About the Book Regarded by many critics as Jean Genets highest achievement in the novel -- certainly one of the landmarks of postwar French literature. The story of a dangerous man seduced by peril, Querelle deals in a startling way with the Dostoyevskian theme of murder as an act of total liberation. Book Synopsis It is awesome, perhaps the finest novel I have ever read in my life. It literally sent shivers through me, the sheer beauty of the language, the exquisite perversity of the imagination, the incredible grasp of motivation-it is his most tightly plotted, best organized, most accessible novel. It is a wonder. -Dotson Rader Querelle is regarded by many critics as Jean Genets highest achievement in the novel-certainly one of the landmarks of postwar French literature. The story of a dangerous man seduced by danger, it deals in a startling way with the Dostoevskian theme of murder as an act of total liberation, and as a pact demanding an answering sacrifice.