A chilling 1950s suspense story of youthful naivety dark obsessionand the slippery slope to murder Bored with her mundane factory job her nagging mother and her alcoholic fatherinlaw 17yearold Louise Lacroix is captivated by a glamorous American couple who moves to her industrial hometown in Northern France. The Roolands home is an island of color good humor and easy living in drab 1950s Leopoldvillea place straight out of Louise's dreams. Louise is thrilled when she successfully convinces the couple to hire her as their maid. But once she is under their roof their model life starts to fall apart. Painful secrets from their past emerge cracks in their relationship appear and a dark obsession begins to grow... Review Translator Daniel Seton has done a superb job Anglicizing Dard's sometimes tortuous French colloquialisms and appropriating his conversational tone.... [Crush is] a short sharp welltold tale. The Wall Street JournalWith their tight plots the stories are particularly cinematic and fi lmmakers are already showing interest. Dard also wrote screenplays and plays. Their revival could be just around the corner. The Observer The wonder is that Frederic Dard's singular take on crime noir is not better known in this country. Served by an excellent translator Dard has much to offer. Daily MailThe cleverness of Dards Georges Simenoninfluenced novella lies in the way that it lulls you into thinking this is just another tale of a teenagers shattered dreams... it is much darker than that. The Sunday TimesA snappy and sassy little drama... Highly recommended. BookbagNo questio... See more
A chilling 1950s suspense story of youthful naivety dark obsessionand the slippery slope to murder Bored with her mundane factory job her nagging mother and her alcoholic fatherinlaw 17yearold Louise Lacroix is captivated by a glamorous American couple who moves to her industrial hometown in Northern France. The Roolands home is an island of color good humor and easy living in drab 1950s Leopoldvillea place straight out of Louise's dreams. Louise is thrilled when she successfully convinces the couple to hire her as their maid. But once she is under their roof their model life starts to fall apart. Painful secrets from their past emerge cracks in their relationship appear and a dark obsession begins to grow... Review Translator Daniel Seton has done a superb job Anglicizing Dard's sometimes tortuous French colloquialisms and appropriating his conversational tone.... [Crush is] a short sharp welltold tale. The Wall Street JournalWith their tight plots the stories are particularly cinematic and fi lmmakers are already showing interest. Dard also wrote screenplays and plays. Their revival could be just around the corner. The Observer The wonder is that Frederic Dard's singular take on crime noir is not better known in this country. Served by an excellent translator Dard has much to offer. Daily MailThe cleverness of Dards Georges Simenoninfluenced novella lies in the way that it lulls you into thinking this is just another tale of a teenagers shattered dreams... it is much darker than that. The Sunday TimesA snappy and sassy little drama... Highly recommended. BookbagNo question: for me he was the greatest. Philippe GeluckA thrilling character study of a teenage girl driven to despair. International Crime FictionHis language is cutting his pointofview original and his verdict uncompromising... One of the few twentiethcentury authors to win both critical acclaim and great popularity Solidarite MilitaireThe literary descendant of Simenon and Celine Le FigaroFrances most popular postwar author. LExpress ReviewReading Frederic Dard is like falling into a silken nightmare. Going to hell never felt so sexy or poetic. Dennis LehaneNo question: for me he was the greatest. Philippe Geluck About the Author Frederic Dard (19212000) was one of the best known and loved French crime writers of the twentieth century. Enormously prolific he wrote more than three hundred thrillers suspense stories plays and screenplays under a variety of noms de plume throughout his long and illustrious career which also saw him win the 1957 Grand prix de litterature policière forThe Executioner Cries forthcoming from Pushkin Vertigo.