Iles is off my reading list.

Greg Iles is from Natchez, Mississippi.
And since 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.

One of those guys who write books who started out strong, and didn't know when to stop.

quidrock