Double Indemnity for the stoned slacker generation. I read it on a trans-oceanic flight and it made the ordeal almost endurable. I generally force myself to read self-improving books, but sometimes you just need a mystery. I consoled my receding intellect with the thought that I learned more about the viatical settlement market, a gruesome and shady sub-industry of the insurance field, than I'll ever need to know. This one has a slight case of the idiot plot, meaning, if the main characters in the book weren't idiots, it'd be over in five pages. If you wish to be more charitable to the author, you may believe that his characters are “blood simple”, defined as “the addled, fearful mindset of people after a prolonged immersion in violent situation.” I know that this book is not a documentary, but unless you're clearly writing in the fantasy genre, you are usually obligated to stay within one standard deviation of reality. I don't think that middle-class employees of bland companies in the heart of America are in reality a bunch of damaged, drug- and alcohol-addled, amoral grifters who will do anything for a dollar. Are they?
