Double Indemnity

I loved all the twists and turns in this story! Fun, fun, fun!

More complex and psychologically harrowing than the film (which is excellent, but somewhat campy by today's standards). Many details of the book could never have been included in the film, due to Hollywood's censorship code. It would be interesting to see how much of the book would have been retained if the movie was made today.

Brilliant writing

Liked it better than Postman, considered his masterpiece. Also look for Serenade by Cain.

It's an ok crime novel, though nothing out of the ordinary. It's a far cry from the awesome script Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler wrote for the movie version of this book.

Good noir fun!

In this awesome novel noir story, Walter Huff figures out that the fastest way to make big money is through double indemnity, and therefore, claims to kill himself to collect double on his life insurance policy. He courts the femme fatale Phyllis Nirdlinger to help him collect his fee, but things don’t go quite right when the police chief gets involved and Phyllis tries to get more than her...more

In this awesome novel noir story, Walter Huff figures out that the fastest way to make big money is through double indemnity, and therefore, claims to kill himself to collect double on his life insurance policy. He courts the femme fatale Phyllis Nirdlinger to help him collect his fee, but things don’t go quite right when the police chief gets involved and Phyllis tries to get more than her share of the money. The elements of ‘the other’ and the exotic, along with the gender politics create great tensions in a small, but exciting book.   hide

Cain presents a wonderfully twisted tale of duplicity and murder. You won't know who to cheer for nor who to hate -- just like almost all great stories.

This is an awesome book. A real page-turner."You're going to kill him and I'm going to help you." I like that its based on a real incident that happened in an age when I think women were thought of incapable of doing anything beyond the weaker sex stereotype. Then there's the Banned in Boston status. And its by a local writer.