The Postman Always Rings Twice

The Postman Always Rings Twice 

by James M. Cain
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow! 

I read this 1934 noir classic in a single sitting. It was un-put-down-able and it was also incredibly well written. Cain structured the story very cleverly and each of the main characters was clearly drawn and we came to understand their motivations. I gasped aloud several times at the twists in the plot. I also enjoyed the very dry tone of the writing.

"Stealing a man’s wife, that’s nothing, but stealing his car, that’s larceny.”
― James M. Cain, The Postman Always Rings Twice

This novel was the inspiration for Camus' The Stranger--which I own and now plan to re-read. 

This title is on my Classics Club list. 

Double Indemnity

Double Indemnity 

by James M. Cain
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have seen the movie based on this book many times (I highly recommend it) but had never read any of Cain's books. It was interesting how much the novel sounded exactly like the movie (I definitely heard Fred MacMurray's voice in my head as I was reading). The ending of the novel is quite different from the end of the movie which surprised me. 

The narrator of the book is an insurance agent who meets a woman who turns his head and inspires him to implement a plan to defraud the company he works for. The writing is very clean and tight and the tension kept me turning pages to find out what would happen (even though I thought I knew). I am definitely going to read more of  Cain's books. Mildred Pierce and The Postman Always Rings Twice are likely possibilities. Both of these were movies as well. I have seen MP, but not TPART. 

This book is from my Classics Club list and counts toward the Back to the Classics Challenge as a book by a new-to-me author.