The Snow Was Dirty (Romans Durs, Bk. 1)

In an unnamed city under military occupation, nineteen-year-old Frank—a low-level thug and thief—should be content enough with his warm home and full stomach, even against the dreariness of an endless winter. Instead, though, he’s inexorably drawn to commit a string of brutal, senseless acts of violence. Set against the backdrop of a bleak, pitiless world, Georges Simenon’s The Snow Was Dirty is a peerless indictment and examination of the chilling banality of evil.