Review by Booklist Review
The latest Penn Cage novel is set a decade and a half after the events of Iles' spectacular Natchez Burning trilogy. Cage, the attorney, author, and former mayor of Natchez, is feeling at odds with himself. Virtually everyone he has ever loved is gone; he is alone and withdrawn from the world. When the neighboring cities of Natchez and Bienville are rocked by a mass shooting (white cops, Black victims) and the deliberate destruction of pre-Civil War homes, Cage is forced to put his personal struggles aside. This astonishingly good novel is very much a product of its time, a story of violence and racial unrest in the aftermath of the Trump presidency in which one of the central characters, Robert E. Lee White, a war hero running as an independent for the nation's highest office, seizes on the country's post-Trump disarray as a way to catapult himself into the White House. Reluctantly, Cage finds himself doing what he'd swore he'd never again do: step into the line of fire and shine a light into the darkness. Politically charged and written in rich, visually evocative prose, this is Iles at his reader-thrilling best. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Iles is a powerhouse and gains more readers with each book.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A contentious 2024 presidential election anchors the epic latest entry in Iles's Penn Cage series (after Mississippi Blood). Former attorney Penn--now the mayor of Natchez, Miss.--is tending to his dying mother even as he fights his own battle with cancer. After deputies respond to a shooting at a hip-hop festival on the grounds of a former Mississippi plantation by raining bullets on the crowd, a Black liberation group takes credit for arsons at antebellum mansions across the South. Ultra-conservative radio host Robert E. Lee White capitalizes on these events as he launches his presidential campaign on a third-party ticket, promising he alone will bring order. Funded by dark money and popular on TikTok, White ignites Penn's suspicions from the get-go. As his candidacy gains steam and he risks provoking the country into a full-blown race war, Penn enlists his daughter, Annie, to help him dig up and expose the rot beneath White's campaign. Early on, Penn muses that "in the south, mysteries that date back 150 years retain the power to wreck families and destroy fortunes," and that sense of haunted history permeates the novel. Certain plot strands wear out their welcome across the novel's sprawling length, but in the end, Iles delivers an insghtiful, ambitious, and satisfying saga. This is a high water mark in a strong series. Agent: Dan Conaway, Writers House. (May)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
The country is on fire in this expansive political thriller. Iles fans will recognize the character of Penn Cage from several of the author's previous novels, including his acclaimed Natchez Burning trilogy. The prosecutor turned author turned mayor of Natchez, Mississippi, returns in this novel, and he's not doing well. His mother is in poor health, having suffered a series of strokes while undergoing cancer treatment, and he himself is suffering from myeloma that he fears might kill him soon: "I must follow her sooner than she knew, and by the same route, the same dread affliction." Unfortunately, he doesn't have time to rest: He's in attendance at a hip-hop concert being held at a former cotton plantation when gunfire erupts. His daughter, Annie, is injured in the shooting; one of Penn's acquaintances, Robert E. Lee "Bobby" White, helps treat her wounds. Bobby, a disabled veteran and radio show host, also happens to be readying for a third-party run for president, but has a secret that he'll do anything to keep hidden. All this happens as a series of arsons plagues the South, and America is plunged into heightened racial strife--which Bobby hopes to exploit to get to the White House. Penn, however, is determined not to let that happen. There's a lot going on in Iles' novel, but he manages to weave the many threads beautifully; nothing gets lost in the shuffle. This is a genuinely terrifying book because of its plausibility--Iles perfectly captures the tinderbox that America is in the post-Trump era. (As Penn ruefully reflects, "I watched in disbelief as businessmen voted for a repeat bankrupt…women for an admitted sexual assaulter, patriots for a draft dodger who would sell his country's secrets for trivial gain, educated men for an ignoramus.") This is a perfectly done political thriller with genuine resonance. Astonishing. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
