----- Original Message -----
> Besides THE POSTMAN and DOUBLE INDEMNITY, are any
of
> James Cain's other novels really good? I've
kinda
> heard mixed reviews of SERENADE, THE MOTH, and
MILDRED
> PIERCE. Oates dwells on them quite a bit in her
essay
> on him in Madden's TOUGH GUY WRITERS OF THE
THIRTIES,
> but somewhere else I read that none of his later
works
> were on par with his first two novels.
Spot the pattern developing here... My favourite other Cain
is THE BUTTERFLY, which you could term "incest noir". I also
enjoyed SERENADE, which has a genuinely surprising take on
homosexuality (for the time and genre). But, hey, I even
enjoyed his historical noir PAST ALL DISHONOR, which is
generally considered to be pretty awful, so perhaps you
should take no notice of any of the above.
Al
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