'A cordon bleu mixture of suspense, sex, trick psychology and fast action' Publishers Weekly
Dany Longo is blonde, beautiful -- and thoroughly unpredictable. After doing a favour for her boss, she finds herself behind the wheel of his exquisite Thunderbird on a sun-kissed Parisian morning. On impulse she decides to head south.
What started as an impromptu joyride rapidly takes a turn for the chilling when strangers all along the unfamiliar route swear they recognise Dany from the previous day. But that's impossible: she was at work, she was in Paris, she was miles away... wasn't she?
From the author of A Very Long Engagement comes a tangled, terrifying psychological thriller worthy of Georges Simenon, Paula Hawkins or Patricia Highsmith. *
'The most welcome talent since the early Simenons'
New York Times'Japrisot might be called the Graham Greene of France'
Independent Praise for A Very Long Engagement
'A classic of its kind, brewing up enormous pathos undiluted by sentimentality' Daily Telegraph
'Diabolically clever ... The reader is alternately impressed, beguiled, frightened, bewildered ... A considerable achievement' Anita Brookner
'The narrative is brilliantly complex and beguiling, and the climax devastating' The Independent
'Riveting ... A fierce, elliptical novel that's both a gripping philosophical thriller and a highly moving meditation on the emotional consequences of war' New York Times
'A kind of latter-day War and Peace ... a rich and most original panorama' Los Angeles Book Review
'Precisely, surprisingly evocative of the lingering pain of mourning and the burdens of survival' Kirkus Reviews
Praise for One Deadly Summer
'A gripping tale of hatred, revenge, and lust ... A sinister spellbinder' Publishers Weekly
'Japrisot's talent lies for one part in the clever construction of his novels ... it also lies in the writing that is simple, rhythmical, surprising, phonetic and lyrical' Le Point
'Japrisot holds a unique place in contemporary fiction. With the quality and originality of his writing, he has hugely contributed to breaking down the barrier between crime fiction and literary fiction' Le Monde
'Unreeled with the taut, confident shaping of a grand master ... Funny, awful, first-rate. A rich and resonant sonata in black, astutely suspended between mythic tragedy and the grubby pathos of nagging everyday life' Kirkus Reviews
'A marvellous storyteller' T l rama
Sébastien Japrisot was born in Marseille, France in 1931. He published his first novel, Les Mal Partis, when he was just 17. Japrisot translated the works of J. D. Salinger and pursued a successful career in advertising and publicity. He was a scriptwriter and the director of two films. His first crime novel, The Sleeping Car Murders, was received with great acclaim. His reputation as a master for crime fiction grew with the publication of The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun, A Trap for Cinderella and Rider on the Rain. His novel One Deadly Summer was made into a film starring Isabelle Adjani. A Very Long Engagement was an international bestseller and won the Prix Interallie. He died in 2003.
Helen Weaver is an American writer and translator. She has translated more than fifty books from French. Antonin Artaud: Selected Writings was a Finalist for the National Book Award in translation in 1977.
