Monday, May 12, 2014

Book Review: Natchez Burning by Greg Iles




My mom is back with a new book review. This time she takes on all 791 pages of the new Greg Iles book, Natchez Burning.  

Here's the description of the book from the publisher: 
Natchez Burning, the first installment in an trilogy that weaves crimes, lies, and secrets past and present into a mesmerizing thriller featuring southern mayor and former prosecutor Penn Cage. 
Raised in the historic southern splendor of Natchez, Mississippi, Penn Cage learned all he knows of honor and duty from his father, Dr. Tom Cage. But now the beloved family doctor and pillar of the community has been accused of murdering Viola Turner, the African-American nurse with whom he worked in the dark days of the 1960s. Once a crusading prosecutor, Penn is determined to save his father, but Tom, stubbornly invoking doctor-patient privilege, refuses to even speak in his own defense. 
Penn's quest for the truth sends him deep into his father's past, where a sexually charged secret lies waiting to tear their family apart. More chilling, this long-buried sin is only a single thread in a conspiracy of greed and murder involving the vicious Double Eagles, an offshoot of the KKK controlled by some of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the state. Aided by a dedicated reporter privy to Natchez's oldest secrets and by his fiancée, Caitlin Masters, Penn uncovers a trail of corruption and brutality that places his family squarely in the Double Eagles' crosshairs.
With every step costing blood and faith, Penn is forced to confront the most wrenching dilemma of his life: Does a man of honor choose his father or the truth?


Here's Mom's take:

Don't pick it up until everyone else in the family is in bed and the phone is off the hook. Cause every page turned
insists you read on...

Natchez Burning covers good vs. evil, fear vs. bravery, right vs. wrong.  During the story I got so caught up in the time, the history and the characters. The premise really grabbed me, and although the book was more graphic than I usually like at times, the story carried me through so it didn't matter. I kept turning the pages until I was done. I didn't sleep for a week. 


The picture that Iles brings to the reader..the way he paints the scenes plucks you right into the swamps and forests in the the 60's, along with all of the turmoil of that time.


The story is fiction, but based on a real journalist, Stanley Nelson. This is the first book of a trilogy and I cannot wait to read the others.

Don't be daunted by it's size. It's a great book.

2 comments:

  1. This is the first I've heard of this and it sounds very interesting. Thanks.

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  2. I absolutely love a good page turner! I can see if I get into this one I won't get anything else done! I have a book right now called Shadows of Doubt by Mell Corcoran, it's an absolute page turner, I am afraid I will finish it too soon, but now I have this one that I can get right into. Corcoran's site is MellCorcoran.com, her books are fantastic!

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