Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
NYRB Classics (2014), Paperback, 184 pages
Description
"Michel Hartog, a sometime architect, is a powerful businessman and famous philanthropist whose immense fortune has just grown that much greater following the death of his brother in an accident. Peter is his orphaned nephew--a spoiled brat. Julie is in an insane asylum. Thompson is a hired gunman with an ulcerated gut. Michel, known for his kindly interest in the disadvantaged, hires Julie to look after Peter. And he hires Thompson to kill them. Julie and Peter escape. Thompson, gut groaning, pursues. Hunter and hunted make their way across France to the remote mountain estate to which Michel has retreated. Bullets fly. Bodies accumulate. The craziness is just getting started. Like Jean-Patrick Manchette's celebrated Fatale, The Mad and the Bad is a clear-eyed, cold-blooded, pitch-perfect work of creative destruction"--… (more)
Media reviews
The implication is that there is no such thing as generosity or commitment, that we are always in it for our own self-interest, that beneath (or even on) the surface, every interaction is tainted, stained. That’s as true of the so-called good guys as it is of the bad guys; in this novel, nobody
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walks away clean....“The Mad and the Bad” is so dark it
redefines noir: bleak and pointed, yes, but also infused with an understanding that what passes between us is not only compromised but more often faithless, less a matter of commitment or connection than a kind of unrelenting animal need. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member jwhenderson
Manchette's The Mad and the Bad, first published in 1972, has recently been translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith and published by New York Review Books. It is a taut crime thriller which opens as wealthy Parisian architect Michel Hartog springs Julie Ballanger from a New Age mental hospital and
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hires her to look after his nephew, Peter, a boy of six or seven whose parents died in a plane crash. Meanwhile, Thompson, a vicious hit man with a queasy stomach, eats choucroute after a particularly grisly job. Very soon Thompson is recruited by a mysterious client to kidnap Julie and Peter and kill them, making their deaths look like the work of the mentally unstable nanny. While the kidnapping takes place the wheels begin to go off their operation fairly soon as Julie and Peter escape, and are pursued across France by Thompson and his thugs. This noir thriller is particularly violent and graphic with a plot that takes place at a very high speed. Readers more familiar with France than I may better appreciate the landscape covered by the pair chased by the hired killers. Will Julie discover who hired Thompson in time to turn the tables, or will the nanny and her charge succumb to the seeming inevitable? With the addition of social criticism typical of the dissipated left-wing malaise of post-’68 France woven unobtrusively into the well-paced plot this book is entertaining for all but the squeamish. Show Less
LibraryThing member hemlokgang
You have to love it when the only character diagnosed as mentally ill turns out to be the only sane character in a book! Jean-Patrick Manchette is referred to as the French version of Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett. This was my first experience with Manchette, and I am so impressed by his
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dynamic storytelling. I always have to be careful discussing use of language when reading a translated piece of literature, but I really liked the language of this novel.. It is a violent tale highlighting the absurdity of the lifetime criminal, the pettiness of envy, and in some respects the naivete and purported resilience of children. Julie, the insane character, and Peter, a child in her care, are kidnapped and the criminal romp and killing spree go from there. Sounds awful, but it reads very well, a tribute to the writer and translator! Show Less
LibraryThing member ozzer
This fast-paced noir thriller engages with interesting characters, action and settings. Manchette keeps the story moving with rapid scene shifts and abundant violence. His style is supposed to incorporate satirical social commentary into the noir genre, but this commentary is quite subtle and seems
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lost in all the action. The motivations of the characters are not always clear and most seem cartoonish (This might make a better graphic novel). Certainly the mood is so dark that it eliminates all of the humanity from the characters. Manchette clearly had a dark view of human nature and this is abundantly on display in this novel. However, for those with a more sanguine and nuanced view of society, this novel may not satisfy. Show Less
LibraryThing member danlai
Can I drop the f-bomb on this site? I have several questions to ask after finishing this book and the all require the word.
This book is crazy. This isn't your standard "psycho bad guy fights moralistic good guy" story, because that's boring. Manchette makes this much more interesting by having
This book is crazy. This isn't your standard "psycho bad guy fights moralistic good guy" story, because that's boring. Manchette makes this much more interesting by having
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everyone just go insane. People are shot, people beaten to death, shopping centers are set on fire. Doesn't that sound like fun? Show Less
LibraryThing member RidgewayGirl
How could anyone resist a classic French noir called The Mad and the Bad? I couldn't and for the most part Jean-Patrick Manchette's novel lived up to my expectations. Published in 1972, Manchette was influenced by American hard-boiled tales and wrote one of his own, adding a certain French
Julie is released from a psychiatric institute in order to care for the nephew of a creepy, entitled businessman who ended up in charge of both the nephew and an enormous fortune when his brother dies. Julie's not someone one would naturally choose as the caregiver to a young child. There's that whole "just been released from a psychiatric institute" thing, but also her tendency to drink or take any drugs she finds available and an apparent lack of any nurturing skills. In her first encounter with the admittedly uncharming Peter, she slaps him while his guardian stands back and observes. This is not a book where the characters will bare their feelings or anything heartwarming will occur. And, sure enough, by the following day the reader is treated to a full helping of bad events when Julie and Peter are kidnapped.
There's a cinematic feel to this book, with chase scenes set inside supermarkets and large countryside houses that seem designed for film. There's not much down time, with some really bad guys chasing a surprisingly adaptable young woman and her charge through the south of France, bullets flying. This is a noir in the classic sense, with lots of attention paid to what's happening and less to the motivations, reasons and development of the characters involved.
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sensibility to the genre. Julie is released from a psychiatric institute in order to care for the nephew of a creepy, entitled businessman who ended up in charge of both the nephew and an enormous fortune when his brother dies. Julie's not someone one would naturally choose as the caregiver to a young child. There's that whole "just been released from a psychiatric institute" thing, but also her tendency to drink or take any drugs she finds available and an apparent lack of any nurturing skills. In her first encounter with the admittedly uncharming Peter, she slaps him while his guardian stands back and observes. This is not a book where the characters will bare their feelings or anything heartwarming will occur. And, sure enough, by the following day the reader is treated to a full helping of bad events when Julie and Peter are kidnapped.
There's a cinematic feel to this book, with chase scenes set inside supermarkets and large countryside houses that seem designed for film. There's not much down time, with some really bad guys chasing a surprisingly adaptable young woman and her charge through the south of France, bullets flying. This is a noir in the classic sense, with lots of attention paid to what's happening and less to the motivations, reasons and development of the characters involved.
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LibraryThing member encephalical
Brutalism lit.
LibraryThing member judithrs
The Mad and the Bad. Jean-Patrick Manchette. 1972. New York Review Classics. Good Grief. This needs to be a Quention Tarrantino movie! I don’t if I have ever read a book that combines so much slap-stick comedy with violence! Hartag, a rich businessman who hires Julie from an insane asylum to look
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after his spoiled bratty nephew and then contracts with Thompson, a hired killer with an ulcer to kill them. Julie and the nephew escape and a chase, worthy of Smokey and the Bandit ensues! What a crazy book! Oh, he is a French writer; Francophiles will enjoy the descriptions of the French countryside. Show Less
LibraryThing member datrappert
The title is appropriate. This is a pretty unhinged, mostly chase, thriller about a dying killer, a somewhat deranged nanny, a rich architect and his ward, a few more killers, and a lot of innocent bystanders. The little details about places and things, together with the nonstop action and
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excellent writing (and translation) make this an enjoyable romp. Despite the level of violence, the treatment makes it less dark and serious than the other Manchette books I have recently read. But in any case, he was a master. Show Less
Awards
French-American Foundation Translation Prize (Winner — 2015)
Language
Original language
French
Original publication date
1972
Physical description
184 p.
ISBN
1590177207 / 9781590177204
Local notes
French title: O dingos, O chateaux! / The Mad and the Bad / Run Like Crazy, Run Like Hell