Jean-Patrick Manchette’s Followers (320)

Jean-Patrick Manchette

Born

in Marseille, France

December 19, 1942

Died

June 03, 1995

edit data

Jean-Patrick Manchette was a French crime novelist credited with reinventing and reinvigorating the genre. He wrote ten short novels in the seventies and early eighties, and is widely recognized as the foremost French crime fiction author of the 1970s - 1980s . His stories are violent, existentialist explorations of the human condition and French society.

Manchette was politically to the left and his writing reflects this through his analysis of social positions and culture. His books are reminiscent of the nouvelle vague crime films of Jean-Pierre Melville, employing a similarly cool, existential style on a typically American genre (film noir for Melville and pulp novels for Manchette).

Three of his novels have been translated into English. Jean-Patrick Manchette was a French crime novelist credited with reinventing and reinvigorating the genre. He wrote ten short novels in the seventies and early eighties, and is widely recognized as the foremost French crime fiction author of the 1970s - 1980s . His stories are violent, existentialist explorations of the human condition and French society.

Manchette was politically to the left and his writing reflects this through his analysis of social positions and culture. His books are reminiscent of the nouvelle vague crime films of Jean-Pierre Melville, employing a similarly cool, existential style on a typically American genre (film noir for Melville and pulp novels for Manchette).

Three of his novels have been translated into English. Two were published by San Francisco publisher City Lights Books (3 To Kill [from the French "Le petit bleu de la côte ouest"] and The Prone Gunman [from the French "La Position du tireur couché"]). A third, Fatale, was released by New York Review Books Classics in 2011.

Manchette believed he had gone full circle with his last novel, which he conceived as a "closure" of his Noir fiction. In a 1988 letter to a journalist, Manchette said:

" After that, as I did not have to belong to any kind of literary school, I entered a very different work area. In seven years, I have not done anything good. I'm still working at it."

In 1989, finally having found new territory he wanted to explore, Manchette started writing a new novel, La Princesse du Sang" ("Blood Princess"), an international thriller, which was supposed to be the first book in a new cycle, a series of novels covering five decades from the post-war period to present times. He died from cancer before completing it.

Starting in 1996, a year after Manchette's death, several unpublished works were released, showing how very active he was during in the years preceding his death.

In 2009, Fantagraphics Books released an English-language version of French cartoonist Jacques Tardi's adaptation of Le petit bleu, under the new English title 'West Coast Blues.' Fantagraphics released a second Tardi adaptation, of "La Position du tireur couché" (under the title "Like a Sniper Lining Up His Shot" ) in the summer of 2011, and has scheduled a third one, of "Ô Dingos! Ô Châteaux!" (under the title "Run Like Crazy Run Like Hell") in summer 2014. Manchette himself was a fan of comics, and his praised translation of Alan Moore's Watchmen into French remains in print.

...more

Combine Editions
Jean-Patrick Manchette’s books

Average rating: 3.72 · 13,009 ratings · 1,892 reviews · 66 distinct works • Similar authors

	Fatale by Jean-Patrick Manchette, Jean Echenoz (Afterword), Donald Nicholson-Smith (Translator) 3.62 avg rating — 2,793 ratings — published 1977 — 33 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Prone Gunman 3.61 avg rating — 2,003 ratings — published 1981 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Mad and the Bad by Jean-Patrick Manchette, Donald Nicholson-Smith (Translator), James Sallis (Introduction) 3.73 avg rating — 1,553 ratings — published 1972	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Three to Kill by Jean-Patrick Manchette, Donald Nicholson-Smith (Translator) 3.88 avg rating — 1,256 ratings — published 1976 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Nada 3.96 avg rating — 1,166 ratings — published 1972 — 28 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	No Room at the Morgue by Jean-Patrick Manchette, Alyson Waters (Translator), Howard Rodman (Introduction) 3.75 avg rating — 908 ratings — published 1973 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Skeletons in the Closet by Jean-Patrick Manchette, Alyson Waters (Translator) 3.67 avg rating — 641 ratings — published 1976 — 20 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The N'Gustro Affair by Jean-Patrick Manchette, Donald Nicholson-Smith (Translator), Gary Indiana (Introduction) 3.49 avg rating — 400 ratings — published 1971 — 18 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ivory Pearl by Jean-Patrick Manchette, Donald Nicholson-Smith (Translator), Doug Headline (Introduction) 3.61 avg rating — 330 ratings — published 1996 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Streets of Paris, Streets of Murder: The Complete Graphic Noir of Manchette & Tardi Vol. 1 (The Complete Noir Stories of Manchette & Tardi) by Jean-Patrick Manchette, Jacques Tardi (illustrator), Kim Thompson (Translation) 3.97 avg rating — 145 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Jean-Patrick Manchette…

Series by Jean-Patrick Manchette

Streets of Paris, Streets of Murder (4 books)
by

Jean-Patrick Manchette,

James Brook (Translator)

3.73 avg rating — 3,798 ratings

Eugene Tarpon (2 books)
by

Jean-Patrick Manchette,

Alyson Waters (Translator)

3.72 avg rating — 1,548 ratings

Quotes by Jean-Patrick Manchette (?)

“It was a genuine revelation, you see," said Aimée to the baron. "They can be killed. The real assholes can be killed.”
― Jean-Patrick Manchette, Fatale

tags: assholes

17 likes

“Είμαι υπέρ της παγκόσμιας αρμονίας, είπε, και υπέρ του να τελειώσει το ελλεεινό πολιτισμένο Κράτος. Κάτω από την ψυχρή και περιποιημένη μου όψη κρύβονται και βράζουν οι φλόγες του πιο παράφορου μίσους για τον τεχνογραφειοκρατικό καπιταλισμό, που έχει μουνί σε σχήμα κάλπης και πούτσα για κεφάλι”
― Jean-Patrick Manchette, Nada

tags: καπιταλισμός, κοινωνία, κράτος, πολιτική

1 likes

“Briançon, and Grenoble. His task”
― Jean-Patrick Manchette, Three To Kill

0 likes

See all Jean-Patrick Manchette's quotes »

Polls

December 2025 - All Through the Night

Night Has a Thousand Eyes by Cornell Woolrich writing as George Hopley

7 votes, 29.2%

The Prone Gunman by Jean-Patrick Manchette

6 votes, 25.0%

Out by Natsuo Kirino

6 votes, 25.0%

A Stranger In My Grave by Margaret Millar

5 votes, 20.8%

24 total votes

3 comments

More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
The Seasonal Read...: Winter Challenge 2012-2013: Reading Plans	31	331	Feb 23, 2013 11:11PM
Goodreads Italia: Quale libro consigliereste?	29	191	Jun 13, 2013 10:17PM
Challenge: 50 Books: Susan T Tackles 55 in 2013!	20	94	Dec 31, 2013 08:43PM
The Mystery, Crim...: The Winners have been Chosen for the July/August Group Read	58	412	Jul 20, 2015 01:05PM
Books2Movies Club: Year 2015 - Expectations and rumors	11	38	Sep 17, 2015 07:39PM
Books2Movies Club: 2015 - Currently Across the World	14	60	Dec 22, 2015 11:38AM
The Novella Club: Nominate a novel for June 2016	7	20	May 03, 2016 04:02PM
The Mystery, Crim...: Nominations for the May/June 2016 group reads are open	32	269	May 09, 2016 06:21AM

More…