Yes, James M Cain wrote crime novels. Great ones, too.

I also think he wrote about gravity. Or magnetism.

Not the science stuff. I mean the invisible forces which bend otherwise sensible people away from their better judgment.

Cain’s male protagonists don’t set out to be murderers. They believe they’re in control. And then, suddenly, they aren’t.

Let’s look at today’s quotation again:

‘I loved her like a rabbit loves a rattlesnake.’

The rabbit hasn’t any choice. A heady mix of fascination and fear draws it towards something it instinctively knows will destroy it.

That’s Walter Huff (Double Indemnity) and Frank Chambers (The Postman Always Rings Twice).

What about the rattlesnakes?

The works feature classic femme fatale types, sure. They are, well, ‘magnetic’. But the plots hinge not on these dangerous, attractive women, but on the idea that intelligence  alone might not protect any of us from desire.

What Cain shows us is how easily ordinary people can be diverted from their course and stop behaving like themselves – as if an invisible force were at work on them.

Join the conversation: tell me about texts you’ve read where people act against their best interests.