Review: The Devil’s Punchbowl by Greg Iles
by Jenners • 03/20/2010 • 3.5 Stars, D Authors, Fiction, I Titles, Mystery/Thriller • 10 Comments
2 Words that describe the book: Suspenseful thriller
3 Settings where it took place or characters you met:
- Setting: Natchez, Mississippi, modern times
- Penn Cage—A former DA and now mayor of his hometown of Natchez, Mississippi, Penn returns for another thriller, accompanied by Caitlin Masters (his beautiful newspaper reporter ex-girlfriend) and other characters we’ve met in previous Penn Cage books. (This book can stand-alone but does reference previous books at times.)
- Jonathan Sands—The local head of a riverboat gambling operation (which has brought corruption to Natchez since its arrival), Sands is a ruthless and chameleon-like bad guy who seems to have his fingers in quite a few pies, including dogfighting and prostitution. Plus he seems to have “friends in high places” who seem willing to protect him despite his corrupt and violent behavior.
4 Things you liked and/or disliked about it:
- I liked how Iles keeps the story moving. This particular book was 577 pages (!), but it moves along at a good clip, and the plot is always branching off into some new area.
- I liked revisiting the characters and locations that Iles have written about in previous books. This is the third Penn Cage book he’s written, and he even incorporates a character (Danny McDavitt) from one of his previous Natchez-based books that didn’t feature Penn Cage.
- Greg Iles is one of my “go to” thriller writers, along with Nelson DeMille. Although he used to mix it up a bit more at the start of his writing career, lately he’s focused on Natchez and Penn Cage. I think I’ve read every book he’s written, and he is one of the few fiction writers that Mr. Jenners will read regularly. He comes out with a book every few years, and we always pick them up.
- I liked knowing that there will be another Penn Cage book on the horizon based on the ending of this book, which ends with a bit of a cliffhanger for Cage’s personal life.
5 Stars or less for your rating?
I’m giving the book 3.5 stars. Like I said, Iles writes a decent thriller, and if you’re in the market for a well-done, not too gruesome story with an author who has a decent backlog of books, Iles is the writer for you. This isn’t great literature by any means, but it is a great candy bar book to occupy the time when you’re between “heavier” books.
The Whys and Wheres: We bought the book (in hardcover) when it first came out last year.
To find out what other bloggers are saying about the book discussed in this post, visit the Book Blogs Search Engine.
And it seems that our Show Me 5 Saturday hostess is missing in action since November so I thought I’d include a Mr. Linky with my post in case you want to hook up your own contribution.
I hadn't thought of recommending Iles to Jason. I pick out his books for the car and I think I'll have to throw one of these in there!
I like this kind of book candy!
another author I have never heard of..
I like the southern settings but to tell ya the truth, I flee at anything containing a casino.
I like a good candy bar book now and then, and it's important to me that they not be too gruesome (if I wanted that all I'd have to do is turn on the tv and watch the variety of forensic shows available).
you give the best book review, and
as i have wondered about mr. iles,
i will run to buy his first in the
series.
when someone puts me onto a
good author, i am grateful for
life!
thanks!!!!
Geez, now spammers are signing up to Mr Linky??? I actually thought that was someone's name. Talk about brass ones!
The only Iles TBG and have read is Sleeping Women and we thought it was a riveting read. I did pick up a copy of The Footprints of God from the last book sale. It's one of his older ones. Glad you enjoyed it, you need a liberal dose of candy in your reading schedule.
I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who has to return unread library books from time to time (thanks, Cat).
Jenners, this is about as gruesome as I can get. I'm such a wimp – but it's good to know there's a go-to gruesome author out there for me, lol. Adding his name to my list. I'm also thinking my overworked, frustrated golfer (well, golfers are usually frustrated aren't they? But we have fresh snow on the ground when he just got his first round of the year on Thursday) hubby may enjoy this author.
Hey, there's nothing wrong with a candy bar book from time to time! Sometimes I need one!
I like Greg Iles but haven't read this one yet. I brought it home from the library a while back but ran out of time and it was returned unread. No doubt I'll get back to it at sometime.
Glad you enjoyed it!