RainbowâÂÂs End is a crime novel by American writer James M. Cain published in 1975 by Mason-Charter publishers, with an introduction by Tom Wolfe
RainbowâÂÂs End returns to themes he explored in Cain's 1947 novel The Butterfly, including apparent incest. Cain wrote RainbowâÂÂs End amidst the upsurge of interest in his early work following the publication of the anthology Cain X 3 (1969).
The story opens with an airline hijacking by a thief possessing $100,000 of stolen cash. He parachutes from the plane, taking a female flight attendant, Jill Kreeger, as a hostage. The pair descend on a remote island on Muskingum River near Marietta, Ohio. They encounter two backcountry subsistence farmers, a young mother and her 15-year son, Dave Howells. After the boy quickly dispatches the thief/kidnapper, the stewardess and he vie to locate the illicit cash.
Apparent incest and jealousy plague relationships, though Howell is not, in fact, the biological offspring of his âÂÂmother.â The cash is ultimately recovered, and Dave and Jill bond in love with the blessings of âÂÂmother.âÂÂ
The seed for RainbowâÂÂs End emerged from a sensational robbery and hijacking in 1971. Cain traveled to the small town of Marietta, Ohio to collect material for the novel. His interview with the Marietta Times outlining the story was communicated to Mason-Charter publishing executive Thomas Lipscomb. He and Cain agreed on a two-book contract at $7,500 per book. Cain delivered a manuscript in Cain agreed to make significant edits to RainbowâÂÂs End, but his refusal to abandon the happy denouement led to a contretemps with Lipscomb, who preferred a âÂÂdown beatâ ending, but acquiesced.
RainbowâÂÂs End was published in late 1974. Mason-Charter was impressed with the hard-cover sales and Berkley Books issued it in paperback.
Biographer Roy Hoopes reports that most reviewers were pleased with CainâÂÂs return to a story of âÂÂmayhem and murderâ in RainbowâÂÂs End. Syndicated writer John Barkman lauded CainâÂÂs return to âÂÂthe same drive, the same energy, the lean hyped proseâ that characterized his depression era novels, regretting only the âÂÂhappy ending.â Charles Witteford of the Miami Herald discerned the âÂÂvintage Cain [in the] spare, tight style and the staccato dialogue.â The Boston Globe rejoiced that âÂÂCain was alive and still writing at 83â and Richard Fuller at The Philadelphia Inquirer noted that the hard-boiled author had reclaimed âÂÂhis old momentumâ in RainbowâÂÂs End. According to Hoopes, CainâÂÂs âÂÂresurrectionâ âÂÂwas now acknowledged nationwide.âÂÂ
Literary critic Paul Skenazy writes that RainbowâÂÂs End marks a return to CainâÂÂs familiar themes of âÂÂincest, greed and desireâ and proceeds with âÂÂmore speed and energyâ than his works of the 1950s and 1960s.