Double Indemnity

Greed. Lust. Betrayal. Twists. Suspense. This thriller has it all.

I read this to fill a reading challenge category "Seen the Movie but Haven't Read the Book". I am so glad I chose this one. The 1944 classic film noir with Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck is one of my favorites. It's one of those I'll stop and watch whenever I come across it.  So I was pleased and not at all surprised to find that this, the basis for that movie, is better, darker and "twistier" than even that great film. And that's saying something.

I recently read Farewell, My Lovely the basis for another film noir of 1944 by Raymond Chandler, featuring hard-boiled detective Philip Marlowe. Maybe a one-to-one comparison isn't quite fair, as James M. Cain's works are more about what drives people to do the dark deeds that they do rather than the detective experience, but I come down squarely in the Cain camp.

Mildred Pierce and The Postman Always Rings Twice -- here I come.