Book Review: "The Cocktail Waitress" by James M. Cain

- by Señor Editor, 5 November 2012

Sometimes the things I get to review just blow me away. It's not every day that you get to read a book that's not just a great read, but also a huge event in literature. And that's certainly what "The Cocktail Waitress", the 'lost' book by one of America's greatest authors, James M. Cain, is. It's the last thing the author of "The Postman Always Rings Twice" and "Mildred Pierce" wrote, and 35 years after his death it finally sees the light of day. And it leaves one hell of an impression.

Hard Case Crime has a very respectable history of releasing fantastic noir crime books, but "The Cocktail Waitress" is more than that. It's a lost novel from one of a true hardboiled crime fiction legend, and once you start reading it you will forget about the whole wide world until you're done.

Cover by Michael Koelsch

The story starts when the young and beautiful Joan Medford buries her husband. He died in a suspicious car accident and left her with a young son to take care of, and plenty of debts. Even though it hurts her to do so, Joan has to leave her boy with her sister-in-law, who both makes it clear that she thinks Joan had a hand in her husband's death, as well as she wants to keep the child for herself.

The young widow's only hope is to take the one job she can get - as a cocktail waitress, working for tips in a skimpy outfit, in a bar called "The Garden of Roses". There she meets two men, both instantly falling for her. One is a young and handsome, but also quite shady and penniless, man named Tom, and the other is an older (as well as uglier) gentleman who owns a fortune but suffers from life-threatening angina. Both of these men will do all whatever it takes for her, and both have something she really needs.

That's the basic gist of the premise and pretty much all I can tell you about the plot. Okay, I can tell you more about the plot: it sucks you right in, has plenty of twists and a really unexpected ending. Is that better? It's a tale of crime, greed, lust and sex! A noir story if there ever was one, for sure, but at the same time one that shines not only as a crime story, but as a piece of great, compelling literature.

The story's narrator is Joan herself, and saying she has a distinct "voice" would be an understatement. Cain may have been an over 80 years-old man when he was writing this, but his talents as a writer must have been as sharp as ever. Joan is believable, likeable, sexy and interesting. She's also a femme fatale, even if she never sees herself as one. She's far from a cliche and a character that you immediately care about. She has some tough decisions to make and a lot of trouble to deal with.

While that's all well and good, what's also a lot of fun is thinking whether she is a reliable narrator. When you're done reading the book, that's something that makes for a particularly interesting idea - whether her version of the story is the truth. She's a very sharp woman, that Joan!

It's amazing how fresh Cain's writing still is. His characters, the way they talk and act and feel, the places they frequent are all so real that you really get the feeling you're reading something by a true literary master. The book has it's rhythm, it has it's style, and the people and places (especially the Garden of Roses) have an atmosphere so intense that you really feel like you're there when reading it.

"The Cocktail Waitress" is a must-read regardless if you're a crime story fanatic, or just an enthusiast of incredible writing. And when you're done reading it, check out the afterword by Charles Ardai (Hard Case Crime editor) on how this thrilling noir gem was discovered (one of the people involved in tracking the manuscript down is Max Allan Collins, the author of "Road to Perdition). You will miss out if you don't read this book. It's fantastic that it made it's way into print after all those decades.


You can buy James M. Cain's "The Cocktail Waitress" right here. And if you already read it, or just feel like you need to, based on this review, remember to leave us a comment!

Tagged: books, Reviews.

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