Natchez Burning (Natchez Burning Trilogy #1) (Penn Cage Series #4)

by Greg Iles

Overview

Don’t miss the latest Natchez Burning novel, SOUTHERN MAN

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Greg Iles comes the first novel in his Natchez Burning trilogy—which also includes The Bone Tree and the upcoming Mississippi Blood—an epic trilogy that interweaves crimes, lies, and secrets past and present in a mesmerizing thriller featuring Southern lawyer and former prosecutor Penn Cage.

Raised in the southern splendor of Natchez, Mississippi, Penn Cage learned all he knows of duty from his father, Dr. Tom Cage. But now the beloved family doctor has been accused of murdering 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 even to 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. More chilling, this long-buried sin is only one thread in a conspiracy of greed and murder involving the vicious Double Eagles, an offshoot of the KKK controlled by some of the 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?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062311085
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	08/04/2015
Series:	Penn Cage Series , #4
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	816
Sales rank:	48,057
Product dimensions:	5.31(w) x 8.00(h) x 1.31(d)

About the Author

Greg Iles spent most of his youth in Natchez, Mississippi, and studied the American novel under acclaimed southern writer Willie Morris at the University of Mississippi. His first novel, Spandau Phoenix, was the first of thirteen New York Times bestsellers, and his new trilogy continues the story of Penn Cage, protagonist of The Quiet Game, Turning Angel, and #1 New York Times bestseller The Devil's Punchbowl. Iles's novels have been made into films and published in more than thirty-five countries. He is a member of the lit-rock group "The Rock Bottom Remainders" and lives in Natchez with his two teenaged children.

Hometown:

Natchez, Mississippi

Date of Birth:

1961

Place of Birth:

Stuttgart, Germany

Education:

B.A., University of Mississippi, 1983

Website:

http://www.gregiles.com

Editorial Reviews

A whopping tale, filled with enough cliff-hanging crises for an old summer-long movie-serial. Yet there are still enough unresolved matters at the end of Natchez Burning for two already-promised sequels.” — Wall Street Journal

“Every single page of Natchez Burning is a cliffhanger that will keep you devouring just one more chapter before you put it down.” — Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of The Storyteller

“Natchez Burning is just flat-out terrific . . . its themes about race, violence, tradition, and the eternal smoldering anger of the South [bring] to mind Thomas Wolfe and William Faulkner . . . Greg Iles is back and truly better than ever.” — Scott Turow, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“Natchez Burning is extraordinarily entertaining and fiendishly suspenseful. I defy you to start it and find a way to put it down . . . This is an amazing work of popular fiction.” — Stephen King

“A searing tale of racial hatreds and redemption in the modern South, courtesy of Southern storyteller extraordinaire Iles. . . . A memorable, harrowing tale.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“An absorbing and electrifying tale that thriller fans will be sure to devour.” — Library Journal (starred review)

“Much more than a thriller, Iles’s deftly plotted fourth Penn Cage novel doesn’t flag for a moment . . . This superlative novel’s main strength comes from the lead’s struggle to balance family and honor.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“It’s been half a decade since Iles’ last Penn Cage novel, but, oh boy, was it worth the wait! . . . This beautifully written novel represents some of the author’s finest work, with sharper characterizations and a story of especially deep emotional resonance, and we eagerly await volume two.” — Booklist (starred review)

“Natchez Burning excels as a contemporary thriller . . . utterly—and chillingly—believable. Epic.” — Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS)

“Natchez Burning obliterates the artificial distinction between genre and literary fiction with passion, grace and considerable style. This is Greg Iles at his formidable best. It’s good to have him back.” — Washington Post

“The thriller of the year, of the decade even, is Natchez Burning... The first of a projected trilogy, Natchez Burning is Penn Cage’s fourth outing. But you don’t need to read its predecessors to be wholly consumed by this wonderful book. Buy, read, and marvel.” — The Times (London)

From the Publisher

Natchez Burning obliterates the artificial distinction between genre and literary fiction with passion, grace and considerable style. This is Greg Iles at his formidable best. It’s good to have him back.

Washington Post

Natchez Burning excels as a contemporary thriller . . . utterly—and chillingly—believable. Epic.

Clarion-Ledger (Jackson

Natchez Burning is just flat-out terrific . . . its themes about race, violence, tradition, and the eternal smoldering anger of the South [bring] to mind Thomas Wolfe and William Faulkner . . . Greg Iles is back and truly better than ever.

Scott Turow

Every single page of Natchez Burning is a cliffhanger that will keep you devouring just one more chapter before you put it down.

Jodi Picoult

It’s been half a decade since Iles’ last Penn Cage novel, but, oh boy, was it worth the wait! . . . This beautifully written novel represents some of the author’s finest work, with sharper characterizations and a story of especially deep emotional resonance, and we eagerly await volume two.

Booklist (starred review)

A whopping tale, filled with enough cliff-hanging crises for an old summer-long movie-serial. Yet there are still enough unresolved matters at the end of Natchez Burning for two already-promised sequels.

Wall Street Journal

Natchez Burning is extraordinarily entertaining and fiendishly suspenseful. I defy you to start it and find a way to put it down . . . This is an amazing work of popular fiction.

Stephen King

Natchez Burning obliterates the artificial distinction between genre and literary fiction with passion, grace and considerable style. This is Greg Iles at his formidable best. It’s good to have him back.

Washington Post

A whopping tale, filled with enough cliff-hanging crises for an old summer-long movie-serial. Yet there are still enough unresolved matters at the end of Natchez Burning for two already-promised sequels.

Wall Street Journal

The thriller of the year, of the decade even, is Natchez Burning... The first of a projected trilogy, Natchez Burning is Penn Cage’s fourth outing. But you don’t need to read its predecessors to be wholly consumed by this wonderful book. Buy, read, and marvel.

The Times (London)

Every single page of Natchez Burning is a cliffhanger that will keep you devouring just one more chapter before you put it down.” %COMM_CONTRIB%Jodi Picoult

A searing tale of racial hatreds and redemption in the modern South, courtesy of Southern storyteller extraordinaire Iles. . . . A memorable, harrowing tale.

Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Much more than a thriller, Iles’s deftly plotted fourth Penn Cage novel doesn’t flag for a moment . . . This superlative novel’s main strength comes from the lead’s struggle to balance family and honor.

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

An absorbing and electrifying tale that thriller fans will be sure to devour.

Library Journal (starred review)

The cast of Iles’s newest crime story may have proven to be too much for narrator David Ledoux. In spite of a group of characters who range from a former Klansman in his seventies to a female preteen, he provides scant vocal differentiation, and one hears regular inconsistencies in gender and in the large spectrum of personalities, ages, races, and geography. Listeners will need to pay especially close attention to follow the plot and dialogue. In addition, there’s little indication of the Mississippi/Louisiana setting, so important to the story. What is present is an exaggerated portrayal of dirty law enforcement that makes the characters sound stupid when in reality they’re terrifyingly smart sociopaths. While this story is epic, its narration isn’t. J.F. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

JULY 2014 - AudioFile

★ 2014-02-01
A searing tale of racial hatreds and redemption in the modern South, courtesy of Southern storyteller extraordinaire Iles (The Devil's Punchbowl, 2009, etc.). Natchez didn't burn in the Civil War, having surrendered to the Yankees while its neighbors endured scarifying sieges. It burns in Iles' pages, though, since so many of the issues sounded a century and a half ago have yet to be resolved. Some of Natchez's more retrograde residents find it difficult to wrap their heads around the idea that men and women of different races might want to spend time together, occasioning, in the opening episode, a "Guadalcanal barbecue," as one virulent separate-but-unequal proponent puts it. The Double Eagles, an even more violent offshoot of the KKK, has been spreading its murderous idea of justice through the neighborhood for a long time, a fact driven home for attorney/politico Penn Cage when the allegation rises that his own father is somehow implicated in the dark events of 1964—and, as Iles' slowly unfolding story makes clear, not just of that long-ago time, but in the whispered, hidden things that followed. As Penn investigates, drawing heat, he runs into plenty of tough customers, some with badges, some with swastikas, as well as the uncomfortable fact that his heroic father may indeed have feet of clay. Iles, a longtime resident of Natchez, knows his corner of Mississippi as well as Faulkner and Welty knew theirs, and he sounds true notes that may not be especially meaningful for outsiders—for one thing, that there's a profound difference between a Creole and a Cajun, and for another, that anyone whose first three names are Nathan Bedford Forrest may not be entirely trustworthy when looking into hate crimes. His story is long in the telling (and with at least two more volumes coming along to complete it), but a patient reader will find that the pages scoot right along without missing a beat. Iles is a master of regional literature, though he's dealing with universals here, one being our endless thirst to right wrongs. A memorable, harrowing tale.

Kirkus Reviews