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Ô Dingos, ô Châteaux ! (1972)

by Jean-Patrick Manchette(Favorite Author)

3.69 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

2070422968 (ISBN13: 9782070422968)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Gallimard Education

review 1: A bit of offbeat gory fun noir, Jim Thompson Gallic style. We have a hitman whose work gives him gastrointestinal issues; an oddball zillionaire who hires the handicapped to run his empire in connection with an elaborate crime; a crazy girl who absconds with the zillionaire's nephew; and a nemesis from the rich guy's past. The novel bumps hurriedly about in quasi hardboiled style, with plenty of corpses, severed limbs, exploding heads and allusions to Marxism. The translation occasionally becomes incomprehensible. Best read with a sly smile.
review 2: A fun little firecracker of a book. The first thing I've ever read by Manchette, who apparently was a Frenchman who wrote Raymond Chandler-esque thrillers in the 1970s.A quick read (163 pages), the action revs up... more in a hurry and goes non-stop, following a newly hired nanny and her bratty young charge on a run through the French countryside, with hired killers on their trail. It's wonderfully bleak, with scoundrels on every page, and the would be heroine is a great character. Released from a mental hospital at the start of the book, she's a Scotch drinking, pill popping badass who you can't help but cheer for as she continues to defy both the odds and all common sense. No idea how Tarantino didn't turn this into a movie and cast Uma Thurman in the lead. I'll read more of this guy's stuff. less

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