Snakes in Her Head

A woman behind the wheel, the owner of a one-year-old dalmatian, drives down the highway and is extremely nervous: there are traffic jams on the roads, and today she absolutely cannot be late. Miraculously, she arrives on time. She gets out of the car and, right in the street, cold-bloodedly shoots a man and his dog on the spot. She does it not in a fit of irritation, but because it’s her job. She is a professional hired killer. This is the first in a chain of increasingly bloodthirsty crimes committed in broad daylight—and that are absolutely inexplicable. The killer doesn’t even bother to hide much, yet the Paris police are still at a loss. No one suspects a respectable widow, a former heroine of the French Resistance—yet she continues her work, sinking deeper and deeper into a very lonely madness, terrifying not only her victims but also the clients, and somehow getting out dry again and again…

French writer and screenwriter Pierre Lemaître—brilliant stylist and sharp psychologist—favorite of readers and critics, winner of the Prix Goncourt and other prestigious awards for the novel “Au revoir là-haut,” says farewell to noir, publishing for the first time his very first novel—now finally seen the light of day—a chilling, captivating story of brutality, aging, loneliness, and madness.