"Remind[s] one of Iris Murdoch, or Muriel Spark, or E. M. Forster … unusual intelligence and personality are alive throughout the book."
—The New York Times Book Review
"What a wonderfully hideous, gruesome, grueling horror-marathon of a book! A cross between a Henry James novel and the Texas chain saw massacre. I loved it."
—Carolyn See
"Terrifying and disturbing. Will keep you turning the pages late into the night."
—Cosmopolitan
"[A] master storyteller … [L'Heureux] is elegant, cunning, and wickedly funny … a shocking, shocking denouement."
—The Washington Post
"A Woman Run Mad had me in thrall all the way. L'Heureux has written a taut, terrible story and done it superbly, mixing intelligence and wit with a strong dose of the macabre."
—Maxine Kumin
"A wicked and wickedly good novel to read … It's about the wages of sin and everyone knows what those are… . L'Heureux is a wild man who takes narrative risks few writers dare even consider, and pulls them off."
—Milwaukee Journal
"It is L'Heureux's literary skill that brings together these seemingly unrelated insights into horrifying conjunctions… . L'Heureux serves notice that, pagan or not, modern man ignores at his peril the truths about human nature that lie behind traditional Judeo-Christian values."
—Newsday
"An intelligent, captivating suspense story that leads to a frightening ending full of passion and surprise."
—San Jose Mercury News
"More than merely a tale of good against evil, A Woman Run Mad is an intellectual thriller and a good book for a rainy evening."
—The State
"Some books ought to include warning labels on them to alert readers that once they are sucked in by the good writing and the crisp plot, at least in this case, they're going to be walloped emotionally in the end. A Woman Run Mad is such a book."
—Palo Alto Weekly
"A stunning climax. We alternate between wanting to read faster to get to the end and wanting to read slower so that we won't."
—Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"Needle-sharp … A wicked, witty novel that is both introspective and exhibitionistic. Seemingly quiet and controlled, the story slides surreptitiously along, compelling and shocking the reader all the way."
—Topeka Capital-Journal
"The damned thing is amazing… . Question: Is there any rule L'Heureux doesn't break? Answer: Probably one or two. But it doesn't matter since he gets away with everything. He ought to be shot. We like our geniuses dead."
—David Bradley
ALSO BY JOHN L'HEUREUX
QUICK AS DANDELIONS
RUBRICS FOR A REVOLUTION
PICNIC IN BABYLON
ONE EYE AND A MEASURING ROD
NO PLACE FOR HIDING
TIGHT WHITE COLLAR
THE CLANG BIRDS
FAMILY AFFAIRS
JESSICA FAYER
DESIRES
A WOMAN RUN MAD
COMEDIANS
AN HONORABLE PROFESSION
THE SHRINE AT ALTAMIRA
THE HANDMAID OF DESIRE
HAVING EVERYTHING
for my wife
JOAN POLSTON L'HEUREUX
A Woman Run Mad
was written with the aid of a grant generously given
by the National Endowment for the Arts.
… furens quid fetnina possit…
Aeneid, V
