The Devil's Punchbowl (Unabridged)
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3.7 • 37 Ratings
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- $28.99
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- $28.99
Publisher Description
As a prosecutor in Houston, Penn Cage sent killers to death row. But as mayor of his hometown - Natchez, Mississippi - Penn will face his most dangerous threat. Urged by old friends to try to restore this fading jewel of the Old South, Penn has ridden into office on a tide of support for change. But in its quest for new jobs and fresh money, Natchez has turned to casino gambling, and now five steamboats float on the river beside the old slave market, like props from Gone With the Wind.
But one boat isn't like the others.
Rumor has it that the Magnolia Queen has found a way to pull the big players from Las Vegas to its Mississippi backwater. And with them - on sleek private jets that slip in and out of town like whispers in the night - come pro football players, rap stars, and international gamblers, all sharing an unquenchable taste for one thing: blood sport - and the dark vices that go with it. When a childhood friend of Penn's who brings him evidence of these crimes is brutally murdered, he begins a quest to find the men responsible. But the local authorities have been corrupted by the money and power of his hidden enemy and, with his family's lives at stake, Penn realizes his only allies are those bound to him by blood or honor.
Together they must defeat a killer who has an almost preternatural ability to anticipate - and counter - their every move. Ultimately, victory will depend on a bold stroke that will leave one of Penn's allies dead - and Natchez changed forever.
Customer Reviews
A Solid Punch in The Punchbowl!
Very good read! Love Penn Cage had all the good and descent he portrays!
Dog lovers beware
Be warned: this is a brutal story told with explicit detail--not for the timid. A little too much time spent on the minutiae and I wonder if an abridged edition would be a better way to go. The dog fighting, while a crucial part of the story and not a gratuitous addition, is described in gut wrenching detail, animals left torn and beaten, pleading to be put out of their misery. If you can get that out of your mind, and the sickening sexual brutality, (I couldn't) and read on---there is an intense international plot, locations described so well you'll feel yourself drenched in the Mississippi humidity. Good production of a dark, but well written story; the narrator does a nice job with the characters once you get used to his slow lilting voice.
Good Story - Plodding Pace
Greg Iles weaves a strong, intricate yarn. However, it is lost in the belabored and affected Mississippi accents used by the narrator. Dick Hill has enough eccentricities in his narration, even without regional accents, that they become disruptive to the enjoyment of this audiobook. Agreed with another poster - perhaps the abridged or print version would be more tolerable. Iles can write a four-star story; this is not one of them as an audio production.