Apocalypse Baby

The filmmaker and author of the Vernon Subutex trilogy delivers “a terrific page-turner . . . a compelling punk, queerish spin on the noir genre” (Maggie Nelson, author of The Argonauts).

Apocalypse Baby is a smart, fast-paced mystery about a missing adolescent girl traveling through Paris and Barcelona. She is tailed by two mismatched private investigators: the Hyena, part ruthless interrogator, part oversexed rock star, and Lucie, her plain and passive—almost to the point of invisible—sidekick. As their desperate search unfolds, they interrogate a suspicious cast of characters, and the dark heart of contemporary youth culture is exposed.

“It has everything: the nervous, ironic, vivid style of Baise-Moi . . . her sharp gaze on society and its divisions, her empathy for the poor wretches who compose it . . . an indefinable thriller, combing pulp and social chronicle.” —L’Express

“Virginie Despentes’s social criticism is blistering, but her prose is laid-back. Apocalypse Baby is an addictive feminist thriller that reads like shameless gossip from your smartest friend.” —Johanna Fateman, writer and musician

“Rich in detail, emotionally precise, and caustically funny.” —Bookforum

“Structured like a classic noir, this French novel exposes the rotten core of contemporary European society through the perspectives of several female characters.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A model for the revolutionary figure . . . Grander than life.” —Music & Literature

“Apocalypse Baby does not drift. It propels forward, hardly taking a breath.” —Three Percent blog

“This is a book written to make the reader think, to challenge assumptions and provide no easy answer or understanding.” —Lambda Literary Review