Synopses & Reviews
Martin Terrier is a hired killer who wants out of the game--so he can settle down and marry his childhood sweetheart. After all, thats why he took up this profession! But the Organization won't let him go: they have other plans. Once again, the gunman must assume the prone shooting position. A tour de force, this violent tale shatters as many illusions about life and politics as bodies.
Jean-Patrick Manchette (19421995) rescued the French crime novel from the grip of stodgy police procedurals, restoring the noir edge by virtue of his post-1968 leftism. Manchette is a totem to a generation of French mystery writers, and his stories have inspired several films, including Claude Chabrols Nada.
Also Available by Jean-Patrick Manchette
The Gunman
Adaptation of The Prone Gunman in movie tie-in edition.
TP $13.95, 978-0-87286-664-5
Three to Kill
TP $11.95, 0-87286-395-6 CUSA
Review
"Manchette is a master of both economy and irony. Brutal and bracing: Terrier's tale fascinates even as it chills." Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
Review
"Terse behaviorist prose...drives the narrative relentlessly and even gleefully forward....For the first time readers can experience in English translation the masterful thriller considered Manchette's finest, proof positive that the French knew what they were talking about when they labeled this sort of novel noir." Publishers Weekly
Review
"This is lean, mean noir fiction that cleverly sends up the tough guy genre while incarnating it perfectly." Detroit Free Press
Review
"There's not a superfluous word or overdone effect in The Prone Gunman, one of the last cool, compact and shockingly original crime novels Manchette left as his legacy to modern noir fiction." Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review
Review
"Manchette describes his characters with the same wealth of external detail, icily delivered, that he uses for apartment decor or a hi-fi system." Village Voice
Review
"This superbly muscular translation of the late French mystery writer Jean-Patrick Manchette's most celebrated work, The Prone Gunman, is the third volume issued under the City Lights imprint, City Lights Noir. The series may prove to be the most needed contribution to contemporary fiction by any publisher in a good long while." San Francisco Chronicle
Review
"In France, which long ago embraced American crime fiction, thrillers are referred to 'polars.' And in France the godfather and wizard of polars is Jean-Patrick Manchette....For Manchette and his generation of writers who followed him, the crime novel is no mere entertainment, but a means to strip bare the failures of society, ripping through veils of appearance, deceit, and manipulation to the greed and violence that are the society's true engines." Boston Globe
Review
"The Prone Gunman...demonstrates Manchette's perfect mastery." Robert Deleuse, Brief History of the French Crime Novel
Synopsis
Manchette at the height of his powers in this corrosive parody of "the successs story."
Martin Terrier is a hired killer who wants out of the game so he can settle down and marry his childhood sweetheart. That's why he took up this profession! Martin returns to his hometown to claim her, but the Organization won't let him go. Once again, the gunman must assume the prone shooting position.
In a violent tale that shatters as many illusions as bodies, Manchette subjects Martin and the reader alike to a fierce exercise in style.
Synopsis
Also available in a new, movie tie-in edition, titled The Gunman (Paperback ISBN: 978-0-87286-664-5. Ebook ISBN: 9780872866652). Film opens March 20th starring Sean Penn, Javier Bardem, Idris Elba and Ray Winstone, directed by Pierre Morel (Taken). Martin Terrier is a hired killer who wants out of the game so he can settle down and marry his childhood sweetheart. After all, that's why he took up this profession But "the company" won't let him go: they have other plans. Once again, the gunman must assume the prone firing position. A tour de force, this violent tale shatters as many illusions about life and politics as it does bodies. Jean-Patrick Manchette subjects his characters and the reader alike to a fierce exercise in style. This tightly plotted, corrosive parody of "the success story" is widely considered to be Manchette's masterpiece, and was named a New York Times "Notable Book" in 2002. The Prone Gunman is a classic of modern noir.
"For Manchette and the generation of writers who followed him, the crime novel is no mere entertainment, but a means to strip bare the failures of society, ripping through veils of appearance, deceit, and manipulation to the greed and violence that are the society's true engines."Boston Globe
"There's not a superfluous word or overdone effect . . . one of the last cool, compact and shockingly original crime novels Manchette left as his legacy to modern noir fiction."New York Times
"For the first time readers can experience in English translation the masterful thriller considered Manchette's finest, proof positive that the French knew what they were talking about when they labeled this sort of novel 'noir'." Publishers Weekly
"This superbly muscular translation of the late French mystery writer Jean-Patrick Manchette's most celebrated work, The Prone Gunman, is the third volume issued by] City Lights Noir. The series may prove to be the most needed contribution to contemporary fiction by any publisher in a good long while." The San Francisco Chronicle
Jean-Patrick Manchette was a French crime novelist credited with reinventing and reinvigorating the genre. He wrote ten short novels in the 1970s and early 80s, and is widely recognized as the foremost French crime fiction author of that time. His stories are violent, existentialist explorations of the human condition and French society. Jazz saxophonist and screenwriter, Manchette was also a left-wing activist influenced as much by the writings of the Situationist International as by Dashiell Hammett. Jean-Patrick Manchette's other work, 3 to Kill is also published by City Lights Publishers.
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Synopsis
"His books are all action, unfolding with a laconic efficiency that would make his killers proud."--The Economist
Martin Terrier is a hired killer who wants out of the game--so he can settle down and marry his childhood sweetheart. After all, that's why he took up this profession But "the company" won't let him go: they have other plans. Once again, the gunman must assume the prone firing position. A tour de force, this violent tale shatters as many illusions about life and politics as it does bodies. Jean-Patrick Manchette subjects his characters and the reader alike to a fierce exercise in style. This tightly plotted, corrosive parody of "the success story" is widely considered to be Manchette's masterpiece, and was named a New York Times "Notable Book" in 2002. The Prone Gunman is a classic of modern noir.
"For Manchette and the generation of writers who followed him, the crime novel is no mere entertainment, but a means to strip bare the failures of society, ripping through veils of appearance, deceit, and manipulation to the greed and violence that are the society's true engines."--Boston Globe
"There's not a superfluous word or overdone effect . . . one of the last cool, compact and shockingly original crime novels Manchette left as his legacy to modern noir fiction."--New York Times
"For the first time readers can experience in English translation the masterful thriller considered Manchette's finest, proof positive that the French knew what they were talking about when they labeled this sort of novel 'noir'."--Publishers Weekly
"This superbly muscular translation of the late French mystery writer Jean-Patrick Manchette's most celebrated work, The Prone Gunman, is the third volume issued by] City Lights Noir. The series may prove to be the most needed contribution to contemporary fiction by any publisher in a good long while."--The San Francisco Chronicle
Jean-Patrick Manchette was a French crime novelist credited with reinventing and reinvigorating the genre. He wrote ten short novels in the 1970s and early 80s, and is widely recognized as the foremost French crime fiction author of that time. His stories are violent, existentialist explorations of the human condition and French society. Jazz saxophonist and screenwriter, Manchette was also a left-wing activist influenced as much by the writings of the Situationist International as by Dashiell Hammett. Jean-Patrick Manchette's other work, 3 to Kill is also published by City Lights Publishers.
Synopsis
Also available in a movie tie-in edition, titled The Gunman.
Synopsis
Terrier is a hired killer who wants out of the game, so he can settle down and marry his childhood sweetheart. But the Organization won't let him go: they have other plans for him. In a violent tale that shatters as many illusions as bodies, Jean-Patrick Manchette subjects his characters and the reader alike to a fierce exercise in style.This tightly plotted, corrosive parody of the success story is widely considered to be Manchette's masterpiece, and was named a New York Times Notable Book. The Gunman is a classic of modern noir.
Synopsis
Manchette at the height of his powers in a corrosive parody of "the success story."
Synopsis
Also available in a new, movie tie-in edition, titled The Gunman (Paperback $13.95,
About the Author
Jean-Patrick Manchette (1942-1995) was the author of 11 noir novels, of which
The Prone Gunman is the second to be published in English. An amateur jazz saxophonist, one-time political activist, and prolific TV screen writer and literary critic, Manchette renewed French noir in the post-1968 period and established the new genre of the néo-polar. His writing was influenced as much by Guy Debord as by Gustave Flaubert. Manchette rescued the French crime novel from the grip of stodgy police procedurals, restoring the noir edge by virtue of his leftism. Manchette is a totem to a generation of French mystery writers, and his stories have inspired several films, including Claude Chabrol's
Nada.
James Brook is a poet who has translated works by Guy Debord, Henri Michaux, Gellu Naum, Benjamin Péret, Alberto Savinio, Victor Serge, and Sebastian Reichmann.