Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
'Masterly'
John Banville 'Action-packed and full of gallows humour' Sunday Telegraph
Booker-winner John Banville has long heralded Pascal Garnier as 'the true heir to Simenon'. Now, with a dozen of Garnier's noirs available in English, Banville introduces a new edition of one of Garnier's masterworks as part of a collection of contemporary and classic jewels of French literature, the Editions Gallic series.
How's the Pain? sees ageing 'pest exterminator' Simon take on one last job on the Riviera, aided by young chauffeur Bernard. As the unlikely pair set off on their journey, Bernard soon finds that Simon's definition of vermin is broader than he'd expected... Veering from the hilarious to the horrific, this offbeat story from master stylist Pascal Garnier is at heart an affecting study of human frailty.
Synopsis
'One of the most remarkable and, in the English-speaking world at least, one of the most inexplicably underappreciated French writers of the twentieth century' John Banville
Death is Simon's business. And now the ageing vermin exterminator is preparing to die. But he still has one last job down on the coast, and he needs a driver.
Bernard is twenty-one. He can drive and he's never seen the sea. He can't pass up the chance to chauffeur for Simon, whatever his mother may say. As the unlikely pair set off on their journey, Bernard soon finds that Simon's definition of vermin is broader than he'd expected ...
Veering from the hilarious to the horrific, this offbeat story from master stylist Pascal Garnier is at heart an affecting study of human frailty.
Synopsis
'How's the Pain? is way off kilter, blackly comic and quintessentially Gallic.' Crime Time 'One of the most remarkable and, in the English-speaking world at least, one of the most inexplicably underappreciated French writers of the twentieth century' John Banville
Death is Simon's business. And now the ageing vermin exterminator is preparing to die. But he still has one last job down on the coast, and he needs a driver.
Bernard is twenty-one. He can drive and he's never seen the sea. He can't pass up the chance to chauffeur for Simon, whatever his mother may say. As the unlikely pair set off on their journey, Bernard soon finds that Simon's definition of vermin is broader than he'd expected ...
Veering from the hilarious to the horrific, this offbeat story from master stylist Pascal Garnier is at heart an affecting study of human frailty.
Synopsis
How's the Pain? is an off-kilter, blackly comic novel about an unlikely duo of a soon-to-be-retired assassin and a deadbeat young man, from the 'slyly funny' Sunday Times] Pascal Garnier.
'Deliciously dark ... painfully funny' New York Times
Death is Simon's business. And now the ageing vermin exterminator is preparing to die. But he still has one last job down on the coast, and he needs a driver.
Bernard is twenty-one. He can drive and he's never seen the sea. He can't pass up the chance to chauffeur for Simon, whatever his mother may say. As the unlikely pair set off on their journey, Bernard soon finds that Simon's definition of vermin is broader than he'd expected ...
Veering from the hilarious to the horrific, this offbeat story from master stylist Pascal Garnier is at heart an affecting study of human frailty.
Synopsis
New edition of the classic noir of seaside misadventure by 'true heir to Simenon' Pascal Garnier, introduced by John Banville.