Cloud Nine
Published on 21. May 2024
187 pages
978-1-5040-9465-8 (ISBN)
Description
A twisted tale of heinous crimes and hidden motives by the legendary author of
Double Indemnity.
Graham meets Sonya outside of his real estate office. She is sixteen, beautiful, and drops a bombshell-she's there because Graham's half-brother, Burl, raped her, leaving her frightened, pregnant, and very much alone.
All she wants is the $1,111 it will cost to hide out for the next few months in a convalescent home before she gives the baby up for adoption, but Burl won't give her the money. Sonya's vengeful father, meanwhile, wants far more from Burl-he is determined to make the scoundrel pay for harming his daughter.
Graham offers Sonya a better choice: He'll marry her so that she can get a legal abortion. The plan will save the family, and the business, from scandal. But Graham has no idea that, as he asks for Sonya's hand, he will be risking much more than just local gossip...
Praise for James M.Cain's fiction
"Swift and absorbing." - The Wall Street Journal
"Lean, racing... stripped of inessentials." - The New York Times
"Nobody has quite pulled it off the way Cain does... not even Raymond Chandler." -Tom Wolfe
Graham meets Sonya outside of his real estate office. She is sixteen, beautiful, and drops a bombshell-she's there because Graham's half-brother, Burl, raped her, leaving her frightened, pregnant, and very much alone.
All she wants is the $1,111 it will cost to hide out for the next few months in a convalescent home before she gives the baby up for adoption, but Burl won't give her the money. Sonya's vengeful father, meanwhile, wants far more from Burl-he is determined to make the scoundrel pay for harming his daughter.
Graham offers Sonya a better choice: He'll marry her so that she can get a legal abortion. The plan will save the family, and the business, from scandal. But Graham has no idea that, as he asks for Sonya's hand, he will be risking much more than just local gossip...
Praise for James M.Cain's fiction
"Swift and absorbing." - The Wall Street Journal
"Lean, racing... stripped of inessentials." - The New York Times
"Nobody has quite pulled it off the way Cain does... not even Raymond Chandler." -Tom Wolfe
More details
Person
James M. Cain (1892-1977) was one of the most important authors in the history of crime fiction. Born in Maryland, he became a journalist after giving up on a childhood dream of singing opera. After two decades writing for newspapers in Baltimore, New York, and the army-and a brief stint as the managing editor of the
New Yorker-Cain moved to Hollywood in the early 1930s. While writing for the movies, he turned to fiction, penning the novella
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934). This tightly wound tale of passion, murder, and greed became one of the most controversial bestsellers of its day, and remains one of the foremost examples of American noir writing. It set the tone for Cain's next few novels, including
Serenade (1937),
Mildred Pierce (1941),
Double Indemnity (1943), and
The Butterfly (1947). Several of his books became equally successful noir films, particularly the classic 1940s adaptations of
Mildred Pierce and
Double Indemnity. Cain moved back to Maryland in 1948. Though he wrote prolifically until his death, Cain remains most famous for his early work.
