Tautly narrated and excruciatingly suspenseful, Double Indemnity gives us an X-ray view of guilt, of duplicity, and of the kind of obsessive, loveless love that devastates everything it touches. First published in 1935, this novel reaffirmed James M. Cain as a virtuoso of the roman noir.
Double Indemnity
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'[A] fine idea for a series... They already have a superb noir backlist.. but adding Philip K Dick's Minority Report and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? improves the mix.' (SCOTSMAN )
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Part of the READ A GREAT MOVIE promotion
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book came in a boxset of ten other crime authors, so I read the book only by chance. The writer doesn't waste any words and this book rattles by like an express train. The book complements The Maltese Falcon as perfect noir. You will find yourself just as caught up as the protagonist. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. The Falcon and this book were both made into popular films but both started life as excellent books.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Officer Dibble
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
There is an elephant in the room in reviewing this book and a couple of reviewers have touched upon it; the ending is preposterous. Suffice to say that the ending bears no relation to the film, without straying further into 'spoiler' territory
Of course, it's classic noir and, of course, James Cain is a maestro of the hard-boiled genre. However, the film does this book a lot of favours. The motivation given to the two key protagonists is flimsy. The most credible character turns out to be the claims negotiator Keyes, with his firm belief in 'actuarial tables..hunch..instinct..experience'.
Mr Cain builds the tension well, especially through the execution of the crime. The downcast tone of the narrator seeps through the story. It positively reeks of Depression America.
For potential purchasers I would also suggest you fight shy of the full RRP of £[] for an edition that is massively bulked out to 135 pages with a couple of pages of routine introduction by James Lee Burke.
Of course, it's classic noir and, of course, James Cain is a maestro of the hard-boiled genre. However, the film does this book a lot of favours. The motivation given to the two key protagonists is flimsy. The most credible character turns out to be the claims negotiator Keyes, with his firm belief in 'actuarial tables..hunch..instinct..experience'.
Mr Cain builds the tension well, especially through the execution of the crime. The downcast tone of the narrator seeps through the story. It positively reeks of Depression America.
For potential purchasers I would also suggest you fight shy of the full RRP of £[] for an edition that is massively bulked out to 135 pages with a couple of pages of routine introduction by James Lee Burke.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The original novel from which Billy Wilder's famous noir came from. Great for any fan of Billy Wilder, film noir or detective novels!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good noir
Good film noir by a well respected novelist in the genre - get it read.
The characters seem a little eager to double cross and bump people off but then again if they werent... Read more
The characters seem a little eager to double cross and bump people off but then again if they werent... Read more
Published 5 months ago by aprilfool
5.0 out of 5 stars
Plot plot plot
All this is is plot and it is wonderful. Easy to read as it moves at one heck of a pace so really addictive.
Published 6 months ago by PIPPA
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic Noir.
This is a wonderful but short noir novel about greed and lust and murder.... Cain writes in the voice of a successful insurance salesman who gets embroiled in a plot to murder the... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Craig Hall
4.0 out of 5 stars
Nice and tight.
Nice, tight little tale. His dialogue isn't as good as other authors, but I enjoyed the story.
Published on 5 Oct 2010 by Snowman
5.0 out of 5 stars
136 pages of absolute classic noir!
I love the classic crime noir novels of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, but somehow never got round to read any by James M Cain. Read more
Published on 18 Mar 2010 by Annabel Gaskell
5.0 out of 5 stars
A classic for a rainy afternoon
I have come late to the world of James M Cain, having found him amongst the interviewees in "The Paris Review Interviews, volume 1" itself one of the must-reads of 2007. Read more
Published on 12 Aug 2007 by Mr. S. Miller
4.0 out of 5 stars
"He's very unhappy. He'll be better off dead, won't he?"
This classic mystery from 1935 details the complicity of Walter Huff, an insurance agent, and Phyllis Nirdlinger, in the death of Phyllis's husband, one of Huff's insurance... Read more
Published on 2 Jan 2006 by Mary Whipple
5.0 out of 5 stars
A masterpiece
This is, quite simply, one of the great novels in this genre. If you're looking at this, there's a chance you're either familiar with Cain (in which case this is his best book, so... Read more
Published on 27 Feb 2005 by The Fisher Price King
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