This book starts out in a town out of Leave it to Beaver and morphs into South Park. A quiet southern town is shook-up when a prominent doctor (Drew) is accused of having an affair and murdering an underage high school girl. He turns to his friend Penn to help him with his legal defense. As Penn tries to clear his friend he is confronted by a DA that wants a quick conviction on Drew for political reasons, drug dealers, more murders, along with the realization that his friend Drew may in fact be guilty. Eventually Penn is himself tempted by an underage girl and must decide if he is going to have a similar fate as his friend.

The book is difficult to put down, but as the story unfolds it leaves you shaking your head because there is too much going on. I prefer Sleep No More by the same author which takes place in the same town.

I have always enjoyed Greg Iles, who has been able to position himself as a Mississippi writer, with a mission to explode myths about the Deep South, while skillfully using the thriller formula. However, it would seem that good intentions have turned sour. In his last book, he resurrected discredited theories on repressed memory and childhood abuse issues in order to grind one ax. Now he has come full circle, to act out the fantasies of midlife crisis and bitter disillusionment.

It seems that Blue State sensibilites are now in full force corrupting the gentile citizens of sleepy ol' Natchez. The oppressed black folk are now throughly corrupt politicans, drug lords and crack addicts. Institutionalized segregation isn't the problem, it seems for the public schools spend lots of (for Mississippi)money trying to educate the poor, who are ungrateful and continue to lazy and stupid. And third rate private schools, turn out brilliant cheerleaders and nubile writers, who just can't get enough of old farts with big bank accounts.

Our hero, Penn Cage, likes to think of himself as a latter day Atticus Finch set down in a 21st Century Sodom, where his best friend is in a world of trouble when his underage mistress, soon to be trophy wife(while going to Harvard!) turns up a ravaged corpse...

And of course, ol' Penn has to fight off his own beautiful, insatiable babysitter...who is tracked to go to Brown. And to make matter worse, Penn's liberal, reporter girlfriend has been out of town taking care of her career, while Penn ponders running for mayor.

Then there is the matter of the exchange student from Bosnia (or is it Croatia....no matter, he does get around for someone who has been in town for all of ten minutes).

Business is lousy. The plant has closed, and there is no Walmart in sight to pick up the slack. Cut to: a few drive by massacres...

And you got one heck of a big book with enough sex 'n violence to engage a twelve year old video game addict, while adding enough salacious detail to titillate and shock the family values crowd.

One would have hoped that Mr. Ides would have dealt with disillusionment with a nice red porsche, rather than writing a novel which scolds those beautiful young girls for being so seductive and good in bed!

And so old tired sterotypes are at war with new tired stereotypes....and Southern civilization crumbles in an orgy of good intentions gone bad.

I don't think it's a plot spoiler to say that this story deals with adult men connecting sexually with teenage girls.

Greg Iles was way too tolerant of grown men taking advantage of teens who have grown up too quickly and want/need male attention due to not having a father involved in their lives.

For a narrator who has a young daughter, it was pretty amazing to see how little troubled he was about men being attracted and/or having a sexual relationship with teen beauties.

This book read more like the author's fantasies than something true to life. I haven't been a teenage girl for many years, but when I was that age my friends and I thought it was funny (in a pathetic way) that 30 or 40 something guys thought we might be interested in them.

Pedestrian, overblown, unsurprising plot coupled with the weird fixation on teenage cheerleaders make this a very disappointing book. Mr. Iles is talented, but this book doesn't impress.

I logged in to issue the warning this book deserves and found that I was but a single voice in the chior.
I'll say it anyway: Just because you loved "The Quiet Game," the first novel featuring lawyer/author Penn Cage, don't think you can recapture that fire in this jar. Cage was my hero for weeks after I read "Game." He helped Greg Iles affirm the wisdom of his switch to contemporary fiction from WWII costume dramas. His first effort in the current era, "Mortal Fear" revealed a set of thrill skills that promised much. And "The Quiet Game" delivered on that promise. But the same character in the same setting rendered an entirely different result this time around.
As is his wont, Iles once again elects to tackle some hot-button issues: teen-age sex, what some will call child seduction, drugs, and race. But the fact is, in this book his issues are more appealing than his characters. There was nobody in this story I really liked. It was as though the author's mind was elsewhere, on the grander scheme of things.
If you're a loyal Iles reader you shouldn't be surprised. He has, after all, wandered pretty far afield in recent storylines. The body-switching life force in "Sleep No More" and the personality downloaded to computer RAM in "The Footprints of God" pretty much indicated that Iles might have trouble finding his way back to Natchez.
Yeah. Yeah. I agree; he almost did it in "Blood Memory," but that book had two things going for it that "Angel" doesn't: New Orleans (before the flood) and Iles' phenomenal talent for writing in the first person as a woman.
One more observation on "Turning Angel"-- and for that matter it applies equally well to "Blood Memory" and to Greg Iles in general. The endings to his novels are frequently real yawners. Either he's working too close to deadline, or he's cranking them out too fast. ("Memory" and "Angel" were less than a year apart.)
I'll still read his next book as soon as I can get my hands on it. Even if it's next week.

This book is about 100 pages too long. Terrible editing,plus way too much repetition and detail. Entire paragraphs could be removed. I am only half way thru and this is a long slog. A very disappointing read. His last 3 books have been bad! Save yourself both time and money - don't buy this book.

The story had a great start, but the ending read like Spartacus scene when all the slaves claim to be Spartacus. It also read like one of those backwater whodunit plays where the audience is expected to boo the villain and hurray the heroe when they appear on stage. The bad guys were reaaaalllly bad, and the good guys were reaaaalllly good. I agree with a previous reviewer that the culprit was fairly obvious. There are better authors out there that I think I'll spend my time with.

I used to be a fan of Greg Iles but his writing has gone steadily downhill and his most recent novel is really the nadir. The plot is completely contrived and full of implausible developments whose only purpose is to keep the narrative careening along at breakneck speed so that you don't stop to ask whether it makes any sense (which it doesn't). The characters are equally unbelievable, from the overachieving male protagonists whose lack of common sense makes you wonder how they tie their shoes in the morning to the vapid, Ivy League-bound coeds whose sole fictional purpose seems to be to satisfy the wet dreams of Mr. Iles and his middle-aged readers. Underlying it all is a leering voyeurism that makes the self-congratulatory moralizing of the narrator seem completely fraudulent. If you want cheap thrills tarted up as "unflinching realism," save your money and watch the OC.

And if that is true, one wonders how the people of Natchez forgave him for his latest effort, "Turning Angel". Lead character in the novel, attorney/author Penn Cage, appeared before in one of Iles' best, "The Quiet Game". That's what convinced me to return to another Iles read, after throwing in the towel with his last book, "Blood Memory".

I stopped being an avid fan of Iles work with his quasi-science-fiction tome, "The Footprints of God". Iles writes long novels, usually no less than 500 pages, and it was a deadly chore to even finish "The Footprints of God". In "Blood Memory", Iles returned to Natchez with a new character, Cat Ferry, a foresic odontologist. "Blood Memory" dragged on despite and in spite of Cat, who maybe the most screwed up heroine ever conceived in thriller fiction. Despite her failings, Cat was an interesting heroine, and, once again, Natchez, with all of its history and southern charm and prejudice, made for a good backdrop although the storyline left something to be desired.


In reading "Turning Angel", I will admit that I lasted through the end of the story and slogged through the nearly 500 pages, still convinced that the core murder plot, and likely murderer, would keep me turning the pages. What DID keep me turning the pages was the sound of my own jaw dropping as Iles piled up new and shocking detail after detail. That is why I wonder what the good folks of Natchez think about their local hero, who has gifted his home city (which is a town of about 25,000 people) with some of the most amoral and lewd behavior and crime imaginable.

It is not enough that the high school valedictorian, stunning Kate Townsend, is brutally murdered and her seemingly innocent life revealed to be a series of sexual and drug-related endeavors that have all been hidden from the town until her death. No, Iles had to add Asian drug lords, a sadistic black
dope peddler who administers heroin torture, people desperate to get hold of copious amounts of painkillers, a victim of Serbian terrorism who then turns to crime, a civil rights lawyer that has turned to insurance fraud and scores of slayings of teens,cops, gangs, middle class couples...you name it, in small town Mississippi. And through all this runs a story that has the district attorney and sheriff of the county stacked up against the city police department as to WHO gets to solve the crimes. It's just too much, too over the top.

I'm not sure about Iles fantasies, either, because he has 40- something professional men agonizing over the love of 17 and 18 year old girls, who are into cheerleading and making good grades on the side. These girls have been accepted at Harvard and Brown. I'm sure the girls are hot to look at, but unless Iles has a completely different and sophisticated society in Natchez, the last time I checked high school co-eds were too self-centered and too damn young to command anything but some unacted-upon lust from civic leaders. The affair between Dr. Drew and Kate Townsend, which is approved of by her mom (she's 17!)is just too ridiculous to even imagine.

There are apparently a lot of Iles fans out there that forgive his piling on of subplot after subplot, each more shocking than the last, in the interests of a compelling story. I say, sure, Iles is readable, but when you're finished you feel a little dirty and sad that you wasted your time.

He's off my reading list.

this meaty pile of words is indeed a page-turner. the recipe for thrillers is applied here. That being, sensational murder followed up by other sensational murders. naturally, the wrong man is accused and seemingly guilty. in it all, the good friend who is an expert at many things, like riding atvs, dodging bullets, fighting people,etc., stands by his guy. the friend is aided by a cute, precocious teen of the opposite sex. sexual tension is at play but they resist because they are above all that. all said, the bulk of this read is fairly tame but ridiculous. i've been to natchez and hundreds of other towns of it's size. i assure the dear readers, that the feds would've swooped down on this town after the 2nd murder. it's absurd to think a town would survive the mayhem that iles creates. finally, the forgiveness and seemingly happy ending for the husband and wife strikes me as a bit sexist. but, it's southern writing, with a hint of faux-progressive thought.
worth a read if you've got a week to kill.

Really gives you a feel for Natchez, even if you've never been there. Great followup to The Quiet Game, though you can read this one independently. Narration was great (audio version).

Friends raved about this author, but I can't do that. First it was too long and interest certainly began to dwindle after so much repeating of the sex angle. Enough is enough. I may be a prude, but I think writers should develop a better vocabulary and drop repeating the f-word when they really don't need it. The book may offer insight to what teens are doing today and parents might be shocked. Many parts overcome the sleeze and do make for interesting and exciting reading. It could have been so much better! Too many weird characters to fit in one book.

I had heard such great things about Greg Iles and had not read anything by him because murder mysteries are not my genre. Remember, I just owned up to the fact that murder mysteries are not my thing. So, a book has to be good; no, really good; to impress me. However, a friend was so excited about his books and told me that this was just a page turner so I was eager to give it a go.

The book is a pot boiler. Truly all that is missing is the kitchen sink. The plot has no depth, teaches us nothing and hopes to convince us that the mere complexity of who could have done it makes it a brilliant book.

The murder scene becomes laughable with so many who-done-its right there like they were all invited for a wienie roast.


I finished the book and was interested enough to do that. However, I walked away from it wondering why I felt like I had to shake my head and find something to read that would take the bad taste away. This is not a good book.

Blood Memory was a singularly terrible book. I found it to be tedious and unbelieveable. I had enjoyed all of Iles' previous books, particularly 24 Hours,Dead Sleep and Sleep No More. It was so good to see familiar characters come into play. Maybe authors don't realize how comforting it can be to feel characters are real or close to. This book did not disappoint. Do not fear reading it because you will enjoy it.

Other than the fact that I figured out who the killer was before page 10, this book started out wonderfully. I loved the intensity and could not put it down. However the last 100 pages fell reluctantly short by far. I mean honestly, how many people can stumble across one dead body!? Very unrealistic. The whole younger woman older man scenario was stretching it a bit too. I understand a younger girl falling for an older man, but not EVERY girl in the town. It got a bit out of control at times, and turned a little sleazy at others. Overall I might recommend it, but I have definitely read better.

Another solid gold entry by one of the few that I can always count on for page-turning suspense and intelligent, well paced plotting. My wife is reading it now, and can't put it down!

With Turning Angel, Iles again spins a compelling story around topics that some would rather ignore -relationships between adults and minors, teenage drug use, recreational sex, and even a hint of racism. While perhaps not as disturbing as the issue of sexual abuse of children presented in his previous work, Blood Memory, this nonetheless is a bit like a bad car accident - you don't want to look but at the same time you can't turn away. Iles keeps the reader locked in even when he would possibly rather look away. In this story, Iles goes back to the character set from The Quiet Game. Character development lets the reader understand the egos, anxieties, and motivations of a broad set of characters -- and also drives the reader to form an affinity or antipathy for most characters. The intensity and buildup of the story, combined with the nature of the subject matter make this a very emotional read - especially for a parent of teenagers or soon-to-be teenager

amazing reading-hearing experience for this novel. but still, i found that holding the book and reading directly from a novel is more 3 dimensional than just listen to it. The deep-rooted racial hatred and bias in the deep south goes on forever, no matter what.
After read all of Iles' novels, this has become a bit tiresome. Murders, rapes....whatever, this genre might have to be put aside for a longer period to step into again.

great complicated rapes, murders, homocides, drug, sex, politics... southern-comfortless story again. and again, the mississippi black and white racial ideology and hatred are still burning so hot that really make me thinking twice of moving down there in another century. i just wonder why those so religious folks live there are so narrow-minded to each other.
iles got to correct something quickly here: the newspapers business is in deep trouble, a shrinking business especially to the printed newspapers chains, so deep that the fortune of ben cage's girlfriend's might be dwindling faster than she and iles could imgine.
if your eyesights are weakening as the newspapers business, i strongly suggest that you please try the cd-rom version.

I too was a little stumped as to why he called this book Turning Angel, the only thing I could figure was that he had made the reference that any direction you went it seemed that the angel was following you and any time it seemed that there was a fix on who the killer was it turned in a different direction to someone else. Anyway--- I really enjoy reading books by Greg Iles and this one was a page turner but I felt that this book wasn't exactly his greatest it was still a good read it had a lot of suspense!

I liked this book; I like all Greg Illes' books. It's just that I was torn with suspense all through the book and it seems like he cheated us at the end. I won't say a word about the ending to spoil it for everyone that hasn't read it. Except to say that it was strange.

I had to look up "The Turning Angel" after I finished to find out if it really existed. It does! It's in the Natchez City Cemetery. (I never did figure out why he called the book this).

As I said, I like all of Mr. Illes' books but this will not one of my favorites.

The story is well written with lots of different threads nicely working in tandem, but the bottom line for me was that the author tried so hard to be shocking that he lost credibility. I got tired of people being shot and blown up and otherwise in jeopardy. I think the teen sex thing was exploited for purposes of the story (yes, I know kids today are different. I've got two of my own -- but the entire senior class of an elite school does not act as Iles would have us believe). What's more, pain killers are readily available over the Internet, so the idea of people killing and being beholden to drug pushers for something they could buy with the click of a mouse, didn't ring true. These are just a few examples of the many things that irritated me in reading and thus kept me from being drawn into what could have been a very good story about human nature.

Two thumbs up for "Turning Angel" by Greg Iles.

Prosecutor/novelist Penn Cage returns from my favorite Iles book, "The Quiet Game" as the protagonist.

Penn has left the legal life to spend time with his daughter in his hometown of Natchez. And, he has renewed his boyhood friendship with Dr. Drew Elliot, a prominent member of the Natchez gentry.

Both are attending a board meeting of the elite private school, St. Stephens Prep when the meeting is interrupted with news that star senior student on her way to Harvard (Kate Townsend) has been found murdered.

Kate was the poster child for perfection. However, the investigation shows Kate was buying drugs from an infamous dealer, posing for kinky photos and having an affair with a married man (Dr. Drew Elliot).

Dr. Elliot informs Penn of the affair, claim innocence in the murder and gets Penn back into the legal game to defend him. The price of defending his friend could affect Penn's run for mayor and makes him a target for the real killer.

There is no shortage of homegrown suspects as well as a few outsiders and a particularly venal blackmailer.

It is a fast moving plot with a rapid pulse. The reader is enveloped by the conspiracies and small town intrigue. There is ample action as we learn just who did what to whom, and why.

Without a doubt Mr. Iles is a great writer. His compact style, tight prose, intricate plots, and well developed characters define a man of exceptional writing abilities. The Turning Angel was such a book for the first 400 pages-then disaster. Instead of ending the story with the jilted wife's hospital room confession, Iles just could not help himself and plunged on for another 100 pages. The first 400 pages were 5 stars! The last 100 pages 2 stars. I enjoy Mr. Iles' writing immensely and fight my wife for who gets to read his new book first. But please sir, No More Dragging Out An Ending! You are too good an author for that.

I enjoyed this book, but it got a little "out there" with the drugs and the Asian gang angle. In addition, the Caitlin character changed a great deal from the first book, almost unbelievably so, with regard to her ideals. Granted, we all change as we age, but in a five-year span, for her to have turned 180° on some of her core beliefs seems a little unrealistic. But then again, so did the Asian gangs in the midst of a Mississippi town. (Maybe I'm wrong on that, as I haven't lived in MS for 27 years or so....)
Still, it's worth reading, but if you haven't read The Quiet Game and are limited on time, read that instead.

This wasn't my favorite Greg Iles book...Perhaps it was because I didn't care for the subject matter...I have reached an age where I just can't identify with teen agers. Mr. Iles is a very good writer and I will not hesitate to buy another of his books..but I will read the "squib" on it very carefully.
marge@dodgecity.net

WOW! My first book by Greg Iles but it will definitely not be my last. Characters are real, fast paced, and the ultimate "who-dun-it".

Not exactly a sequel, Turning Angel is a follow-up of, in my opinion, Greg Iles best book - The Quiet Game. Iles revisits the historical city on the Mississippi, Natchez and picks up where he left off in The Quiet Game after five years, with many of the same characters. Our protagonist is again widower, Penn Cage, who has given up law to become a novelist. Sound familiar? A Mississippi Lawyer gives up Law to write novels - John Grisham. Lovely Caitlin Masters, the Netchez newspaper's publisher, now Cage's girlfriend, is back for what is effectively, a cameo appearance and his nemesis, D.A. Shadrack Johnson returns, in what is basically a story revolving around the rape/murder of the extremely popular, All American, seventeen year old Kate Townsend. But was she really the innocent young lady all of Natchez believed her to be?

Turning Angel introduces some new individuals as well. First, there's Penn Cage's best friend, who once saved his life, Dr. Drew Elliott, who at forty years old was not only Kate's doctor, but her lover and eventual suspect in her brutal rape/murder. Dr. Elliott is charged with murder and Penn, after locating Elliott, a famous seventy-some year old ex-civil rights lawyer, Quentin Avery, for his defense, launches into his own investigation. Assisting Penn in this endeavor is his daughter Anne's, eighteen year old babysitter, Mia.

Like the deceased Kate Townsend, Mia is smart, attractive, raised in a fatherless single parent household, sexually experimental and besotted with Penn Cage. This makes not one, but two teen girls, who were infatuated with forty year old men, which was at least one too many, not to breach my credulity.

As the story moves on, we learn of abject poverty in Natchez's black community and wild drug and sex experimentation among Natchez's teen population, participating in drug/sex raves and wild parties. A Croatian exchange student named Marko Bakic ostensibly supplied the drugs, which were supplied to him by a black drug dealer named Cyrus White.

Meanwhile, another student of St Stephens school (Kate's and Mia's school) drowns at one of the raves and another is severely beaten. From this point, life in Natchez seems to unravel with more murder and mayhem.

Conclusion

Once I accept that a sleepy little Mississippi town of twenty-five thousand and losing population could have so much pernicious underworld mischief taking place, Turning Angel settles in to be a rather good read. Greg Iles certainly knows how to write and write with interest. He doesn't let the reader catch his/her breath from the last incident before they're jerked into another crisis and Turning Angel is a convoluted series of predicaments, sometime stacked one on the other.

If you like non-stop action this book is for you, but I must admit I had a problem with a few of the characters and a couple of the scenarios were over the top, which I will refrain from getting into. Another problem I had with the book is that even though Iles provided plenty of surprises along the way, I didn't find the ending to be particularly revealing, although it was dragged out nicely.

All and all, once you get past the facts and incidents that ring hollow, Turning Angel is an enjoyable but not a great read. The book is five hundred action packed pages. Final rating low 4 stars.

TURNING ANGEL is one of Greg Iles' best books: full of rich detail, strong narrative, absorbing characters and some unexpected twists and turns.
Penn Cage, the protagonist from THE QUIET GAME, is back home in Natchez. The town is thrown into a whirlwind when a beautiful and gifted 17 year old student, Kate Townsend, is found brutally murdered and raped. Penn finds that his long time friend, Dr. Drew Elliott, was having an affair with the girl and may be the prime suspect in her death.
What appears to be a simple whodunit instead carousels into a provocative look at small city life; drug use and abuse; family betrayals and secrets; politics; racism; murder. There's lots of bodies that pile up and Penn must race against time to prove his friend's innocence.
Iles lays all this out with some stunning in-depth looks at how the human psyche works; how the human spirit prevails; and how things aren't always as they seem.
I found this one hard to put down and highly recommend it.

There was a fool who termed this book child porn and the truth is that it is absolutely not such a book. Turning Angel is an engrossing book. The book is about an innocent man who is an MD and who just happens to have a relationship with a younger woman. It is not an advisable relationship. The girl is some 20 years younger then the doc but attraction to a post-pubescent woman is normal. The book is about political motivation encouraging a district attorney to hastily accuse a man before the facts can play out properly. A rush to judgement which makes for a rush to get to the last chapter. Twists and turns abound in this classic Iles tome. It was quite an enjoyable read.

This book was so obviously written by a man. It was so full of crap in that teenage girls do NOT fantasize about their friends fat, balding, middle aged fathers. Nor do teenage girls want anal sex from old men. This book seemed to be wishful thinking of the author. F-

I hated leaving Natchez. We're introduced to Natchez, Mississippi in the Quiet Game. We get to know it a bit better in this novel. Check their website: www.natchezms.com - wonderful pictures. I am a true fan of Greg Iles. I have read every one. This is better than his last one. The setting for Turning Angel takes place in his real home-town of Natchez. The Turning Angel is a statue in the cemetery there that seems to follow your gaze as one walks or drives by it. Iles enthralled me with his descriptive prose about the history of the town, the antebellum mansions, and the feel of the community, good and bad. Makes you want to go there to see it for yourself.

The novel is a volatile, powerful story, right from the onset. Main character Penn Cage (introduced in Quiet Game) is a lawyer/writer whose childhood friend, the doctor in town, has been accused of raping and murdering his young lover. Dr. Drew Elliott was actually in love with the victim and Penn knows he couldn't have killed her, but in his quest for proof he uncovers shocking details about life in his beloved home town and is inspired to do something to change things. The characters are as real as they come, the prose is well-defined and gripping. You are drawn in to the fast paced whirl of many emotions. Yes, there is some explicit sex, but it seemed realistic and not pornographic in my opinion. I personally hated to see this end even after 500 pages. Hopefully there is a sequel so we can find out if Penn Cage is able to bring about the changes he'd like to see in the fictionalized version of Natchez, MS. If there is, I'll be the first in line to buy my copy. Don't miss out on this one! Buy it today!

Penn Cage the protagonist from THE QUIET GAME is back for another mystery in his hometown of Natchez, Mississippi. This time out the idealist lawyer-turned-novelist sets out to prove that his childhood friend, Dr. Andrew Elliot didn't murder All-American girl, star athlete, and valedictorian, of St. Stephen's Prep School, Kate Townsend. Drew carries some deep dark secrets, namely that he and Kate were having an affair. Drew was planning on leaving his wife and Natchez with Kate despite their twenty year age difference. Penn solicits the help of his teenage baby-sitter to learn the secrets of the elite prep school Kate attended in order to help clear Drew. Penn's lover from THE QUIET GAME also makes an appearance even though she is not really involved in the story.

The plot seemed a bit cumbersome burdened by too many characters and too many subplots. An element of the story, which I don't want to give away, left me feeling a bit unclean. The violence is graphic at times and unnecessary to the overall story. The reading went swiftly though this novel at 500 pages could have been trimmed by at least 100 pages. I did find myself skimming through certain parts of the book that lagged. The ending was tied up too neatly for a story of this complexity.

Boundaries are explored without shilly-shallying. It is a novel that seizes the reader from page 1 and does not even let go after page 499. "In the nineteen sixties, our parents fought to achieve political freedom and liberation of the self. Well, now we've got. We've got about as much freedom and liberation as anybody can stand . . . At some point you have to draw a line, agree on some rules, or all you have is chaos. . . . To figure out where freedom stops being a blessing and starts being a curse (Iles 496). Simply put; "Turning Angel" is incredible sincere on all counts and electrifying to the point: the rest of the world disappears for the reader as the pages are turned.

After reading "Blood Memory" by Mr. Iles, I had high expectations for "Turning Angel". I was not disappointed. This story, with it's portrayal of both the good and dark sides of human nature in Natchez MS., is a page turning thriller with a moral tone. The crime that sets everything and everyone off brings into play political agendas, racial issues and moral questions, all of which are addressed meaningfully in a satisfying manner during the course of it's resolution. Things can and do get down and dirty, gritty and grimy with an underside of the community exposed that would normally be invisible to all but those intent on going below the surface. In this case the protaginist, Penn Cage, has to do just that if he is going to see truth exposed, justice served and a friend saved. This is a well written and thoughtful effort that is thoroughly recommended.

For me, there are three kinds of books. The ones that grab me to the point that I literally end up carrying them around with me. These are usually finished in a day or less. Second, are the ones that are satisfying reads - that can be put down for a time, but eagerly picked up again. These are usually consumed in 3-4 days. Last, are the ones that begin limply, and lose me by the 4th-5th chapter and are cast aside grumpily, as I hate a waste of time. Turning Angel falls into Class Two for me. I loved being back in Natchez. Greg's way with description puts me right there, and I can see a town that had better days, and is mid-downward slide. I'm with Penn Cage in wanting to save it. There's a lot going on in Natchez - and a lot of it isn't pretty - but it is interesting and a bit frightening to contemplate the amount of truth in it. Finding the murderers within the mass of murders going on is sometimes easy - and sometimes frustrating, as we've got the bad guys (and girls) coming and going, looking innocent one moment, and guilty as sin the next. Iles kept me off-balance much of the time, and then pulled it all together at the end - with an ending more satisfying than it was plausible, but what the heck. I like Iles' use of first person present tense. It lets me stand right there with Penn Cage and see it all through his eyes. Maybe I picked this one up and put it down because I wanted to prolong my time in Penn's head. Cage is an extremely likable character..., and, for a writer - and his reader, that's more than half the battle won!

When a student is found dead near fancy St. Stephen's Prep, Penn Cage ends up seeking her killer. Not only is buddy Drew charged with the crime (and he was sexually involved with the victim), but St. Stephen's is Penn's alma mater and now the school his daughter attends.
Greg Iles ability to wrap you in his stories attests to his skill as an author. This is another fascinating and engrossing novel. I've yet to read one of his novels and not be immersed in his characters and his story telling ability. Keep up the good work.

Highly recommended.

There's been a lot of buzz for Greg Iles' latest novel "Turning Angel" and after reading it, all I can say is that it deserves every bit of it.

Dr Drew Elliot seems to have it all--he's the trusted doctor in the small town of Nachez, Mississippi. He's successful professionally, he's married with a family, he's got the big house and all the trappings. But he has a dark secret--he's been carrying on an affair with a 17-year old cheerleader and tennis phenom, who is bound for Harvard. When the girl's body turns up in the river, Elliott's love for her comes to light and he's the prime suspect in the killing.

Elliot asks his good friend (whose life he saved), Penn Cage for help in representing him and finding the real killer.

But what could have been a simple who-done-it thriller becomes something more. Iles not only documents the mystery of who killed the girl but rips off the innocent veneer of the town of Nachez. We come to understand how Elliott could fall for the girl, carry on an affair with her and even plan to give up his life to be with her. There are no heroes or villians here, just real, breathing characters painted in shades of gray.

The case is pushed through by oportunistic politicians, one of whom wants to use the case as a springboard to the mayor's office and beyond. Along the way, we find out about the underbelly of a small town and the frightening implications of the death of one girl.

Iles pulls no punches in his harsh, frank examination of the murder and the consequences and fallout from it. The book is close to 500 pages but it feels shorter than that becuase Iles prose is compelling and his characters fascinating. This is an absolute must read and it's made me into a huge fan of Greg Iles.

Typical Iles, ending seeming a bit hurried and not very believable but a good read

When I read all the great Amazon reviews on this book, I decided I would buy it and give it a try, since I hadn't read any other books by this author. WOW! I hated to put this one down. Things were constantly changing and you never quite knew where it was going or what would happen next. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a great book! You may even have to call in sick just so you can stay home and finish it!!

An older married man -- a pillar of the community -- has an affair with a young girl, and ruin ensues. There is perhaps no more familar a morality tale within our literature. The doomed love affair of Dr. Drew Elliott and high school valedictorian Kate Townsend is at the center of Greg Iles' latest novel, set in the author's hometown of Natchez, Mississippi. The eerie reverberations of this forbidden love resonate as the novel's narrator, lawyer-turned-author Penn Cage, enlists the help and ensuing devotion of his daughter's older-than-her-years nanny to help him prove that his lifelong friend is in fact innocent of the one crime he didn't commit.

This thematic material would suffice for many an author. But for the protean Greg Iles, it is just the beginning. There is a cunning political angle. There are racial and ethnic subplots that reach beyond one sleepy Southern town. There is a searching examination of what the scourge of drugs has done to the fundamental fabric of American society. There is a disquieting exposition of what those of us over forty have really managed to teach our children, and there is a prescient portrait of what life is like for the materially indulged but emotionally needy generation that is now reaching adulthood.

And of course within this finely conceived and troubled snapshot of small town life at the beginning of the 21st Century, there is one exceedingly complex and captivating mystery story, interwoven with a legal drama that is expertly plotted and breathtakingly developed.

Iles has proved his abilities in his earlier novels, and all his strengths are on display in this work: his understanding of the best and worst in human nature; his ability to develop and weave intriguing story lines; his seeming ease at characterization; and his ability to write both vivid description and authentic and memorable dialogue. Notwithstanding its complexity, the story is fast-moving and compelling, and the use of language is such that the only thing that stops the reader's relentless forward-turning of the pages is the desire to re-read passages out of pure admiration for how well they are written.

This is one beckoning novel from which you simply cannot turn away.

An older married man -- a pilar of the community -- has an affair with a young girl, and ruin ensues. There is perhaps no more familar a morality tale within our literature. The doomed love affair of Dr. Drew Elliott and high school valedictorian Kate Townsend is at the center of Greg Iles' latest novel, set in the author's hometown of Natchez, Mississippi. The eerie reverberations of this forbidden love resonate as the novel's narrator, lawyer-turned-author Penn Cage, enlists the help and ensuing devotion of his daughter's older-than-her-years nanny to help him prove that his lifelong friend is in fact innocent of the one crime he didn't commit.

This thematic material would suffice for many an author. But for the protean Greg Iles, it is just the beginning. There is a cunning political angle. There are racial and ethnic subplots that reach beyond one sleepy Southern town. There is a searching examination of what the scourge of drugs has done to the fundamental fabric of American society. There is a disquieting exposition of what those of us over forty have really managed to teach our children, and there is a prescient portrait of what life is like for the materially indulged but emotionally needy generation that is now reaching adulthood.

And of course within this finely conceived and troubled snapshot of small town life at the beginning of the 21st Century, there is one exceedingly complex and captivating mystery story, interwoven with a legal drama that is expertly plotted and breathtakingly developed.

Iles has proved his abilities in his earlier novels, and all his strengths are on display in this work: his understanding of the best and worst in human nature; his ability to develop and weave intriguing story lines; his seeming ease at characterization; and his ability to write both vivid description and authentic and memorable dialogue. Notwithstanding its complexity, the story is fast-moving and compelling, and the use of language is such that the only thing that stops the reader's relentless forward-turning of the pages is the desire to re-read passages out of pure admiration for how well they are written.

This is one beckoning novel from which you simply cannot turn.

Once again Greg Iles puts forth a solid effort in "Turning Angel". The book is set in Natchez, MS and features Penn Cage again. When a lifelong friend is accused of the murder of a private high school student, Penn Cage is asked by the accused to help him prove his innocence. As Penn begins to investigate, he stirs up trouble in many areas. What he finds could possibly shake a town to its core as it tries to surface from under the current of racism. Excellent novel, great characters and a Southern backdrop that is palpable.

An older married man -- a pilar of the community -- has an affair with a young girl, and ruin ensues. There is perhaps no more familar a morality tale within our literature. The doomed love affair of Dr. Drew Elliott and high school valedictorian Kate Townsend is at the center of Greg Iles' latest novel, set in the author's hometown of Natchez, Mississippi. Moreover, the eerie reverberations of this forbidden love resonate in the experiences of the novel's narrator, lawyer-turned-author Penn Cage, as he enlists the help and ensuing devotion of young Mia Burke to help him prove his old buddy Drew's innocence of the one crime he didn't commit.

This thematic material would suffice for many an author. But for the protean Mr. Iles, it is just the beginning. There is a political angle. There is a racial subplot. There is a searching examination of what the scourge of drugs has done to the fundamental fabric of American society. There is a disquieting exposition of what those of us over forty have really managed to teach our children, and there is a prescient portrait of what life is like for the materially indulged but emotionally needy generation that is now reaching adulthood.

And of course within this finely conceived and brilliantly captured snapshot of small town life at the beginning of the 21st Century, there is one exceedingly complex and captivating mystery story, interwoven with a legal drama that is expertly plotted and breathtakingly developed.

Iles has proved his abilities in his earlier novels, and his strengths all are on display in this work: his understanding of the best and worst in human nature; his ability to develop and weave intriguing story lines; his seeming ease at characterization; and his ability to write both vivid description and authentic and memorable dialogue. Notwithstanding its complexity, the story is fast-moving and compelling, and the use of language is such that the only thing that stops the reader's relentless forward-turning of the pages is the desire to re-read passages out of pure admiration for how well they are written.

This is one novel that simply is not to be missed.

"Some stories must wait to be told."

So starts Turning Angel, the first Greg Isles novel I have read and one of the most compelling books I have enjoyed in quite some time.

Isles outlines the context of the story on the first page: "A man walks the straight and narrowall his life; he follows the rules; stays within the lines; then one day he makes a misstep.
He crosses a line and sets in motion a chain of events that will take from him everything he has and damn him forever in the eyes of those he loves."

The story is told by Penn Cage, a lawyer turned writer and a resident of Natchez, Mississippi. He has seen the city go from boom during the time that oil was discovered allowing the wealth that had been there during the days of King Cotton to return again and be "a truly magical place in which to grow up," to the bust with the crash of domestic oil production in the middle 1980's. And now International Paper Company, the county's largest employer has announced that it's Natchez mill will close after fifty years of continuous operation. In a year, Natchez went from a fairly healthy community to a city on the edge.

It is on the edge in more ways than one when the semi-nude body of a 17 year old high school senior, a star student and athelete, is found in the fork of a tree where St.Catherine's Creek flows into the Mississippi River.

This revelation starts the peeling of the onion which reveals some troubling aspects of life in this community. Lives which had seemed to be both succesful and normal are sent spiraling out of control as a community strruggles to deal with on revelation after another.

The writing is clear, the story is one that grabs your attention and the twists and turns of the plot are more than enough to keep you turning pages well into the wee hours.

I has fortunate to have this book recommended to me by a friend, otherwise I might have continued to shuffle along this mortal coil without having discovered this most talented writer and story teller.

Now you have been advised as well. Don't let this one pass you by.

I am a big Iles fan. If "The Quiet Game" ranks a 5 then this is a definite 4.5. After what I felt was somewhat of a lull in his career with "24 Hours" Iles has been back full throttle with his last two novels. Some readers may consider the subject matter taboo; incest in "Blood Memory" and now sex with underage teenagers in "Turning Angel", however, Iles cleverly writes a mystery that revolves aroung these topics rather than centering on them.

Iles' command of the city of Natchez and its surroundings is obvious in his well defined prose. This is a who-done-it and although you most likely will identify the villain toward the latter portion of the novel you will still be glued to this book to discover how the lives of the two main characters pan out.

Well written and stimulating.

17 year old Kate is killed and later, her body found to have had sex, and was perhaps raped prior to her death. The leading suspect is straight laced good guy Dr. Elliott. The good doctor had been seeing the 17 year old and there is good reason to believe he killed her.

Penn Cage is back and Elliot is Cage's best buddy. Penn struggles with the relationship that Elliott had with the young girl and whether or not it's possible that his best friend could have killed the young woman.

Numerous suspects are uncovered but they don't matter as the D.A. wants this white man to be punished for the crime whether he did it or not. He's going to be running for Mayor and needs the black vote in Natchez.

Cage does everything he can to help his friend including utilizing his babysitter Mia to help find the true killer. Mia, 18, who falls for Cage and is willing...and Cage who falls for his babysitter but has common sense that over rules passion.

Numerous plot lines develop as you meet a town struggling to survive a bloody two weeks.

The sexual tension between young women and older men is explored in a frank and open way.

The harsh realities of high school today compared to high school even 20 years ago is startling.

500 pages of page turning intensity make this a must read on your next international flight. (There and back.)

Iles is so good. He writes about everything he knows so well and what he doesn't know he finds out about.

The book is a superb read. The author is a genius at captivating the mind and passions (secret or not) of both men and women.

Iles reaches inside of us all and exposes us to the world. It's uncomfortable at times.

It's supposed to be of course.

Turning Angel is five stars.

Kevin Hogan
Author of The Psychology of Persusaion, and, The Science of Influence.

This is the first book I have read by Greg Iles and the last. The running theme seems to be that l7 and 18 year old girls are stalking and lusting after men in their forties. As the story drags on, it is increasingly obvious that Mia is after poor Penn who valiantly attempts to treat her the way he treats his 9 year old daughter. This may be Mr. Iles fantasy, but it is laughable. I got as far as Mia, (18 years old), with her eyes locked on his, asking him (43 years old) to give her another hug but something stops him. I had to give up at that point. I may attempt to finish it one day, but I am sure that Drew (40 years old) will come out of it unpunished and lily white after being victimized and taken advantage of by Kate (17 years old.

Quintessential Iles - a local lawyer, repressed desires, dark pasts and hidden secrets, race, politics, Natchez. We meet the former laywer and current author, Penn Cage/Greg Iles, again (he starred in an earlier novel). In true Ile's fashion, Penn's closest friend, Drew, has become involved in a torrid affair with Kate, his son's baby sitter, a senior at a private high school, St Stephens. It is also where Penn and his friend graduated. The book opens as the young girl is found dead.

We plunge into a cauldron of race, dirty politics, crime and illicit sex. The backdrop is the once thriving town of Natchez that is now shrinking as young white people leave after high school. The city is taking on the ubiquitous "halo effect" - a poor black core surrounded by properous white suburbanites. Forbidden love rears its head and Penn himself is tempted even as his Yankee lover of the past five years grows disenchanted with the South. She now believes racial harmony is impossible and Penn should leave while he can.

It appears Iles is speaking to us (through his characters) from a sense of frustration with the lack of progress. His hero, a Southern liberal who loves the South and its traditions, yearns to believe, despite mounting evidence to the contrary (at least in Natchez) that the two communities can live side by side. The author tries to present several points of view but mostly stays inside Penn's head.

An ambitious DA seeks to have Drew convicted but while working to help his friend, Penn discovers that Kate has a dark side not known by her lover. Penn's babysitter, a classmate of Kate and a temptress of Penn, provides insight into the world of today;s youth replete with casual sex, wild parites and drugs. Without giving away too much, one can say that all the elements mentioned above get full play. Violence explodes, old sins are discovered, a famous civil rights lawyer of the old school enters the scene and the reader is on the edge of his seat. Penn's efforts to clear Drew lead to a brush with death. In this novel, everything "worked".

Greg Iles "Turning Angel" is a story surrounding the apparent murder of a popular and beautiful 17 year old high school senior whose semi nude corpse is discovered along the flood swollen banks of the Mississippi. The book is a step down from his previous offering, the excellent "Blood Memory". Iles in his attempt to spice up the plot goes overboard in creating a myriad of tangents to the story which are plaguing his beloved home town of Natchez, Mississippi, the scene of the crime.

The murdered young lady Kate Townsend was a girl who had it all including an incandescently bright future. She was a blonde haired beauty, a state tennis champion, the private St. Stephens Prep school valedictorian and had been accepted for admission to Harvard.

We soon find out that she'd been having an affair with the handsome, fortyish, but married esteemed physician Drew Elliott, who was also a member of the St. Stephens school board. Elliott confesses the affair to life long friend, retired lawyer Penn Cage and fears that he will be implicated in the murder. Cage an ex district attorney in Houston and now a writer offers to serve as Elliott's counsel.

Natchez is a town still plagued by racial strife which still serves to segregate black and white. This fuels the ambitions of local DA, Shad Johnson who charges Elliott with the crime, railroading him into a trial that will further his own political aspirations.

Cage quickly sets out to investigate the happenings surrounding his friend's tabooed relationship and the circumstances around his young lover Kate Townsend's death. With the aid of his babysitter Mia, an equally beautiful and talented girl who he has strong feelings for, Cage discovers a massive drug subculture among the local teens. The local drug czar Cyrus White recruits Croatian transfer student Marko Bakic, a Scarface wanna be, to peddle his poison to the local high school and college students.

Cage must wade through this morass of circumstances to help exonerate his friend Elliott. With aid from several sources he plods on to learn the truth.

The trouble with Iles' mostly interesting plot is that as a whodunit "Turning Angel" leaves few reasonable possibilities as to who actually murdered the unfortunate young lady, leaving little in the way of suspense.

Not quite as good a Blood Memory and Mortal Fear, but up there with his best. A real page turner, I did nothing today except finish this book. Greg Iles characters are those you would like to meet and would be your friends. I hope he write a sequel, I would like to know what transpires in Penn and Annie's life.