Book Review Newer-42nd

Review—The Devil’s Punchbowl by Greg Iles

Greg Iles wrote the novel The Devil’s Punchbowl. Scribner Book Company published the book in July 2009; the novel has 580 pages.

            The South is a wonderful, charming, and welcoming place to live. Penn Cage grew up there and moved to Texas to pursue his career as a prosecutor. He then started writing best-selling novels, only to return to Natchez, Mississippi and become the mayor. His plan is to refine the educational system in what many still consider a backwater town. Casino boat gambling has come to Natchez. Tim Jessup is an old friend who has not fared as well as Penn in life’s expectations, but he comes to Penn with an extreme situation.

            Danger is the name of some of the illegal activities reported by Tim. Penn, being a man known to fight atrocities is also a single parent. As mayor, he begins quietly investigating, only to find physical threats and intimidation aimed at him and those he loves. In the middle of the search, his friend is found dead and an old love returns to town. Caitlin Masters, a renowned journalist, the past love, is reporting Tim’s death and finds herself in deeper jeopardy, physically and more emotionally than she has ever experienced in the past. Penn is forced to call on old friends from the past, those he knows he can trust to aid the cause of a friend who has been wronged in death. Through all of this, he comes face-to-face with deciding his future, politically and romantically, all the while balancing this investigation and probable retribution against the interest of a lawyer from Homeland security. The illegal activities of dog-fighting and prostitution that are uncovered may pale in comparison to international money laundering.

            Greg Iles has written many novels revolving around Penn Cage, though, this is my first. The characters are well developed with established relationships. There are many twists and turns in the story of this dark subject. Many violent scenes are graphic but realistic in regards to the world of dog-fighting and hopefully not so realistic in the world of casino boat hosts. The book starts out very slow, well into the half-way point, slow enough that I may or may not try another novel, but when it does pick up, it moves very fast and entertainingly so. I may go back for another.