The Prone Gunman by Jean-Patrick Manchette

The Prone Gunman by Jean-Patrick Manchette

"This is lean, mean noir fiction that cleverly sends up the tough guy genre while incarnating it perfectly"—Detroit Free Press

"Jean-Patrick Manchette's terse prose moves like the swift, almost automatic methods and mannerisms of his protagonist."—The Wall Street Journal

"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

"Manchette is a master of both economy and irony. Brutal and bracing: Terrier's tale fascinates even as it chills."—Kirkus Reviews

Jean-Patrick Manchette (December 19, 1942, Marseille – June 3, 1995, Paris) 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.

Four of his novels have been translated into English. Two were published by City Lights Books: Three To Kill and The Prone Gunman, which is also available in a movie-tie in edition titled, The Gunman.