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The Reckoning
After strangling his mistress, Jules Maletras, a wealthy retired entrepreneur, finds himself haunted by his devastated self-image, his past, and his crime as he attempts to cover his tracks and return to normal life
124 pages, Hardcover
First published November 22, 1967
About the author
Georges Simenon
2,696 books2,470 followersGeorges Joseph Christian Simenon (1903 – 1989) was a Belgian writer. A prolific author who published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, Simenon is best known as the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret.
Although he never resided in Belgium after 1922, he remained a Belgian citizen throughout his life.
Simenon was one of the most prolific writers of the twentieth century, capable of writing 60 to 80 pages per day. His oeuvre includes nearly 200 novels, over 150 novellas, several autobiographical works, numerous articles, and scores of pulp novels written under more than two dozen pseudonyms. Altogether, about 550 million copies of his works have been printed.
He is best known, however, for his 75 novels and 28 short stories featuring Commissaire Maigret. The first novel in the series, Pietr-le-Letton, appeared in 1931; the last one, Maigret et M. Charles, was published in 1972. The Maigret novels were translated into all major languages and several of them were turned into films and radio plays. Two television series (1960-63 and 1992-93) have been made in Great Britain.
During his "American" period, Simenon reached the height of his creative powers, and several novels of those years were inspired by the context in which they were written (Trois chambres à Manhattan (1946), Maigret à New York (1947), Maigret se fâche (1947)).
Simenon also wrote a large number of "psychological novels", such as La neige était sale (1948) or Le fils (1957), as well as several autobiographical works, in particular Je me souviens (1945), Pedigree (1948), Mémoires intimes (1981).
In 1966, Simenon was given the MWA's highest honor, the Grand Master Award.
In 2005 he was nominated for the title of De Grootste Belg (The Greatest Belgian). In the Flemish version he ended 77th place. In the Walloon version he ended 10th place.
Although he never resided in Belgium after 1922, he remained a Belgian citizen throughout his life.
Simenon was one of the most prolific writers of the twentieth century, capable of writing 60 to 80 pages per day. His oeuvre includes nearly 200 novels, over 150 novellas, several autobiographical works, numerous articles, and scores of pulp novels written under more than two dozen pseudonyms. Altogether, about 550 million copies of his works have been printed.
He is best known, however, for his 75 novels and 28 short stories featuring Commissaire Maigret. The first novel in the series, Pietr-le-Letton, appeared in 1931; the last one, Maigret et M. Charles, was published in 1972. The Maigret novels were translated into all major languages and several of them were turned into films and radio plays. Two television series (1960-63 and 1992-93) have been made in Great Britain.
During his "American" period, Simenon reached the height of his creative powers, and several novels of those years were inspired by the context in which they were written (Trois chambres à Manhattan (1946), Maigret à New York (1947), Maigret se fâche (1947)).
Simenon also wrote a large number of "psychological novels", such as La neige était sale (1948) or Le fils (1957), as well as several autobiographical works, in particular Je me souviens (1945), Pedigree (1948), Mémoires intimes (1981).
In 1966, Simenon was given the MWA's highest honor, the Grand Master Award.
In 2005 he was nominated for the title of De Grootste Belg (The Greatest Belgian). In the Flemish version he ended 77th place. In the Walloon version he ended 10th place.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 18, 2022
Está bueno este libro porque no es policial policial, es desde la perspectiva del asesino. Pero no hay investigación, es más psicológico. El otro que había leído de Simenon es parecido.
October 29, 2020
This is my first foray into the immense world of Georges Simenon who wrote so many detective thrillers. I can't remember where I found this one but I wouldn't be surprised if it alighted on a cart of two buck books at a friends of the library bookstore. All I knew about this French novelist was his immense reputation as a writer of deceptively profound detective fiction.
Its probably no accident that Simenon could only pull off that trick for the length of a novella. Maletras is murderer but that isn't what makes him so unpleasant. The book opens with him getting served canapes on the house by a waiter simply wishing to please a customer. At first Maletras is perplexed by this act of kindness but then he thinks about it and decide that, 'he's a human being and he wants to please me because I too am a human being.'
At a bit more than one hundred pages and with a linear plot, it was a palate cleanser after the dense and spectacular Gravity's Rainbow. The main character is Maletras who has earned a fortune and is struggling finding a purpose in his retirement. While the novel is told in the 3rd person, we spend most of our time in this unpleasant man's head. I could imagine Simenon wondering what it would feel like telling a story from the perspective of a despicable person. Could he do that? What would such a man be like? How would the author find any sympathy for his character?
Over the course of the novel we realize that this simple sentiment isn't one that Maletras can manage. At first I saw this story as one of decline, dissipation and ruin but the more I read, the more I concluded that there isn't any sign that Maletras had ever shared the qualities of emotion that he assigned to the waiter. Given Simenon's prolific output I doubt this thin story was meant to be much more than what it was. I don't find the character completely convincing but I do love how Simenon continues to undercut Maletras as narrator. For example, he claims at one point not to be drunk when in fact totaling up his consumption and his distorted behavior, its clear that he is. The results are that he ends up passing out on his own front stoop. We are meant to believe he had a heart attack but I'm not sure this is anything other than the sloppy diagnosis of alcohol poisoning by a couple of doctors. He outlives his wife by seven years and we aren't told that it was his weak ticker that did him in. I do think the final sentence of the novel reveals Simenon's goal in portraying him. 'She went on hating him as much as ever.'
Its probably no accident that Simenon could only pull off that trick for the length of a novella. Maletras is murderer but that isn't what makes him so unpleasant. The book opens with him getting served canapes on the house by a waiter simply wishing to please a customer. At first Maletras is perplexed by this act of kindness but then he thinks about it and decide that, 'he's a human being and he wants to please me because I too am a human being.'
At a bit more than one hundred pages and with a linear plot, it was a palate cleanser after the dense and spectacular Gravity's Rainbow. The main character is Maletras who has earned a fortune and is struggling finding a purpose in his retirement. While the novel is told in the 3rd person, we spend most of our time in this unpleasant man's head. I could imagine Simenon wondering what it would feel like telling a story from the perspective of a despicable person. Could he do that? What would such a man be like? How would the author find any sympathy for his character?
Over the course of the novel we realize that this simple sentiment isn't one that Maletras can manage. At first I saw this story as one of decline, dissipation and ruin but the more I read, the more I concluded that there isn't any sign that Maletras had ever shared the qualities of emotion that he assigned to the waiter. Given Simenon's prolific output I doubt this thin story was meant to be much more than what it was. I don't find the character completely convincing but I do love how Simenon continues to undercut Maletras as narrator. For example, he claims at one point not to be drunk when in fact totaling up his consumption and his distorted behavior, its clear that he is. The results are that he ends up passing out on his own front stoop. We are meant to believe he had a heart attack but I'm not sure this is anything other than the sloppy diagnosis of alcohol poisoning by a couple of doctors. He outlives his wife by seven years and we aren't told that it was his weak ticker that did him in. I do think the final sentence of the novel reveals Simenon's goal in portraying him. 'She went on hating him as much as ever.'
October 5, 2021
Not his best work, but then - maybe it's me. Story of a very successful, but very cold married man who has an affair with a local waif. She drives him up the wall- finds out he's rich, so she buys a fur coat (in May!) and then goes for a ride with a man in a sports car. She taunts him with it and he strangles her. Her lover (younger lover) takes care of the body and "the problem" (unasked by the rich old fellow). He continues on as before, but shaken now- not really guilty, not really troubled about being caught - just caught on the "reckoning" with his life. He is pensive, he wanders to the bad part of town and finds a run down bar / brothel that reminds him of home (the smell, the woman and so forth). The nice old lady offers him "a young girl" ... he is fairly disgusted by the suggestion but eventually takes up the idea to prove himself i guess. After that things go way downhill... he collapses / almost dies. People feel sorry for him, though he has given no one a thought or a care his whole life. But they pretend to - to be polite - he knows this and kind of allows it, but moves on past all that ... just drifting / existing. Almost a buddhist like "past all that (life)" state.... that's why i am a little unconvinced. A bit too romantic for Simenon? but making a point. What point? hmmm... just that he is past the fake-ness of the way people live and is satisfied just taking up space- not hating (as before) .. not loving.... just .. wandering and waiting to die - it is all the same to him (as he says often). Still- the ennui ... the muddled guilt (?) .. .the self awareness. Pretty great in spite of my reservations.
January 25, 2021
Ripe for a re-issue. A classic example of Simenon's unique prowess. Not an easy read in some ways in many ways - seemingly emotionless jerk does an unspeakable thing (chokes to death a woman who spurns him) and looks on the surface to not care) - but something about this one is just infinitely fascinating as the guy makes his borish way through his family, employees, and underage sex-worker staff (again! not the easiest read!). The end is actually a little more operatic than many of the roman durs are. Do we see a transformation in this character? Is there a post-reckoning redemption? Mmmaybe? One I'll read again in 10 years.
April 23, 2018
This is one of the books where Inspector Maigret is not featured. However, the other things remain. Dark lives, where there is only a-morality. The dividing line between good and bad is blurred. Grey on either side.
Here one man, with no soul , walks the dark side. From self pity and contempt for others to becoming an observer of his own life, the central character walks boldly.
And Simenon makes you a fly on the wall. Leaving all judgements with the reader.
For me, biased as I am towards Simenon, this book was a one session read. Simply fast and furious.
Here one man, with no soul , walks the dark side. From self pity and contempt for others to becoming an observer of his own life, the central character walks boldly.
And Simenon makes you a fly on the wall. Leaving all judgements with the reader.
For me, biased as I am towards Simenon, this book was a one session read. Simply fast and furious.
April 3, 2021
Simenon wrote hundreds of novels and I had not read a single one until The Reckoning . . . I found it on my bookshelf and almost wish I hadn't. Jules Malétras, the central figure in this short 'psycological' work is a thoroughly loathsome individual without a single redeeming quality and why we, as readers, should care what happens to him is a mystery. It doesn't end well but not as badly as he deserved but as I said, who cares? It's a very short book or I wouldn't have bothered to finish it.
June 1, 2025
Voilà un roman bien amoral. Pur jus de l’époque ! Un homme tue sa maîtresse et vlan : deux cent trente-cinq pages d’introspection. Qui était elle, d’où venait elle… Beuh, là n’est pas le sujet. Elle finira découpée en morceaux et qu’importe. Personne ne sera puni, non, l’important c’est Monsieur et ses états d’âme.
Par ailleurs, le portrait de Malétras est très réussi et la plongée dans ses tourments offre un tableau d’une grande profondeur.
Mais quand même, quelle indécence !
https://www.noid.ch/le-bilan-maletras/
Par ailleurs, le portrait de Malétras est très réussi et la plongée dans ses tourments offre un tableau d’une grande profondeur.
Mais quand même, quelle indécence !
https://www.noid.ch/le-bilan-maletras/
September 13, 2026
Rather similar to Le cercle des Mahe, from around the same time; the family dynamic is a little different, the setting is grim northern French port instead of sunny southern French island, and this one does actually involve a crime. But the inner man is similar to Dr Mahe, though Maletras seems in the end to find a slightly more comfortable accommodation with his asocial (to put it mildly) character. Hard not to, really.
July 15, 2023
[Hamish Hamilton] (1984). HB/DJ. 1/1. 124 Pages. Obtained from Zardoz Books.
The comings and goings of Jules Maletras, a wealthy, retired businessman, thief, adulterer, misanthrope and psychopathic strangler.
The comings and goings of Jules Maletras, a wealthy, retired businessman, thief, adulterer, misanthrope and psychopathic strangler.
February 23, 2026
A rich, retired, generally unpleasant businessman, unexpectedly strangles a young woman to death and struggles to cope with his action.
Interesting characters and good plot momentum.
This book was first published in 1948.
Interesting characters and good plot momentum.
This book was first published in 1948.
October 23, 2019
Not good. Not bad. An empty life. An empty death.
April 27, 2014
Good, fast Simenon read which depicts a man totally devoted to his business and success to the exclusion of others. He snaps and commits a "spoiler" and suddenly finds himself in retirement totally adrift in a life without social interaction or meaning. He suffers a major breakdown, but does not end up as either a truly socially better integrated person or as a man who quite throws open his bedroom window on Christmas day and give away turkeys to small disadvantaged relatives.
I'm a many-decade Simenon reader and this was a good one.
I'm a many-decade Simenon reader and this was a good one.
August 21, 2014
Simenon on fine form as usual.
April 25, 2017
Un homme sans sentiments, sans âme, sans pitié ni bonté, et pourtant pas incassable.
Un des romans durs qui révèlent de la psychologie de l'ignominie involontaire, structurelle. Simenon aime décrire les crapules de ce genre, comme pour nous faire conscients du fait que ce genre d'êtres humains sont plus nombreux qu'on ne le croie.
(Comme dans d'autres cas, Goodreads ne connaît pas de l'existence de la version ePub, bien qu'elle apparût avant celle pour Kindle.)
Un des romans durs qui révèlent de la psychologie de l'ignominie involontaire, structurelle. Simenon aime décrire les crapules de ce genre, comme pour nous faire conscients du fait que ce genre d'êtres humains sont plus nombreux qu'on ne le croie.
(Comme dans d'autres cas, Goodreads ne connaît pas de l'existence de la version ePub, bien qu'elle apparût avant celle pour Kindle.)
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews