The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, Mildred Pierce, and Selected Stories
, by Cain, James M.; Polito, RobertNote: Supplemental materials are not guaranteed with Rental or Used book purchases.
- ISBN: 9780375414381 | 037541438X
- Cover: Hardcover
- Copyright: 7/22/2003
These three classics from the master of the noir novel, along with five otherwise unavailable short stories, are electric with the taut narrative voice, the suspense, and the explosive violence and eroticism that were James M. Cain's indelible hallmarks. The Postman Always Rings Twice, Cain's first noveltried for obscenity in Boston, the inspiration for Camus's The Strangeris the fever-pitched tale of a drifter who stumbles into a job, into an obsessional passion, and into a murder. Double Indemnitywhich followed Postman so quickly, Cain's readers hardly had a chance to catch their breathis a tersely narrated story of a blind, excessive love, duplicity, and, of course, murder. Mildred Pierce, a work of acute psychological observation and devastating emotional violence, is the tale of a woman with a taste for shiftless men and an unreasoned devotion to her monstrous daughter. All three novels were immortalized in classic Hollywood films. Also included here are five masterful stories"Pastorale," "The Baby in the Icebox," "Dead Man," "Brush Fire," "The Girl in the Storm"that have been out of print for decades.