Too Close to the Edge: Shocking, Hilarious and Poignant Noir

A widow's quiet retirement in the foothills of the Alps is turned upside down by the arrival of a mysterious stranger in this classic noir by the 'slyly funny' [Sunday Times] Pascal Garnier. 'Rarely has noir been so much fun.' Crime Review Recently widowed grandmother Éliette is returning to her home in the mountains when her micro-car breaks down. A stranger comes to her aid on foot. Éliette offers him a lift, glad of the interruption to her humdrum routine. That night, her neighbours' son is killed in a road accident. Could the tragedy be linked to the arrival of her good Samaritan?

About the Author :
Pascal Garnier, who died in March 2010, was a talented novelist, short story writer, children's author and painter. From his home in the mountains of the Ardèche, he wrote fiction in a noir palette with a cast of characters drawn from ordinary provincial life. Though his writing is often very dark in tone, it sparkles with quirkily beautiful imagery and dry wit. Garnier's work has been likened to the great thriller writer, Georges Simenon. Emily Boyce is a translator and editor. She was shortlisted for the French Book Office New Talent in Translation Award in 2008, the French-American Translation Prize in 2016, and the Scott Moncrieff Prize in 2021. She lives in London.

Review :
Praise for Pascal Garnier 'A mixture of Albert Camus and JG Ballard' Financial Times 'Brilliantly handled in a black farce reminiscent of Joe Orton and the more impish films of Alfred Hitchcock and Claude Chabrol' The Sunday Times 'A brilliant exercise in grim and gripping irony, it makes you grin as well as wince' Sunday Telegraph 'Bleak, often funny and never predictable' The Observer 'A guaranteed grisly thriller' ShortList Magazine 'Too Close to the Edge by Pascal Garnier is a tale of retirement and calm domesticity, with a hint of menace about to explode' Criminal Element 'Classic Pascal Garnier; it's dark, it's nasty, full of bitter ironies' His Futile Preoccupations 'The translation is excellent: the book reads easily, while the sense of France remains strong. This latter flavour, plus the observation of human behaviour at the margins of deviancy, is reminiscent of Simenon at times. Rarely has noir been so much fun' Crime Review 'Garnier plunges you into a bizarre, overheated world, seething death, writing, fictions and philosophy. He's a trippy, sleazy, sly and classy read' AL Kennedy 'Like George Simenon's books, Pascal Garnier's subversive, almost surreal tales come in slim little volumes, seldom more than 150 pages or so. But in that space he manages to say as much and more memorably too, than many authors of books that are too heavy to hold' Literary Review 'Garnier manages to lead you little by little to dark and hopeless situations, all the more so that he deftly juxtaposes poetry with violence' Words and Peace 'If you're interested in the study of people and their unpredictable reactions to monumental upheavals in their lives, then this is an especially fine example' Little Bookness Lane 'If you want a great piece of modern Noir Garnier is a must read. I feel his books mix both the darkest parts of the human world and comic moments so well' Winston's Dad blog