Mystery Review: The Mad and the Bad was so much better than I expected it seemed perhaps even better than it was. This is one I didn't want to put down because I was afraid of what I was missing when I wasn't reading it. If that doesn't make sense, you're catching on. Written in the hard-boiled style ("His smiled resembled the coin slot of a parking meter"), it's terse, short, quick, and to the point. The Mad and the Bad is not a detective novel, just barely a mystery, few police, noirish, bit of a thriller. Whatever it is, it was entertaining and enjoyable. The protagonist is an early version of Lisbeth Salander, another of my favorite characters: "She pictured men flirting with her -- and her shooting them point-blank. I must be in a manic phase, she told herself." That name-drop and the summary up top should be all you need to tell if The Mad and the Bad is for you. Of the three Manchette novels I've read, this was by far my favorite. [4★]
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