Frederic Dard's 'The King of Fools'

                 

                 Frederic Dard was a French Writer, who had written more than two hundred thrillers. Thanks to Pushkin Vertigo, one of his masterpieces (King Of Fools) has been translated to English, long after his death in 2000.Originally Published in French in the 1950 's, King Of Fools is one of those rare works which doesn't have a ' dated ' feel to it.Even in 2019, the work feels quite fresh and engaging!
                Jean-Marie has just befriended Marjory (a British woman who is on a French holiday) after a chance meeting in France. Pretty soon, they fall in love and Jean- Marie follows the beautiful Marjory to her native country, Scotland. But all is not well as Marjory's husband soon finds out about their 'affair' and the desperate lover that he is, Jean-Marie does what any other 'foolish lover' would have done in a scenario like this.Will he be able to wash off the blood on his hands?(go, grab a copy and figure out!)
              As I said in the beginning,'King Of Fools' is a racy thriller.There are twists and turns happening at regular intervals and the suspense is maintained well through out.The climax is also well thought out and at 156+ pages, the book is quite slim and engaging.The avid readers might feel the lack of detailing a bit disheartening though.Looking forward to reading more works by Frederic Dard, the master of French Crime Fiction.I'm giving this book a 3.5 out of 5.

-nikhimenon