This book will be of interest to the rare "completist" who wants to read everything the novelist James M. Cain ever wrote. He wrote the manuscript towards the end of his life, and like much of his other work of that time period, it was rejected by his publisher. Cloud Nine is only available in print because it was published posthumously in 1984.

The story line involves sex, rape, murder (attempted and actual), and forbidden liasons, against a backdrop of money, power, and family secrets. In the late 1960s (when it was written), Cain could be far more daring than back in his heyday two decades earlier. However, even in a charitable assessment, the action and dialogue fall flat (and at times, are excruciating to read). C'est la vie.

In an extended afterward, Cain's biographer Roy Hoopes puts Cloud Nine into the historical perspective of the author's life and career. As Hoopes states it, "Frankly, the wallop at the end is something less than pure Cain. But the suspense does hold, and the prose reads, well, like it was written by a 75-year-old James M. Cain -- which it was." ( )