A review by p_t_b
Three to Kill by Jean-Patrick Manchette

4.0

concept: an elmore leonard novel brined in frenchness* and left in the sun for a couple years to remove impurities

RIYL the episode of barry where barry just fights the jujitsu champion guy non-stop for 27 minutes, except with way more name checks of jazz musicians and very precise descriptions of sensible european cars/firearms. seriously though this book is perfect - i will go to my grave proclaiming that the tv show Mad Men is overrated, but if you took the basic white-collar anomie theme of that show and combined it with just like staccato brawls and gunplay it turns into a glittering diamond

* all french books have to be asterisked with the disclaimer that i cannot tell if the author was being funny or weird in certain moments, or just extremely french

seriously though i loved this. giving me the splenetic aura i crave for 2024