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Seeking Whom He May Devour

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Seeking Whom He May Devour
First edition (French)
AuthorFred Vargas
Original titleL’Homme à l’envers
TranslatorDavid Bellos
LanguageFrench
SeriesCommissaire Adamsberg
GenreCrime novel
PublisherViviane Hamy (French)
Harvill Secker (English)
Publication date
1999
Publication placeFrance
Published in English
28 October 2004
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages300 pp
ISBN2-87858-107-5 (French)
ISBN 1-84343-090-8 (English)
OCLC41505648
LC ClassPQ2682.A725 H63 1999
Preceded byThe Chalk Circle Man 
Followed byHave Mercy on Us All 

Seeking Whom He May Devour (French: L’Homme à l’envers, lit. "The Inside-out Man") is a crime novel by French writer Fred Vargas. As with many of Vargas' novels in English translation, the English title bears no relationship to the original. In this case, it is a biblical quotation from the First Epistle of Peter (5:8): Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. The French title is more apposite, referring to an aspect of the werewolf myth that plays some part in the story, that the werewolf when in human form is wearing the wolfskin inside out. An alleged werewolf may therefore be exposed by cutting (generally fatally), when wolf-hair will be seen in the wound.

In 2004, it became the second of her novels to be translated into English (by award-winning translator David Bellos), and was shortlisted for the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger.

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