Brainquake

Paul Page is a bagman, a delivery courier for organized criminals, with an unmemorable face and a knack for disappearing in a crowd. He never missed a drop, never failed to make a delivery—until he fell in love with a dangerous woman. When Paul and a mob widow go on the run with millions in stolen cash, they aren't just running from the cops or the tireless hit man who dresses like a priest and crucifies his targets. They're also trying to stay ahead of Paul's "brainquakes," debilitating head pains that cause him to do violent things. This novel by Fuller (1912–97), the influential director of such classic and controversial films as The Big Red One, Shock Corridor, and White Dog, is published for the first time in English (it was first released in French in 1993) and is a real throwback of a crime novel, full of violence and colorful dialog. The only knock on what is an otherwise exciting and unpredictable story is that while some characters like Paul and the hit man are wonderfully originally drawn, others come off as stock wise guys or femmes fatales. But this can be forgiven as part of the genre's charm.