The Magician’s Wife by James M. Cain
(pb;1965)
From the back cover
“CLAY LOCKWOOD.
“He was a powerful business
executive with a brilliant career ahead of him—until he met Sally.
“SALLY ALEXIS.
“She was a magician’s
beautiful wife, but it was her own sensuous magic that drew Clay to what he
knew would mean trouble.
“GRACE SIMONE.
“Clay was her idea of
everything a man should be—and she didn’t intend to share Clay with Sally.”
Review
Fans of Cain’s heady brew of
firebrand men and women, lust, suspense and murder are likely to enjoy
wholesale-meat salesman (and manly man) Clay Lockwood’s dizzying, quick-twists
journey down a rabbit hole of character-based success, desire and death (in this case the
latter is likely to be Alec Gorsuch, aka the Great Alexis, husband of Sally, one
of Lockwood’s lovers). Like much of Cain’s other headlong-into-trouble
works, this one is chatty at times (though it doesn’t feel like filler), with a
variety of engaging characters—some of them honest, like Edith “Buster” Conlon,
a feisty, friendly stripper, and her lawyer (and Lockwood’s friend), Nat
Pender! For me, though, the standout character is the savvy, patient Grace
Simone, Sally’s mother, who isn’t out to get her daughter, but won’t let Sally
get in the way of what she wants. The ending has its own stark brand of honesty
and personal responsibility, admirable in a weird and dangerous way. Entertaining,
good read by a great genre author, one worth seeking out and settling into for
an afternoon or two.
