Class Trip, The Mustache — Emmanuel Carrere

Two harrowing tales of pyschological suspense--hailed as " stunning" (John Updike)--from the mathematician of horror.

Two by Carrere brings together the greatest works of Emmanuel Carrere, "the Stephen King of France" (Mirabella), two novels that are at once gripping suspense stories and laser probes into the modern psyche.

The Mustache begins with a husband's playful question to his wife: "What would you say if I shaved off my mustache?" But, for the hero of The Mustache, that simple question catapults him into a metaphysical nightmare as his wife and friends not only fail to notice his newly clean-shaven appearance but deny the existence altogether of his former mustache. Is he the victim of some bad joke? Or have they all suddenly gone mad?

In Class Trip, little Nicolas embarks on an ill-fated overnight excursion. Prone to lurid imaginings of kidnappings and organ thefts, Nicolas watches his fantasies grow horrifyingly real when a local child disappears. Nicolas takes it upon himself to investigate, fearlessly playing detective--until he uncovers the devastating truth. Dramatic, taut with intensity, Carrere's depictions of the terrifying anxieties and shifting realities of modern life are marvels of concentrated emotion.