Double Jeopardy Author:Jean Echenoz, Mark Polizotti (Translator) "Everything come in twos," fortune-teller Bouc Bel-Air tells the skeptical Paul, "more or less in twos." — Little does Paul realize that by following Bouc's prophecy, he and his friend Bob will be caught up in a wild escapade -- one that involves gun running, robbery, and insurrection, and that takes them to distant Malays... more »ia aboard the mutinous ship Boustrophedon -- in which characters, events, and plot lines "double" each other like so many mirrors.
It all started once upon a time, when two men vainly courted Nicole Fischer. Three decades later, Paul is himself vainly pursuing the fair but indifferent Justine -- not realizing that Justine is actually Nicole's daughter; nor that one of the men who loved Nicole is Paul's canny uncle Jeff, manager of a Malaysian rubber plantation that he intends to usurp with Paul's reluctant aid; nor that Nicole's other ex-suitor, an elusive subway-dweller named Charles, will become a key player in the resulting chaos; nor that the suave gangster Van Os and his surly henchman Toon are following Paul with murderous intent....« less