The gunman

Description

Martin Terrier is a hired killer who wants out of the game — so he can settle down and marry his childhood sweetheart. After all, that's why he took up this profession! But "the company" won't let him go: they have other plans. Once again, the gunman must assume the prone firing position. A tour de force, this violent tale shatters as many illusions about life and politics as it does bodies. Jean-Patrick Manchette subjects his characters and the reader alike to a fierce exercise in style. This tightly plotted, corrosive parody of "the success story" is widely considered to be Manchette's masterpiece, and was named a *New York Times* "Notable Book" in 2002. *The Prone Gunman* is a classic of modern noir.

Description

Deadly professional assassin Martin Terrier returns to Paris after his latest job determined to get out of the game. Ten years ago he made a promise to return to his childhood sweetheart in the south of France. But circumstances put Martin's attempted retirement on hold: a key target is flying in to Paris, and there is only one man fit for the task of eliminating him. As Martin flees southwards, desperate to return to the crushing mediocrity of life in a backwater town, he finds his former employers will stop at nothing to regain his services for one last job. Bursting with Gallic irony and visceral brutality, The Gunman (originally published in English as The Prone Gunman) is a shocking and sardonic masterpiece from the late, great master of the French crime novel, J-P Manchette.

Subjects

Other Editions

• The gunmanProfile Books2015-01-01
• La position du tireur couchéHardcoverGallimard1981-01-01
• La Position du tireur couchéGallimard1981-01-01
• La position du tireur couchéPaperbackGallimard1985-11-14
• La Position du tireur couchéMass Market PaperbackGallimard1998-10-23
• Prone GunmanCity Lights Books2002-01-01