Category: book Nook
Below is an article from U S A Today which caught my attention so I checked
it out and then went and looked up this author. NLS has several titles as
well as bookshare. Has anyone read any of his work and if so, what do you
think?
Carla
Pages keep turning in 'Angel'
By Carol Memmott, USA TODAY
What does a book's plot need to entice you? Sex, drugs, murder? How about
sleazy politicians, bigotry, gunfights ... and more sex?
Greg Iles' Turning Angel won't be an easy read for parents of teen girls.
Greg Iles' Turning Angel won't be an easy read for parents of teen girls.
If the answer is yes to all of these, then Turning Angel by Greg Iles should
take its place on your bedside table.
Iles is the best-selling author of nine other novels, but if you haven't yet
discovered him, Turning Angel will have you wondering where he has been all
your life.
The premise of Turning Angel is tantalizing. The partially clad body of Kate
Townsend, one of the most promising high school students in Natchez, Miss.,
is found floating in the river. The city's shock turns to horror when it's
discovered that Dr. Drew Elliott, a 40-year-old married pillar of the
community,
was romantically involved with her. Could he also have been involved in her
rape and murder?
About the book
Turning Angel
By Greg Iles
Scribner, 449 pp., $25.95
Iles ramps up an already sexually charged story with enough teen depravity
to make parents' heads spin.
But Turning Angel is not just a novel to read for kicks. The author's
portrayal of a Southern town struggling with economic failings, drug
problems and
racial friction is riveting in its honesty and stark reality. (Iles lives in
Natchez.)
The novel is told from the point of view of Penn Cage, an
attorney-turned-author (very Grisham-esque) who also was the protagonist in
Iles' The Quiet Game.
Cage grew up with Elliott and eventually shoulders the task of clearing
Elliott and unmasking the killer.
A book's true test is whether it makes readers eager for more. After Turning
Angel, this reader checked out Iles' Blood Memory, a suspenseful tale of
murder,
sexual abuse and recovered memories. That leaves eight books to go.
I read and enjoyed The Quiet Game. I look forward to reading more by this author and appreciate this book review.
To date Carla I've only read one Greg Iles book, "24 Hours", and while I did enjoy it I wouldn't go so far as to put it in the absolutely fantastic read bracket. I've found an Amazon.co.uk book review of it though so that you can decide for yourself if it sounds like your sort of thing. Like I say, I found it to be good, not great.
Greg Iles, 24 Hours:
Greg Iles's explosive suspense thriller 24 Hours gets off to a blistering start: the kidnapping of a little boy--in eight breathless pages--that culminates
with the child's safe return and the disappearance of the successful kidnappers. That sets the stage for the book's centrepiece, the abduction of little
Abby Jennings, daughter of Will, a successful physician and Karen, a slightly dissatisfied suburban woman who's wondering where the passion in her marriage
went. The criminals' modus operandi is established early on. They target the progeny of Mississippi doctors, demand a reasonable (to an affluent MD) ransom,
release the child after the money's been paid and promise the victim's parents that if they ever breathe a word of the incident to anyone, their child
will be taken again and killed. The kidnappings are carefully set up, targeted to take place when one parent is out of town at a medical meeting or convention,
thus ensuring the cooperation of the other. And the victim is held by a sweet, slightly retarded but humongous and powerful man whose loyalty to his cousin,
the mastermind, is unquestioned.
24 Hours is a version of the locked room school of kidnap mysteries and a very good one indeed, especially when Will turns the tables on the kidnapper and
takes control of the situation. Abby's diabetic condition (she needs lifesaving injections on a regular basis) notches the suspense up one last turn. It's
a well worked-out plot, the pacing is terrific and the characters likeable and attractive. Iles is a master storyteller and this one has big screen written
all over it--with Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer as the Jennings, if we're lucky.
Just thought I'd jump back in here to say that I have now read "The quiet game", the first Penn Cage novel, and found it to be an absolutely fantastic book. My opinion of Greg Iles as a novelist has gone up immeasurably. I'm really looking forward to reading "Turning Angel" now. Thank you for bringing this author back to my attention Carla. Without this topic I almost certainly would have left his books alone having not especially enjoyed "24 Hours".
I really enjoyed The Quiet Game, and as as Harp said 24 hour was alright. good books though. We are going to read turning angel. but I have to wait on harp to get here first. heheheh smiles!