Feels incredibly modern it is brutal frank about sex and violence and will make your flesh creep Ian RankinA brilliant new translation of Simenons critically acclaimed masterpieceAnd always the dirty snow the heaps of snow that look rotten with black patches and embedded garbage unable to cover the filthNineteenyearold Frank thug thief son of a brothel owner gets by surprisingly well despite living in a city under military occupation but a warm house and a full stomach are not enough to make him feel truly alive in such a climate of deceit and betrayal During a bleak unending winter he embarks on a string of violent and sordid crimes that set him on a path from which he can never return Georges Simenons matchless novel is a brutal compelling portrayal of a world without pity a devastating journey through a psychological nomans landAmong the best novels of the twentieth century New YorkerAn astonishing work John BanvilleSo noir it makes Raymond Chandler look beige Independent
