacation club (though ads for vacation clubs never actually look like that: they make you want to stay at home if it all possible.)
I very much liked this book, and have made a note to read as much more of Manchette's work as I possibly can.
Had I more time I'd expand on these notes, but right now I'm up against a deadline.
May 17, 2022
This was at once charming and disarming. Steeped in old Parisian culture and style and music, our unusual omniscient narrator tells the story of Georges Gerfaut, a businessman who ends up being hunted by two hitman for unknown reasons following a brief slice-of-life section preceded by tracking shots from the future of a man and his dog brutally killed (heads up for those who don’t like animal violence), and our man Gerfaut rocketing along a highway in a Mercedes.
Very much a sort of mash-up of Cohen brothers and Tarantino but vividly, sensuously French. Street names and travel itineraries and food and clothes all build around a French ecosystem; strangeness and things entirely apart from the everyday, very English. It somehow works. Half the fun is being placed in that time period with great description of absolutely everything. It even tends to shirk colour, making it feel like a noir black and white film most of the time, for me. It initially put me off, vacillating between the comical and the hard-boiled—but the narrator pulls it off with the unusual perspective and closing chapter.
It also helps it’s quite short and punchy; staccato sentences and matter-of-fact prose style feel reminiscent of Hemingway, albeit decidedly, purposefully off-of-center with dialogue, the only real consistent weakness of the book. I do think it’s there for a point though. It knows it’s built a character and a gonzo hybrid thing encapsulating a moment in time. I imagine it’s so odd it’ll put some people off. A 4.5 rounded up, because I really do think it’s unique and interesting in lasting ways.
Very much a sort of mash-up of Cohen brothers and Tarantino but vividly, sensuously French. Street names and travel itineraries and food and clothes all build around a French ecosystem; strangeness and things entirely apart from the everyday, very English. It somehow works. Half the fun is being placed in that time period with great description of absolutely everything. It even tends to shirk colour, making it feel like a noir black and white film most of the time, for me. It initially put me off, vacillating between the comical and the hard-boiled—but the narrator pulls it off with the unusual perspective and closing chapter.
It also helps it’s quite short and punchy; staccato sentences and matter-of-fact prose style feel reminiscent of Hemingway, albeit decidedly, purposefully off-of-center with dialogue, the only real consistent weakness of the book. I do think it’s there for a point though. It knows it’s built a character and a gonzo hybrid thing encapsulating a moment in time. I imagine it’s so odd it’ll put some people off. A 4.5 rounded up, because I really do think it’s unique and interesting in lasting ways.
January 7, 2024
Ένα βιβλίο, που η ανάγνωσή του μου έμοιαζε σαν να μου εξιστορούν γαλλική ταινία της δεκαετίας του '70 (τα χρονικά πλαίσια πρέπει να ταιριάζουν), όπου ο Ζωρζ Zερφώ, στο μυαλό μου, έχει την εικόνα του Μπελμοντό και η γυναίκα του είναι μια εκδοχή της Ρόμυ Σνάιντερ. Καταιγισμός εικόνων δράσης και βίας, συχνά απρόκλητης και μάλλον ανεξήγητης. Η κανονικότητα μιας αστικής ζωής, με δουλειά σε επιχείρηση, διαμέρισμα οικογενειακό και δύο μικρά παιδιά, καλοκαιρινές παραθαλάσσιες διακοπές ενός μήνα διακόπτεται με την εισβολή δυο επαγγελματιών δολοφόνων και όλα ανατρέπονται. Αλλά, παραφράζοντας μια φράση του βιβλίου, την αιτία για αυτή την δραστική ανατροπή ζωής θα πρέπει να την αναζητήσουμε κατά κύριο λόγο στη θέση του Ζωρζ στο πλέγμα των παραγωγικών σχέσεων.
October 16, 2020
An average joe becomes a target for the criminal underworld.
Mystery Review: Three to Kill is the story of hapless hunters hunting the hapless hunted. The story starts slow with our middle-management, chess-playing, corporate cog ("someone who doesn't remotely want adventures"), but when it gets going try to hang on as gangsters and hitmen join the fray. Jean-Patrick Manchette (1942-1995) knows how to tell a tale. Told by an extremely omniscient narrator in a cinematic style Three to Kill is just good fun meant to be enjoyed. A neo-noir and thriller, there are moments of violence and gore, but they pale compared to the cogent character studies and the reader can almost hear the soundtrack of west coast jazz, with scads of hip musicians cited. The French title seems to be something like "Little West Coast Blues." Cars, guns, alcohol, and films are near and dear to Manchette and always come in for proper names and specifics from the narrator (at one point a Ford Taunus is introduced; if you think that's a misprint for Taurus it's not, there's a German car of that name (after a mountain range)). As always with Manchette there's a political underlay to everything, but it never interferes being more food-for-thought than diatribe. Three to Kill (the English title is also a plot summary) is a short, entertaining, thrill ride for any reader of physical mysteries, but doesn't skimp on the cerebral. [4★]
Mystery Review: Three to Kill is the story of hapless hunters hunting the hapless hunted. The story starts slow with our middle-management, chess-playing, corporate cog ("someone who doesn't remotely want adventures"), but when it gets going try to hang on as gangsters and hitmen join the fray. Jean-Patrick Manchette (1942-1995) knows how to tell a tale. Told by an extremely omniscient narrator in a cinematic style Three to Kill is just good fun meant to be enjoyed. A neo-noir and thriller, there are moments of violence and gore, but they pale compared to the cogent character studies and the reader can almost hear the soundtrack of west coast jazz, with scads of hip musicians cited. The French title seems to be something like "Little West Coast Blues." Cars, guns, alcohol, and films are near and dear to Manchette and always come in for proper names and specifics from the narrator (at one point a Ford Taunus is introduced; if you think that's a misprint for Taurus it's not, there's a German car of that name (after a mountain range)). As always with Manchette there's a political underlay to everything, but it never interferes being more food-for-thought than diatribe. Three to Kill (the English title is also a plot summary) is a short, entertaining, thrill ride for any reader of physical mysteries, but doesn't skimp on the cerebral. [4★]
June 4, 2020
The last 50 pages of this book are pure action, covering vast distances and timespans in the snap of a finger or the kick of a gun. Gerfaut, successful company man, finds himself the target of two nameless assassins for some unknown reason. Events drop him, burnt and broken and utterly separated from his loving family, in the middle of the Vanoise forest in the Alps, in the hut of an old hunter, who over many months brings him back to life. From which point on, it is all about cold calculating revenge. This as I said is action in its purest distilled form, it's been a while since I read The Prone Gunman, so it really is rather good to taste again the acrid tang of Manchette's lean and cruel prose.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 182 reviews