BooksRock.com - Kids Books At Amazing Low Prices!

A gripping noir masterpiece and New York Times Notable Book, The Gunman is now a major motion picture starring Sean Penn.

Martin Terrier is a hired killer who wants out of the game so he can settle down and marry his childhood sweetheart. But the organization won't let him go-they have other plans for him. In a violent tale that shatters as many illusions as bodies, Jean-Patrick Manchette subjects his characters and listeners alike to a fierce exercise in style. This tightly plotted, corrosive parody of the success story is widely considered to be Manchette's masterpiece-a classic of modern noir.

Jean-Parick Manchette (1942-1995) rescued the French crime novel from the grip of stodgy police procedurals, restoring the noir edge by virtue of his post-1968 leftism. Today, Manchette is a totem to a generation of French mystery writers, and his stories have inspired several films, including Claude Chabrol's The Nada Gang.

James Brook is a poet, translator, and editor. He is an editor for City Lights Books, where he concentrates on political nonfiction and world literature. He has translated works by Guy Debord, Henri Michaux, Gellu Naum, Benjamin Peret, Alberto Savinio, and Sebastian Reichmann. His poems and essays have appeared in numerous publications.

Ralph Lister is an actor, voice actor, and AudioFile Earphones Award-winning narrator. He spent fifteen years in London theater before moving to the United States to focus on film and television. He has held numerous roles in Shakespeare and modern dramas, as well as starring roles in independent films. His voice and character work can be heard in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearland 13 Going On 30. He lives in Los Angeles.