In this wacky philosophical caper, washed-up, middle-aged British philosopher Eddie Coffin flees scandal and ruin at home to find himself destitute in France. There he hooks up with Hubert, a one-armed armed robber recently released from prison, and the "thought gang" is born. Applying philosophy to larceny, this unlikely duo winds its way from Montpellier to Toulon, robbing banks and exploring the meaning of life, in one of the most irreverent and ingenious novels of our time.