Le deuxième souffle (novel)

Le deuxième souffle (lit. 'The Second Wind') is a 1958 novel by the French writer José Giovanni. It is about the aging French gangster Gustave "Gu" Minda who escapes from prison and becomes entangeled in a plot to rob a security van in Marseille. It was Giovanni's second novel and was published in the Série noire collection of éditions Gallimard.

The novel is the basis for the 1966 film Le deuxième souffle directed by Jean-Pierre Melville and its 2007 remake The Second Wind directed by Alain Corneau.