The Quiet Game
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4.3 • 149 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
The first thriller in the New York Times No.1 bestselling series featuring Penn Cage: a prosecutor in a corrupt system, a husband whose wife has died, and a father who must protect his daughter. ‘An engrossing, page-turning ride’ (Jeffery Deaver).
Don’t say a word…
Natchez, Mississippi. A city of old money and older sins. A place where a thirty-year-old crime lies buried, and everyone plays the quiet game. But one man cannot stay silent.
Returning to his hometown, former prosecuting attorney Penn Cage is stunned to discover that his father is being blackmailed over a decades-old murder.
Negotiating the town’s undercurrents of greed, corruption, and racial tension, Penn uncovers a powerful secret that reaches to the highest levels of government.
And as the town closes ranks, Penn realises that his crusade for justice has taken a dangerous turn – one which could cost him his life…
Reviews
Praise for Greg Iles:
‘A scorching read’ John Grisham
‘Iles is a phenomenal thriller writer’ Independent on Sunday
‘An engrossing page-turning ride’ Jeffery Deaver
‘A rarity. A thriller that really thrills’ Stephen King
‘Alarming, believable, and utterly consuming’ Dan Brown
‘Splendidly creepy … compulsive’ Daily Telegraph
‘An incredible web of intrigue and suspense, an avalanche of action from first page to last’ Clive Cussler
About the author
Greg Iles is the author of thirteen international bestselling novels, including Turning Angel, True Evil, Third Degree and the New York Times No.1 bestseller The Devil’s Punchbowl.
His novels have been made into films, translated into more than twenty languages, and published worldwide in more than thirty-five countries. He lives in Natchez, Mississippi.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
The first in a series of books starring Penn Cage, 1999’s The Quiet Game is a particular fan favourite in suspense writer Greg Iles’ bibliography. A recently widowered father relocating to his sleepy hometown of Natchez, Mississippi, Penn has graduated from a successful prosecutor to a second act as a popular novelist. But he must utilise his skills in both fields to find out who is blackmailing his father.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Although it takes place in Natchez, Miss., and is flavored with the violence and seamy undertones of a Southern Gothic, this fourth thriller by Iles (Spandau Phoenix) owes just as much to a familiar parallel universe where wealthy male lawyers double as tragic heroes, women are invariably smart and attractive, and trials are by definition "high profile." After his wife's death, Penn Cage, a former Houston prosecutor and a bestselling suspense novelist, retreats to his parents' home in Natchez with his grieving young daughter. The healing process is interrupted when Cage learns that someone is blackmailing his father, a saintly family doctor who once made a lethal mistake. In tracing the source of his father's moral dilemma, Cage stumbles upon a trail of lies surrounding the unsolved murder of a black man in 1968. He determines to reopen the case, even though his antebellum hometown is smoldering with racial tension. With the assistance of Caitlin Masters, the attractive, smart and ambitious publisher of the local newspaper, Cage gradually uncovers an intricate conspiracy that reaches up to the highest levels of the FBI. Forced to confront powerful Judge Leo Marston, who nearly destroyed his father in pursuing an unrelated, unfounded malpractice accusation decades before, Cage must also face Marston's daughter, Livy, his old high school sweetheart, who tries to persuade Cage to let sleeping dogs lie. It is difficult at times to sympathize with Cage, who proselytizes about truth, justice and obligation, yet destroys evidence to protect his father and fails to properly shield his loved ones as he single-mindedly pursues the case. Still, this ably crafted, richly atmospheric legal thriller is engrossing, and readers will forgive Iles's protagonist a few shortcomings.
Customer Reviews
Good read
Good read till the end
Excellent read! Highly recommend
A fast moving storyline that keeps delivering twists and turns. Loved it and can’t wait to read more of Greg’s books
Too much, just quietly
The author is American and has lived most of his life in Natchez, Mississippi. He plays in a rock band with Stephen King. He is best known for a series about attorney-turned-best-selling author Penn Cage, who battles wrongdoing with racial overtones in and around, you guessed it, Natchez, Mississippi. Volume 7 has just been released. I decided to start at the beginning.
Our hero is recently widowed (his wife died of cancer) with a young daughter. He chucks in his legal career in Houston, moves back with his folks in Natchez, and promptly opens a can of worms regarding the murder of a black man 30 years before, which turns out to be more about power, politics, and avarice than race. Oh, and someone’s blackmailing his Dad too. Yada, yada, yada (the extra yada is for all the plot twists Mr Iles packs in). The end.
First person present tense narrative by main protagonist. The characters are more than a tad clichéd. While the plot twists aren’t outrageous enough to quibble about individually, there are too damned many of them IMO. If Mr Iles had saved half up for the sequel, and the one after that, he could have cut the page count here by at least 200 and had a better book as a result.