''Feux rouges'' (''Red Lights'') is the title of a short

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

by Belgian writer

Georges Simenon Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (; 12/13 February 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a Belgian writer who created the fictional detective Jules Maigret. One of the most prolific and successful authors of the 20th century, he published around 400 ...

. It is one of the author's ''roman durs'' or "hard novels". The novel is divided into eight chapters, and is written using the third-person narrative mode. In the story, set in north-eastern United States, a couple's road trip to fetch their children from summer camp becomes a nightmare for each of them.

Plot

Steve Hogan works in an office in

Madison Avenue Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, New York, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd Stree ...

, and his wife Nancy has a successful career as a personal secretary. They leave New York on

Labor Day Labor Day is a Federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday of September to honor and recognize the Labor history of the United States, American labor movement and the works and con ...

weekend to fetch their two children from

summer camp A summer camp, also known as a sleepaway camp or residential camp, is a supervised overnight program for children conducted during the summer vacation from school in many countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer residential camps ...

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

. Many others parents are doing the same thing, and the roads are crowded. They hear on the radio that a prisoner, Sid Halligan, has escaped from

Sing Sing Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a maximum-security prison for men operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in the village of Ossining (village), New York, Ossining, New York, United States. It is abou ...

. Steve and Nancy argue: she says he has drunk too much before they left. They stop at a bar and, to prevent Nancy driving on, he takes the car keys before going to the bar. He returns to find a note that she is going by coach. He drives on, stops at another bar and offers a drink to a stranger, feeling he has an affinity with him. The stranger does not speak, and leaves; returning to the car, Steve finds the stranger inside, and realizes he is the escaped prisoner Halligan. He has a gun. Steve drives on, asking Halligan about his past, and talking about Nancy. A tyre blows; Halligan changes the wheel as Steve is too drunk. He wakes up later in the car. Halligan has driven on until there was another blow-out, and has disappeared. Steve gets a lift to a garage and, while they repair the car, he phones the summer camp. Nancy is not there, nor is she at hotels there. He notices a newspaper report that a woman, clearly Nancy from the description, has been attacked and was found unconscious by the roadside. After more phone calls, he finds the hospital. Before he can see Nancy he is interrogated by a policeman; he thinks Steve might have attacked her. He learns later that she was raped by Halligan. Steve sees Nancy, who is unable to say much. He tells her: "I met a man in whom, for hours, I tried to see another me, another me that wasn't a coward.... I spilled out everything that was on my mind.... Yet I knew who that man was and where he had come from!... I had a drunkard's determination to soil everything...." He feels that he and Nancy have come closer together. Halligan is captured, and Steve asks to see him. "He gazed at him for a long time, as he had set himself to do, because it had seemed to him necessary before starting on their new life."Chapter 8

English language editions

This novel and '' The Watchmaker of Everton'', both translated by Norman Denny, were published together in 1955 by

Hamish Hamilton Hamish Hamilton Limited is a publishing imprint and originally a British publishing house, founded in 1931 eponymously by the half- Scot half- American Jamie Hamilton (''Hamish'' is the vocative form of the Gaelic Seumas eaning James ''Jame ...

as ''Danger Ahead''.Carter, David. ''The Pocket Essential Georges Simenon''.

The Pocket Essentials {{italic title ''The Pocket Essentials'' is a series of small, A6 sized books on various subjects. The publisher is also known as Pocket Essentials. Each book is written by a different author. The books have been credited with being full of rare in ...

, 2003. It was reissued by

New York Review Books New York Review Books (NYRB) is the publishing division of ''The New York Review of Books''. Its imprints are New York Review Books Classics, New York Review Books Collections, The New York Review Children's Collection, New York Review Comics, ...

in 2006, with an introduction by

Anita Brookner Anita Brookner (16 July 1928 – 10 March 2016) was an English novelist and art historian. She was Slade Professor of Fine Art at the University of Cambridge from 1967 to 1968 and was the first woman to hold this visiting professorship. She ...

Film adaptation

The French film '' Red Lights'' (2004), set in present-day France, is based on the novel.

References

Simenon, Georges: ''Red Lights''. New York: New York Review Books, 2006. {{Georges Simenon 1953 Belgian novels Novels by Georges Simenon Presses de la Cité books