The Outlaw

by Georges Simenon

Homeless, penniless, and wanted for a a crime in his native Poland, Stan wanders through Europe, only to return to Paris with one thing to sell--his inside knowledge of the workings of a notorious gang

Genres: Fiction, Crime

153 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1938

About the author

Georges 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.

Reviews

[Bob · Rating 1 out of 5]

Possibly the least rewarding Simenon I've read. At a quick glance, the necessary pieces seem to be there... someone breaks bad slowly and internationally. But any intrigue that comes from the double-crossing here is utterly lost in rambling dialogue and poorly drawn characters. For someone who wrote as many books as he did, it's a statistical inevitability that at least one of them might be truly terrible. For me, this was it.

[Ineke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dit is één van de romans van Simenon, waarin misdaad niet direct de hoofdrol speelt. Het gaat over een straatarme, wanhopige Pool die zonder papieren op straat zwerft en probeert te overleven. Hij deed me denken aan Raskolnikov, de hoofdpersoon uit Schuld en boete van Dostojewski. De wanhoop, het radeloos, overspannen denken en het noodlot dat zich onvermijdelijk voltrekt. Simenon schetst het leven van een paria meesterlijk.

[هدى خورشيد · Rating 2 out of 5]

الكتاب كان من ضمن قوائمي لتحدي 24 ساعة قراءة وللحق استمتعت بهِ وبفكرة ان تعرض الشخص لقدر هائل من الضغط النفسي وبالأخص "الخوف" يمكنه ان يفقد صوابه ويصبح هو الرعب بعينه , تقييمي فقط يعتمد على الإطالة التي لم استسغها على الوجه الشخصي خاصة في روايات النمط السريع

[NoID · Rating 2 out of 5]

Un polar plutôt basique, avec un pauvre type, lâche, manipulé, incohérent. Et une bande de voleurs sanguinaires. Et la police qui attend patiemment que tout cela de décante. Il ne manque que Jules.

Guère passionnant

https://www.noid.ch/loutlaw/

[Jack Sussek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not his best....

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Noir c'est noir and Simenon always does it so well, almost effortlessly, this time round with a hapless antihero who can't even succeed at betrayal.

[Olivier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Curiosa novela en la que no aparece el comisario Maigret pero sí los inspectores que están a su cargo.

[Paul]

A desperate refugee in wartime Paris. Taut as an E string, with some contemporary resonance.