The Wicked Go to Hell

Description

A cop receives a mission - to win the confidence of an enemy spy, currently in prison, and so to expose destroy his spy ring. What better way to allay his suspicions than for the policeman to enter the prison himself, posing as a criminal? So, Frank and Hal end up sharing a cell, but who is the spy and who is the cop? And who will win their claustrophobic game of cat and mouse? Memorably filmed by Robert Hossein in 1955, this tense and brilliantly original thriller is one of Dard's most powerful.

Frederic Dard (1921-2000) 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 policiere for The Executioner Cries, forthcoming from Pushkin Vertigo. Dard's The Switch, The Wretches and The Gravediggers' Bread are also available or forthcoming from Pushkin Vertigo.

Fast-moving... a one-sitting read Independent A typically fast-paced, brutal and smart offering from the prolific French writer Sunday Times Crime Club A great thing to have it newly on the shelves for people to discover Bookbag Absolutely outstanding Raven Crime Reads The prison is eerie, the action hard-hitting and the obscure friendship very compelling. Dard provides us with a fast-paced mystery thriller about two inmates who become adversaries, only to discover that beneath every rivalry lies a strange respect for the other International Crime Fiction No question: for me, he was the greatest -- Philippe Geluck The literary descendant of Simenon and Celine Le Figaro His language is cutting, his point-of-view original and his verdict uncompromising... One of the few twentieth-century authors to win both critical acclaim and great popularity Solidarite Militaire France's most popular post-war author L'Express