Martin Terrier is a hired killer who wants out of the game so he can settle down and marry his childhood sweetheart, Anne. After all, that's why he took up this profession in the first place. But the organization won't let him go—they have other, more deadly plans for him. There's a visiting politician, an Arab oil magnate, whom they want assassinated, and Terrier is their man. Once again, the gunman must assume the prone shooting position—but not everything goes according to plan.

A tour de force, this violent tale shatters as many illusions about life and politics as it does bodies. It is perhaps the finest work from the pen of Jean-Patrick Manchette.