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An amoral young tramp. A beautiful, sullen woman with an inconvenient husband. A problem that has only one, grisly solution -- a solution that only creates other problems that no one can ever solve.

First published in 1934 and banned in Boston for its explosive mixture of violence and eroticism, The Postman Always Rings Twice is a classic of the roman noir. It established James M. Cain as a major novelist with an unsparing vision of America's bleak underside, and was acknowledged by Albert Camus as the model for The Stranger.

Moody, sexy, dark, and criminal, this noir classic takes on new life as Stanley Tucci embodies drifter Frank Chambers and the rest of the sordid cast of Cain's famed novel. Cain's terse, muscular prose and gift for dialogue spring off the page as Tucci effortlessly personifies Chambers's narrative voice and amoral, if not immoral, life and times. Tucci chillingly, even blandly, communicates Chambers's casually brutal passions and schemes as he cons his way through a tragedy cast in 1930s' California. As one would expect, the story leads to a violent, degrading climax and not a few surprises. Preserve a place on your bookshelf for this audiobook--you'll want to listen to it more than once. D.J.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine