The Mad and the Bad
Jean-Patrick Manchette

A woman with mental problems is sprung from a hospital to watch a child heir. A tortured assassin with a bad ulcer is hire to make a murder like look a kidnapping. Nobody gets what they’re expecting.

Welcome to another crime novel by the mad genius Jean-Patrick Manchette where the writing is clean and spare and the plot twists come at you fast. Most of Manchette’s novels are full of unlikable people, and this one is no different, though, perhaps there is a hero within this one, and perhaps she’s a disturbed young woman who just wants to do what’s right.

All Manchette’s novels are brilliant, but this one is among the best.

Recommended.