The Dark Road: Further Adventures of Chéri-Bibi

Gaston Leroux, the mastermind behind The Phantom of the Opera, ventures into darker territory with this sequel. Chéri-Bibi, the legendary Parisian criminal known as 'the astonishing bandit,' languishes in a penal colony at the edge of the French empire, his fame and fury intact despite the iron bars. Alongside him wastes Raoul de Saint-Dalmas, the aristocratic 'Nut', a gentleman prisoner whose fortune has been stolen and whose name has been slandered. When their enemies collude to ensure neither man ever leaves the colony alive, the two form an unlikely alliance and plan an escape that will test every ounce of their cunning. Pernambuco the Executioner and his men pursue them through the darkness, but Chéri-Bibi has never lost a game yet. The Dark Road pulses with Leroux's signature verve: cliffhangers, double-crosses, and the grim poetry of men fighting against the machine of empire. This is pulp adventure at its most theatrical, a story about criminals who are more honorable than the powers that condemn them.