Co-winner of the CWA International Dagger in 2013, Pierre Lemaitre is the French crime writer to watch at the moment. Following the success of his fast-paced, gritty Parisian thriller Alex, Quercus is releasing the prequel, Irène, today for Kindle!

To celebrate, the publisher is giving UK readers of Crime Fiction Lover the opportunity to win not just Irène, but a copy of Alex too, and an additional bundle of crime books by Quercus/MacLehose Press worth £50. That’s first prize. Five runners up will win copies of Irène and Alex. Excellent prizes for lovers of French crime fiction.

Entering our competition is easy. All you have to do is read the passage from Irène below and then identify the very famous crime book that the killer in Irène has based this murder upon. You’ll need to subscribe to the Quercus email newsletter too (it’s easy to unsubscribe, though, if you don’t like it), fill in your details, and hit the Subscribe & Enter button. As long as you’ve chosen the name of the novel the passage appears in, your name will go into the hat.

Which book is this famous passage from?
‘To Camille’s right, sprawled on the ground, were the remains of a disembowelled body, jagged, broken ribs poking through the stomach, and one breast, the other having been hacked off, but it was difficult to say for sure since the body of the woman – that it was a woman was the only thing that seemed certain – was smeared with excrement which only partially covered countless bitemarks. To the left was a head, the eyes burned out. From the gaping mouth snaked pink and white veins. Opposite lay a body from which the skin had been partially peeled away, deep gashes lacerated the flesh and there were yawning wounds, carefully demarcated openings in the belly and vagina, probably made using acid. The head of the second victim had been nailed to the wall through the cheeks. Camille surveyed the scene, and took a notebook from his pocket, only to quickly put it back again as though acknowledging that the task was so monstrous that all his methods were useless, every approach doomed to failure. There is no strategy for dealing with atrocity. And yet this was why he was here, staring at the nameless horror.’

COMPETITION CLOSED

Terms & Conditions
Competition run by Quercus Books.
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Read terms and conditions here.