Join us on a literary world trip!
Add this book to bookshelf
Grey
Write a new comment Default profile 50px
Grey
Subscribe to read the full book or read the first pages for free!
All characters reduced
Galatea - cover

Galatea

James M Cain

Publisher: Open Road Media Mystery & Thriller

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Summary

A down-on-his-luck boxing trainer finds a woman worth fighting for in this “assured” novel by an MWA Grand Master Award winner (Kirkus Reviews). 
 
It took some doing, but Duke Webster is out of prison. Val Valenty arranged the parole, and now the onetime prizefighter and boxing coach is his puppet, breaking his back on Valenty’s farm in exchange for a pittance. But Valenty is about to find out that boxing men never take orders without a scrap. The trouble begins when Webster meets Valenty’s wife. A barrel-shaped woman whose extreme weight makes her old before her time, Holly stays fat on Valenty’s cooking—meat, potatoes, and endless gravy. Webster puts her on a diet, slimming her down the way he would train an over-the-hill pro in search of a comeback. But as her waistline shrinks and her beauty emerges, Valenty gets jealous—putting them on course for a bloody confrontation where only the hungry will survive. 
 
This gritty, surprising tale comes from the acclaimed author of Double Indemnity and Mildred Pierce—a writer with “an empathy for losers and society’s lost souls” (Quad-City Times). 
 
Praise for James M. Cain’s fiction 
 
“Cain is one novelist who has something to teach just about any writer, and delight just about any reader.” —Anne Rice, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Interview with a Vampire 
 
“Entertaining and cleverly plotted.” —The New York Times
Available since: 05/21/2024.
Print length: 120 pages.

Other books that might interest you

  • The Negro of the "Narcissus" - cover

    The Negro of the "Narcissus"

    Joseph Conrad

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Today, we're likely to react to the title of this novella, on whose 'sincerity of expression' Conrad was willing to stake his artisitic reputation, with visceral disgust. There is a sad irony in this, for Conrad's title originally alluded to a rather complex set of meanings, implying that, by virtue of our human nature, we all carry within the fragile vessel that is our idealised image of ourselves a darker being we find troubling, even despicable, but with whom we must eventually come to terms. Indeed, in the couse of this tale of a traumatic sea voyage from Bombay to London, Conrad suggests that in projecting their loathing of their own ambivalent feelings onto their (possibly dying) black shipmate James Wait, the crew of the Narcissus have considerable difficulty seeing the real James Wait behind their confused emotional reactions at all. The novella is remarkable for its knitting together of a stunningly well-realised physical drama involving an imperilled ship with a most discomforting psychodrama that draws in all twenty-six men who sail her.
    Show book
  • Shelley's Heart - A Thriller - cover

    Shelley's Heart - A Thriller

    Charles McCarry

    • 0
    • 2
    • 0
    A contested presidential election leads to a national crisis in this “masterful political thriller . . . loaded with intrigue and counter-intrigue” (Richard Condon, author of The Manchurian Candidate). At the dawn of the twenty-first century, the CIA has been disbanded and a secret society has taken hold of powerful positions across Washington. After a long and contentious campaign, President Bedford Lockwood is celebrating his reelection. But the revelry is cut short when it’s discovered that his over-zealous aides may have tampered with the vote. On the eve of the Inauguration, Lockwood’s rival—the archconservative Franklin Mallory—presents evidence of fraud. When Lockwood refuses to take the oath of office, it sets in motion a series of events that may destroy him, his party, and the Constitution. From this catastrophic crisis, acclaimed author and former Washington journalist Charles McCarry weaves a smart, tense, and eerily prescient political thriller.“Not only exceptionally suspenseful but also unnervingly realistic….gripping and intricate.” —The Washington Post
    Show book
  • Tangled Trails - cover

    Tangled Trails

    William MacLeod Raine

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    In this entertaining western detective story, the protagonist starts out as a usual rodeo cowboy needing to help out a special friend. Things intensify into murder and our cowboy/detective becomes entangled; having to sort out who murdered his uncle.
    Show book
  • Diamond Geezer - An edge-of-your-seat gangland crime thriller from Gillian Godden - cover

    Diamond Geezer - An...

    Gillian Godden

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Discover Gillian Godden's action-packed gangland thrillers! 
    Diamond by name… 
    Handsome, wealthy and successful, lawyer Nick Diamond is a man who commands and expects respect from everyone he meets. People think he is a man to be trusted. They are wrong. 
    Deadly by nature.  
    Because away from his glittering life in upper-class Chelsea, Nick is keeping a dark and dangerous secret. One that takes him to the slum estates of Glasgow and a very different world. 
    Nick will do anything to keep his secret under wraps, because if it’s ever revealed it would be his downfall. 
    Don't miss this brilliant new gangland story from Gillian Godden - guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat! Perfect for fans of Kimberley Chambers, Heather Atkinson and Caz Finlay. 
    What people are saying about Gillian Godden! 
    'A gritty powerful story. A must read for fans of gangland crime' Bestselling author Kerry Kaya 
    'The characters were so real I'm still looking over my shoulder!' Bestselling author Owen Mullen 
    'Exciting, breathtaking and absolutely fantastic' ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Reader Review 
    'If you are looking for a great gangland, family drama series these books are for you!' ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Reader Review 
    'A fast and riveting book that will keep you burning the midnight oil!! Highly recommended' ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Reader Review 
    *
    Show book
  • Shallow Death - A Hettie Shaw Novel - cover

    Shallow Death - A Hettie Shaw Novel

    Valerie Gee

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Broken-hearted after a tragic accident killed her husband and daughter, Hettie Shaw, in her mid-fifties, finds escape in the arms of younger men. When military-trained, Sir Charles reluctantly hires Hettie to solve a blackmail case, it leads to a growing partnership. Their investigation causes a chain reaction that reveals a sinister web surrounding the Welsh town. As they dig deeper, Hettie bites off more than she can chew, and only Gran’s words of wisdom from beyond the grave stop Hettie from becoming a murder victim herself. 
    Set in present-day Wales, UK., free-spirited, PI Hettie Shaw is a feisty, fun, femme fatale, who strides into every situation with head high and a druid insight at full throttle. When troubled Lady Gwen falls to her death from Castle Cliff, everyone thinks she committed suicide. But, when the police accuse her twin brother, Lord Ambrose of murder, he hires Sir Charles and Hettie Shaw to clear his name. As they investigate the twisting trail through the underbelly of Wales, it leads Hettie to insist they exhume the bodies of Lord Ambrose’s parents, which uncovers a terrible family secret. 
    Meanwhile, Charles is battling his own problems with his new fiancé—an out-of-control spendthrift. Finally, the brutal murder of a young girl leads them to a dungeon where both Hettie and Charles race against time to save themselves from falling victim to the deadly killer.
    Show book
  • Devil's Chimney - Detective Rutherford Barnes Mysteries Book 1 - cover

    Devil's Chimney - Detective...

    Adam Lyndon

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    MEET DETECTIVE RUTHERFORD BARNES IN THIS BRILLIANT NEW CRIME SERIES FROM A SERVING POLICE OFFICER. 
     
    Discover an absolutely gripping crime thriller with a massive twist. 
     
    On a wild and stormy night on England’s south coast, ambitious young police constables Rutherford Barnes and Harriet Holden are doing the rounds when they see a burglar fleeing the scene of the crime. 
     
    And the location is Harriet’s house. The ground floor is ransacked. Scrawled in red across one wall are the words: DEAD COPS SLEEP LONG. 
     
    Then a few days later, Harriet’s battered body is discovered in a shabby seafront hotel. 
     
    Newly promoted to detective, Barnes vows to discover who killed his partner, and why. 
     
    Perfect for fans of Joy Ellis, Helen H. Durrant, Bill Kitson, Michael Hambling, Peter James, Angela Marsons, Rachel McLean, J.D. Kirk, Rachel Abbott, Elly Griffiths, J.M. Dalgliesh or Patricia Gibney.
    Show book