James M. Cain, virtuoso of the roman noir, gives us a tautly narrated and excruciatingly suspenseful story in Double Indemnity, an X-ray view of guilt, of duplicity, and of the kind of obsessive, loveless love that devastates everything it touches. Walter Huff was an insurance salesman with an unfailing instinct for clients who might be in trouble, and his instinct led him to Phyllis Nirdlinger. … him to Phyllis Nirdlinger. Phyllis wanted to buy an accident policy on her husband. Then she wanted her husband to have an accident. Walter wanted Phyllis. To get her, he would arrange the perfect murder and betray everything he had ever lived for.
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“Double Indemnity” by James M Cain, first published in 1935, is a classic noir tale of a seductive ”femme fatal” and the man who falls for her. It was made into a 1944 film directed by Billy Wilder starring Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, and Edward G. Robinson. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, but it did not win.
The story …
Gritty and real. People do stupid things, delude themselves…
I was shocked to find that the novel is even better than the great Wilder movie, except, in my opinion, the ending. Wilder’s ending is killer. The novel, though, is a classic.
Insurance agent Walter Huff gets into deep water when he meets beautiful temptress Phyllis Nirdlinger. Cooking up a plot to kill the woman’s husband, Huff looks forward to getting the money and the girl. Unfortunately, the plan to pull off the perfect murder falls foul of Huff’s boss, Barton Keyes, who knows more about insurance fraud than a …
A quick read with an intriguing plot. It’s well-written and makes me want to seek out more by James Cain…maybe watch the film too.
Cain is a master, and this novel is a flawless noir.
James M. Cain writes a nasty Hard Boiled mystery. It’s brief, and to the point and every line is there for a reason. People may not talk like that in real life, but if they’re saying something on those pages, they’re saying more than one thing.
It’s also an interesting character study of bad people making bad decisions, people who might have …
THIS IS THE FIRST BOOK THAT IS NOT AS GOOD AS THE MOVIE.
A Hollywood insurance salesman comes up with the perfect scheme for murder.
Very nearly a perfect book–the tension slacked a tiny bit at the end, which I believe the movie handled slightly better. But it was ALSO a great ending, not to be missed.
Recommend for mystery and noir readers, and those who want a short, knock your socks off read.