A brilliant new translation of Simenon's critically acclaimed masterpiece. 'And always the dirty snow, the heaps of snow that look rotten, with black patches and embedded garbage ...unable to cover the filth.' Nineteen-year-old 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 Simenon's matchless novel is a brutal, compelling portrayal of a world without pity; a devastating journey through a psychological no-man's land. 'Among the best novels of the twentieth century' New Yorker 'An astonishing work' John Banville 'So noir it makes Raymond Chandler look beige' Independent

Author Biography

Georges Simenon was born in Liege, Belgium, in 1903. He is best know in Britain as the author of the Maigret novels and his prolific output of over 400 novels and short stories have made him a household name in continental Europe. He died in 1989 in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he had lived for the latter part of his life.