A huge motorway is being constructed through Picardy setting the scene for this short, taut novel.
Yolande has not left her house since being shamed for having a German soldier lover during WW2
and relies on her brother, Bernard, to provide groceries etc. He has taken indefinite sick leave fom
his job with SNCF as he has been given a short time to live. Whether this changes him or awakens
a dormant streak is uncertain but he kills a girl he has given a lift and then others. The road works
provide a suitable place to hide the bodies. The style is reminiscent of Simenon but blacker in tone
than I remember Simenon being. There is humour but this, too, is black and the end of the story is
well arranged and somewhat unexpected.
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