The Adversary: A True Story of Monstrous Deception

By Emmanuel Carrère

"Justifiably considered the French In Cold Blood" (The Paris Review), The Adversary is a landmark work of true crime--and a deeply personal investigation of inexplicable evil.

"On the Saturday morning of January 9, 1993, while Jean-Claude Romand was killing his wife and children, I was with mine in a parent-teacher meeting."

So begins Emmanuel Carr re's unclassifiable masterpiece, now newly reissued. The crimes shocked France. For eighteen years, Romand's life was the model of bourgeois contentment. Peers admired him as a doting family man, a loving son who called his parents every evening, and a respected researcher at the World Health Organization.

But those were all lies: Romand had never graduated from medical school or worked at the WHO. He spent his days wandering in the forest; he supported his family by defrauding relatives. When cracks appeared in his fac ade, Romand reacted in a way even he couldn't explain.

Emmanuel Carr re is "widely understood as France's greatest writer of nonfiction" (The New York Times Magazine); The Adversary, his account of the life, crimes, and trial of Jean-Claude Romand, is his magnum opus.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1250473942
• ISBN13: 9781250473943
• Release Date: September 2026
• Publisher: Metropolitan Books
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 1.0" x 5.4"