Review

"A shockingly candid account of gangsterism, Outlaw turned Faïd into a media sensation." - Adam Leith Gollner, GQ
Outlaw: Author Armed & Dangerous is a wonderfully picaresque tale, delivered with wit and sharp intelligence, relating the story of how Faïd graduated from being a petty thief, whose main interest was stealing fashionable clothes ... to becoming a media figure, as well as a hero to the new generation of would-be bad guys all across France. ... Faïd's role models include Jason Bourne, Al Pacino in Scarface, and Steve McQueen in The Great Escape. His favorite film of all time is Michael Mann's thriller Heat, and Faïd has clearly cast himself as the De Niro character in the self-created movie of his life. ... Faïd's sustaining fantasy is that life can imitate art. In the meantime, I'm just waiting for the film." - Andrew Hussey, Times Literary Supplement

Long Description

Memoirs of celebrated criminals purvey vivid personal stories while spawning sharp questions about the cultures that produced them. In Outlaw: Author Armed & Dangerous, Rdoine Fad, of Algerian immigrant parents, born and raised in the housing projects surrounding Paris, recounts his career as an infamous and renowned bandit. Drawing inspiration and instruction from a host of films and television series, Fad styled himself and was known to friends and accomplices as "Doc" -- after Steve McQueen in the legendary suspense thriller, The Getaway. With self-discipline and a striking ability to learn from experience, Fad carried off his first robberies while still a teenager. He soon graduated from petty thievery to armed robbery, targeting computer component suppliers, jewelry stores, banks, and most memorably, armored trucks. A master of disguise, with bulletproof vest and a .357 Magnum as a prop to encourage compliance, he led a crew that operated with careful planning but eschewed bloodshed and physical violence. In imitation of Michael Mann's Heat, Fad and his cohorts donned hockey masks for one job, sometimes even quoting from other famous heist films during their capers. When bold plans went wrong, he reacted with fast thinking that served him well -- until it didn't, and he was arrested and imprisoned in 1998. Outlaw was first published in France in 2009, after which Fad was imprisoned again. Subsequently, his dramatic escapes from jail, in 2013 and 2018, made front-page news in France and around the world. Interviewed by journalist Jrme Pierrat, who specializes in crime and investigative reportage, Rdoine Fad tells his own story with panache and humor, darkened by introspection and cautionary tales. His story, like that of a character out of a Jean-Pierre Melville film or Dassin's Rififi, is not only intriguing, it is also as compelling as any high-grade thriller. Three months after his daring helicopter escape from Rau Prison in 2018, Fad was captured again. He currently remains in jail.

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