I don’t think I’ve ever read a full book in one sitting before, but since it was small (125 pages) and James M Cain wrote an exciting novella; it was quick easy, I needed to know what was going to happen. Double Indemnity tells the story of an insurance agent and a woman who set out to make a lot of money by claim the insurance of the accidental death of her husband. As you probably guessed; her husband’s death was not going to be an accident. James M Cain is the master of the Noir genre, where he can take a basic murder plot and make everything go horribly wrong.

The way Cain writes his characters is superb, you get the feeling that you know what they are thinking and when they are planning a double cross; but Cain also likes to put some unexpected twists just to keep the reader guessing. If I was going to recommend a James M Cain book to anyone, it would probably The Postman Always Rings Twice; but since this is such a short story this would also be a good book to start with. The Hardboiled & Noir genres are fast becoming my favourite of all genres, and Cain is definitely the king of Noir (from what I’ve read so far).