Author: James M Cain
Publisher: Titan
Plot: Joan Medford may be young but she has already found herself to be a widow and a single mother. With little in the way of qualifications and needing to make ends meet Joan finds herself working as a cocktail waitress where she begins to move in the same circles as the influential and dangerous. As she moves through ethical gray areas Joan discovers how far she’ll go to get her son back.
Review: If you’re having trouble placing the name of the author you’d fare better looking at his other works. Among Cain’s output are such classics as Double Indemnity and The Postman Already Rings Twice, a pedigree that tells even the most casual geek what kind of experience awaits inside. Gritty, sexy and intense crime thriller – which is delivers on in spades.
Joan Medford could be a wholly unlikeable character if she was written about in the third person, but by telling this story from her point gives the reader a different experience, one where it isn’t apparent from the outset what kind of person we’re dealing with. Even the starting point of the story – whether or not she was responsible for her husbands death – is left shrouded in mystery. The novel plays feels like the inner workings of a traditional femme fatale character, even though Joan is a rather unassuming one. She never seems to be out to hurt anyone even though she certainly puts her own interests ahead of the emotions and needs of those who care for her. Whether or not she is perceived as a bad person will vary from reader to reader.
Outside of Joan’s personal narrative we have a selection of interesting characters. An aging millionaire willing to put his life on the line for love, a cocksure youth who likes to push the boundaries, a pair of crafty detectives who never show their cards and an older cocktail waitress with her finger on the pulse. To Joan it seems normal that so many of the men she encounters are quick to play into her whims and some go to extreme lengths to try and please her. Each character has their own story to tell (as seen through Joan’s eyes) and some are more sympathetic than others. Between them they create an interesting blend of personalities and play of each other nicely.
At heart there’s a mystery driving the plot and as things accelerate towards the end of the story the reader is going to find themselves on the edge of their seat. Like all good mystery novels of the era in which it was written there are more suspects then clues, certainly enough to mislead the reader if they’re unprepared for the twist.
Whether you’re coming at it from as a fan of the genre and era or a casual reader looking for a bit of crime fiction you won’t be unsatisfied.
