Riverboat, gambling; dog fighting.
Penn Cage #3 ( )

Greg Iles returns to his old stomping ground of Natchez Mississippi and its faithful mayor/lawyer/novelist Penn Cage in his latest thriller. We also see, if only peripherally, characters who have played roles in his other works: Tom Cage, Daniel Kelly, Chris Sheppard, Carl Sims and Danny McDavitt. This time Penn, on the verge of resigning his position as mayor due to his disappointment over his lack of accomplishment, reconnects with a childhood friend. His friend Tim, after experiencing the usual literary horrors of drug abuse, has reclaimed his life and currently serves as a card dealer on one of the riverboat casinos that Penn has been instrumental in bringing to the city.

But Tim doesn't have good news. There's money laundering, dog fighting, and forced sexual molestation happening on the boat. Tim understands the danger of knowing and telling Penn of the events, but feels he must do so. Before Penn can obtain all of the information he needs, Tim is kidnapped, tortured and finally killed by the runners of the illegal operations. Penn himself is forced to comply with the bad guys' demands, lest his family be hurt. What follows is the story of how they stop the evil from continuing.

Graphically disturbing, this novel is not for the faint of heart (or stomach!). Protracted scenes of vicious dogfighting, rape, and torture make it difficult at times to persevere through, though Iles still writes deftly. Penn is a decent but flawed character - it's easy for him to question his ideals when those he loves are in danger. Indeed, this is a hallmark of this tale; in the earlier chapters, Penn's former girlfriend argues vigorously against vigilante justice, insisting the perpetrators be brought to justice through the legal system. After she's been through an ordeal herself, she is given the opportunity to choose vigilante justice herself, and Iles does a remarkable job of showing her struggle.

As an audiobook, this is an amazing work. The reader, Dick Hill, is a magnificent reader. I have lived in the south all of my life, and take lots of teasing about my accent, but it honestly took me a little while to even understand Mr. Hill, he was that good. His inflection and entire reading were spot on. ( )

Another story set in Natchez featurning Penn Cage. This time he, as mayor, must do battle agains't corrupt gamblers and Asian connections to save his city.

This book had a bit too much detailed info on dog fighting for my taste, but was a good read otherwise. ( )

This is a book about dogfighting & the other blood sports that surround it. You know the ones - drugs, human trafficking - the list goes on & on.

When Michael Vick was convicted for dogfighting & sent to prison for 23 months, many people wanted to minimize the offense. Some argued that God has given us dominion over animals so Vick's actions were inconsequential. People that are involved in dogfighting don't just pit their dogs against one another to fight to the death for a ravenous crowd exploiting the love of human beings that has been bred into these most domesticated of species. They also torture & kill these dogs for poor performance, including electrocuting them, starving them to death, or just beating them to death. They use bait animals, obtained from shelters or stolen from people's yards, to test a dog's fighting instinct. The list of cruel behaviors also goes on & on. It's very hard for me to believe that a loving God would support the overtly cruel treatment of animals.

Penn Cage, a recurring character in Greg Iles' novels, returns - this time as Mayor of Natchez, MS. A childhood friend who works on one of the casino boats brings him pictures that show dogfighting & various kinds of sexual cruelty to underaged girls - acts that are being facilitated & sponsored by the casino. This novel is the story of Mr. Cage & his friends & allies trying to stop these actions from continuing to poison their town.

Unlike his other thrillers, Greg Iles casts a wide net here - much of the action is global & plays out on a national security stage. I think his books are better when they deal with more local events & players, but this is a good thriller. Penn Cage can be a self-righteous martyr, but as this novel progresses those tendencies become minimized in the face of the utter depravity that our heroes (& heroines) are up against.

This book is filled with graphic violence - against animals, against women, against men - these are equal opportunity offenders. If you are squeamish about this sort of thing, this may not be the book for you. The violence is not gratuitous or entertaining. It is integral to the plot that Mr. Iles has built & it moves the story along. It also gave me a lot to think about with regard to bloodsport & its place in our culture.

A good well-written page-turner, although somewhat less successful than some of Iles' other books. As an argument for how awful the reality of dogfighting is, however, this scores a 15 on a 1 to 10 scale. That may or may not be what you want from a thriller, but I'm glad I read it. ( )

Iles never fails to provide a great read.......in this novel we return again to Natchez, Mississippi and lead character Penn Gage. This fast paced suspense novel takes on river boat gambling and dog fighting. Penn must decide between trusting the courts to punish the guilty and stopping the bad guys permanently - with whatever means necessary. Not any easy choice considering the atrocities committed. Non stop action makes this a tough one to put down. ( )