Events spin seriously out of control after a college professor wakes up beside the dead body of one of his students in this intense, mesmerizing literary thriller from France's #1 bestselling author. Events spin seriously out of control after a college professor wakes up beside the dead body of one of his students in this spare, existential literary thriller from France's #1 bestselling author. In tight, evocative prose, Philippe Djian brings a buzzing urgency to this story set in a sleepy academic enclave in rural France, where Marc, a professor whose interest in women has filled the hole left by his failed literary ambi­tions, makes a habit of bringing home his most promising students for brief-but-pleasant affairs. One night Marc brings home his student Barbara, only to discover, to his horror, her lifeless body lying next to him