"Simenon has concentrated noir into a darkness as solid and heavy as the interior of a dwarf star." —William T. Vollmann

What happens to everyday morality in a time of political deceit and betrayal? In an unnamed city under military occupation, nineteen-year-old Frank—a low-level thug and thief—should be content enough with his warm home and full stomach, even against the dreariness of an endless winter. Instead, though, he's inexorably drawn to commit a string of brutal, senseless acts of violence. Set against the backdrop of a bleak, pitiless world, Georges Simenon's portrait of a killer is a peerless indictment and examination of the chilling banality of evil.