Natchez Burning
A Novel
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4.3 • 1.3K Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
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?
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Greg Iles returns with an explosive crime thriller set in his hometown of Natchez, Mississippi. Steeped in the disturbing legacy of racial violence in the Deep South during the ’60s, Natchez Burning is an epic tale that involves political conspiracies, the Civil Rights movement—and the relationship between Penn Cage (the mayor of Natchez in 2005) and his father, a righteous small-town doctor accused of murdering a black nurse. Iles demonstrates his formidable storytelling talents, weaving headline-making true crimes into this breathtakingly suspenseful novel.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Much more than a thriller, Iles's deftly plotted fourth Penn Cage novel (after 2008's The Devil's Punchbowl) doesn't flag for a moment, despite its length. In 2005, the ghosts of the past come back to haunt Cage now the mayor of Natchez, Miss. with a vengeance. His father, Dr. Tom Cage, who has been an institution in the city for decades, faces the prospect of being arrested for murder. An African-American nurse, Viola Turner, who worked closely with Tom in the 1960s and was in the end stages of cancer, has died, and her son, Lincoln, believes that she was eased into death by a lethal injection. Tom refuses to speak about what happened (he admits only that he was treating Viola), which prevents Cage from using his leverage as mayor to head off charges. The mystery is inextricably interwoven with the violence Natchez suffered in the 1960s, including the stabbing of Viola's brother by Ku Klux Klansmen in a fight. The case may also be connected to the traumatic political assassinations of the decade. This superlative novel's main strength comes from the lead's struggle to balance family and honor.
Customer Reviews
Pretty good
I loved the book until the last few chapters. It seemed rushed and predictable in the end-and left a lot of questions unanswered. I would still recommend the book.
Unaffordable
$53 for an audiobook?
Believe
I do read reviews of authors and newspapers listed on books but a part of me wonders if the reviews are due to knowing the author or newspapers reviews due to something else.
The review by Steven King will never ever be questioned by me again. Mr. King's review is solid! Period!
I couldn't put this book down!
Read it and know you will keep coming back to it within hours if not sooner. If you put it down at all.
Randy B.