This unsettling novel inspired Pedro Almodovar's acclaimed new film "The Skin I Live In." Movie premieres in the U.S October 2011.

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Mygale [MIG-uh-lee] n.: a genus of large tropical spiders. . . .

Richard Lafargue, a well-known plastic surgeon, pursues and captures Vincent Moreau, who raped Lafargue's daughter and left her hopelessly mad in an asylum. Lafargue is determined to exact an atrocious vengeance, and an ambiguous, even sadomasochistic relationship develops between self-appointed executioner and victim.

"'Ingenious,' 'elegant,' 'sinister' – these are also adjectives that approximate, but fall short of, the narrative power of Mygale. Much like Poe's 'tales of terror,' Mygale is a story that invites both respect and repulsion: As a reader, you're happy to have read it . . . and just as happy, ultimately, to close the covers on its weird world." --Maureen Corrigan, Washington Post Book World

"Great art in nightmarish darkness." --Michel Lebrun

Thierry Jonquet (b. 1954, Paris) is an exponent of the hardboiled style of French noir that is inflected by post-May 1968 politics and social critique. His crime novels and children's books have garnered many literary prizes.