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 1936, this novel reaffirmed James M. Cain as a virtuoso of the roman noir.
Performed by James Naughton
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"finished this one quick! how had i not heard of this guy after two plus years of reading a lot of crime fiction!?! this was a heated story that i thought played out incredibly. wonderful short story for anyone looking for a palate cleanser between books. highly recommended by me." — Ryan (5 out of 5 stars)
"finished this one quick! how had i not heard of this guy after two plus years of reading a lot of crime fiction!?! this was a heated story that i thought played out incredibly. wonderful short story for anyone looking for a palate cleanser between books. highly recommended by me."
“Cain’s taut, no-nonsense prose is skillfully mirrored by James Naughton’s delivery, which offers little in the way of showy effects. Like Cain, Naughton lets the facts of the case keep us riveted. His work is a reminder that an understated performance can be every bit as dramatic as a more energetic reading.”
“It is no accident that movies based on three [Cain novels] helped to define the genre known as film noir.”
“An oldie but a goodie…Walter is a man in love and willing to do whatever it takes for Phyllis to get the insurance money they both think she deserves. And even though we can’t believe what Walter risks for a woman he hardly knows, there’s no looking away when he dips into creepy obsession, major crimes, and festering guilt that might eat him alive.”
“This brief but complex novel is a perfect example of the ordinary-guy-gone-disastrously-wrong story that Cain always pulls off brilliantly.”
“Nobody has ever quite pulled it off the way Cain does, not Hemingway, not even Raymond Chandler.”
“Cain has established a formidable reputation of furious pace, harsh and masterful realism, tough, raw speech right out of the mouths of the people.”
" A quick read. I was most interested to see how the novella differed from the now-famous film. It's worth the read, especially if you're a fan of Cain's contemporaries (Chandler, Hammett, etc.). "
" So I'm into this James Cain thing. Another book from like 1937. A short but intense read. I'm gonna have to rent the b&w movie with..mmm...Barbra Stanwyck maybe? Supposed to be a classic. "
" Cain has quickly become one of my favorite authors. So tight yet so poetic. Amazing. "
" I liked it a lot more than "The Postman Always Rings Twice" but did not love it. "
" short quick read. Ending could have been better. "
" A great crime novel. I couldn't put it down. It's one of those stories, though, where the characters represent the dark, awful side of humanity. "
" soooooo much better than that movie. love this book. "
" Clean, spare writing of a complex crime and even more complex character, Phyllis. Quick, satisfying read in a classic noir crime story. "
" Another good one from Cain. "
" Cain's fiction remains crisp & very readable "
" Damn. That was gorgeous. The constant drive, the twists. Complex and simple. And very funny. Damn. I need a cigarette. "
" The book was reading well enough, but then bang! The author took me unawares and my jaw dropped. "
" Pretty compelling, but I found the motivations too blurry and the characters too shallow, even if that was the intention. "
" Effortless, in a word. Fucking effortless, in two. Horrifying, if you want another. Galvanizing and hypnotizing, because I'm feeling loose-lipped and dead honest. "
" I hate this writer!!! "
" A streamlined bullet of a book. Nothing to spare, nothing to trim, an object lesson in tight, clean writing. And it was adapted into one of my favourite movies, too. "
" Good, not great pulp. The screenplay by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler is a masterpiece, though. "
" as good as The Postman "
" It was a fast read. Captivating and fairly predictable. Probably wouldn't read it again. "
" Every bit as good as the movie. "
" I read this book to get myself back into reading in time for summer. It worked. It's short, punchy, and very much like the movie. I tried not to picture Fred MacMurray as the main character, but that, alas, did not work. "
" I love this movie. The book is good too, and the movie is surprisingly close to the book. I listened to an audio version read by James Naughton. "
" Incredible. I stayed up to 3:30 in the morning reading this because I couldn't put it down. You'll be surprised over and over. "
" I liked this story better than The Postman Always Rings Twice. I thought this launched right into the Noir feeling you'd expect. The relationships are taut, the twists are precarious, and the first person narration is hardboiled. This was a fun read if you like noir. "
" As someone who is not a fan of hard-boiled crime novels (read this for my Writing class), I have become a true fan of Cain's writing style. I think the beauty in this book isn't the content, but the way it's written. I am definitely interested in reading more of his other works. "
" "That's all it takes, one drop of fear, to curdle love into hate." "
" I think this took me about two hours to read - didn't want to put it down for a second. Fast moving 1930s crime, vivid characters, shattering ending. I'll be hunting down more of James Cain's work. "
" Wow! Possibly my favorite book, EVER! "
James Mallahan Cain (1892–1977) worked as a reporter during World War I and was managing editor at the New Yorker before going to Hollywood to become a screenwriter. His novels, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Mildred Pierce, and Double Indemnity, became film noir classics. In 1974, he was awarded the Grand Master Award by the Mystery Writers of America.
James Naughton is an actor and director. He first came to prominence in the television series adaptation of the Planet of the Apes movie series of the same name. Since then, he has starred in dozens television shows and appeared in numerous Broadway plays. He is a two-time Tony Award winner, one for his performance as Sam Spade in City of Angels and the other portraying Billy Flynn in the 1997 revival of Chicago.
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