Rather than having the lovers murder the husband, the Coens flip the characters’ roles and has the husband hire a private investigator to kill the lovers. Marty is also different from other husbands because he knew about the affair from the beginning. The presence of a private investigator is nothing new to hard-boiled fiction, but having this fourth figure interfering in the love triangle goes against Cain’s structure. Furthermore, Visser is unlike the popular private investigators of past literature. While Visser and these other men are considered “unethical” “scavengers,” the other investigators …show more content…
Also, Abby mentioned in the beginning that she wanted to leave before she ever used her gun on Marty. Trying to cover up for her, Ray takes on the task of burying Marty’s body. He finds that Marty is not dead yet, but at this point, he has to finish what he thought Abby started. When Ray meets Abby, he does not explicitly state what he has done and what he believes Abby has done, and a confused Abby fears that Ray has killed Marty, which he actually did because of his love for her. In search for answers, Abby goes to the bar and finds that someone has tried to break into the safe. She assumes that Ray was trying to get his money from Marty, while Visser, who was the real culprit, believes that Abby is onto him; therefore, Visser must come full circle and murder Ray and Abby after