The Devil's Punchbowl: A Novel
by Greg Iles
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Book Reviews of The Devil's Punchbowl: A Novel
Book Review: Not his best Natchez thriller -- but still one of Iles's better books
Summary: 4 Stars
Greg Iles is a very uneven author, delivering gripping thrillers like The Quiet Game and Black Cross, only to follow them with very forgettable books, such as 24 Hours. In this latest offering, he takes his readers back to Natchez, Mississippi, and the life of Penn Cage, hero of two of the best of those previous books (The Quiet Game and Turning Angel). Cage, now the mayor of Natchez, has found it hard to realize his dream of reviving his hometown. He can't seem to fix the school system, and he's had to invite riverboat casino companies like Golden Parachute to town in order to keep the city's economy afloat.
Then one day a childhood friend and a bit of a lost soul, Tim Jessup, asks to meet privately with Cage. Tim, who's now working on one of the riverboat casinos, has uncovered a host of illegal and violent activities, and wants to get enough information to Penn to stop them. His efforts to do so leave Penn caught in another race to solve a series of puzzles in order to save his own life and those of his family and closest friends.
There's not a lot of subtlety in this book, compared to the previous books featuring Penn Cage. But there's oodles of atmosphere -- prior to reading Iles's books, I had never dreamed of visiting Mississippi, but now I want to go! -- and the pace is relentless. I miss the slower pace of some of the earlier novels, which allows for more exploration of character and setting -- at both of which Iles is excellent -- and the 'race against the clock' element in the plot didn't add anything. Iles can generate a heck of a lot of suspenseful situations for his characters without such artificial devices. Still, the contrast between Penn's city -- celebrating the balloon festival, with happy families eating barbecue feasts in the park, even as a sleepless Penn is struggling to figure out how to stop the evildoers -- is compelling.
From early on, it's clear who the chief villains are, and who the white hats are -- Penn assembles a blue-chip team of allies, including a contractor from Blackwater and a former Texas Ranger. The only real mystery is how Penn will extricate himself and those he loves from this fresh set of perils, and at what cost. That makes for a lively read, but not one that keeps you on the lookout for the next giant twist. Moreover, there is a lot of explicit violence in this book, more so than in many thrillers I've read (except possibly Val McDermid's serial killer books). In many cases it's there to keep the plot momentum going, but while it's in character for the 'bad guys' (whom Jessup and his friends describe as demons in human form), the violence level was over the top for me. (And I enjoy McDermid's books...) I look forward to reading the next Greg Iles, but hopefully it will be one where the violence and real character-driven suspense are more in balance.
Recommended with the caveats above, but anyone who hasn't read the two previous novels featuring Penn Cage may find themselves at a bit of a loss. The plot itself is self-contained, but Iles wastes little time filling readers in on their history. There are references to the events in The Quiet Game, for instance, that simply won't make sense. I suggest starting with those two (better) books, and moving on to this one only if you found yourself fascinated by both Natchez and the rest of Penn Cage's world.
I've rated this 3.5 stars, marked down because of the reliance on violence and the rapid pace for suspense, instead of on plot twists.
Book Review: Violence in abundance--but overall, another great story from Greg Iles
Summary: 4 Stars
I've been an avid Greg Iles fan since I picked up his first novel (which I HIGHLY recommend), Spandau Phoenix. I have since picked up EVERYTHING since. His second, Black Cross was JUST as good. Since then he has strayed away from Historical Fiction which he does SO well, and yet I have hardly had reason to complain. Mortal Fear was NOT my cup o tea specifically due to the sexual content which made me feel quite uncomfortable...but otherwise not bad...
...then I read The Quiet Game. Hands down it remains my all-time favorite legal thriller novel. The combination of racial violence mixed with just the right amount of action, legalese and an absolutely perfect setting in Mississippi made for one amazing tale. The sequel (Turning Angel), while good--wasn't quite as all-out captivating or compelling. I have yet to read a BAD book from Greg Iles. Not once. What I find incredibly entertaining about his writing is just how amazingly versatile his stories seem to be. From supernatural to techno-thriller, historical fiction and even the legal arena--this guy does it ALL.
But how 'bout The Devil's Punchbowl? Once again, let me stress that Greg Iles' talent for writing is all but impossible to refute...does each and every single topic he writes about resonate with me personally? No. Have I enjoyed them all (for the most part) anyway? Yes. The character of Penn Cage is easily my favorite in the field of legal thrillers (and I've read them all...John Grisham, Scott Turrow, Richard North Patterson, Steve Martini, Phillip Margolin etc). I must also add that while I am simply NOT a fan of writing in First Person, Greg Iles does it pretty much better than most anybody.
The Southern town of Natchez, Mississippi has a VERY sordid past--at least if Mr. Iles has portrayed it accurately in his previous novels--and while it may be a great place to live today, based on what I've read, I must say that I would probably consider a detour if any vacation I happen to go on takes me anywhere near that place. On the other hand, Natchez certainly has all the makings of a town where drama makes for VERY exciting reading.
Poor Penn Cage. A former celebrated author whose wife dies (back in The Quiet Game) and upon coming back home to care for his daughter, ends up deciding to stay. By this 3rd novel, he is the Mayor and sets out to bring the town into order in a way that will do his heritage proud. His noble intentions notwithstanding, become a bit of a hindrance when he becomes (once again) embroiled quite literally in the middle of another potential scandal...one that could very well end with catastrophic results for either his family, daughter or possibly even for him specifically. Like in previous Iles' novels, the violence can be rather extreme, and as I have read here, some find it quite objectionable...especially when directed towards women. I won't tell you HOW to absorb this kind of writing other than to say this: if you are sensitive to it, consider VERY carefully before reading this. I'll let you make any final decision regarding anything more detailed than that for yourself.
I'd have to say that after all is said and done I very much enjoyed The Devil's Punchbowl--as I just KNEW I would...with that said, I would like to add that I enjoyed it less than Turning Angel--making this one my least favorite Penn Cage story overall. Opinions are SO varied that some may like this one best, I cannot speak on anyone elses behalf, so read as many reviews as you can before making up your mind, but for MY $$, Penn Cage is STILL a great character and if Mr. Iles brings him back, you can BET I'll be buying it sight unseen.
Book Review: Isles Strikes Out in Punchbowl
Summary: 1 Stars
Greg Isles has been one of the better thriller writers. His tightly woven plots, plausible storylines, true characters and realistic dialogues put him ahead of so many others. But here he not only failed, but failed miserably. This plot is incohesive. Significant importance is placed on missing, hidden, encrypted data, but none of this stuff ever sees the light of day and only serves to confound and confuse. Much of the dialogue is trite and not always spoken true to character. Out-of-character behavior flaws one of the story's heroes. The plot is pieced together by a number of overly contrived, suddenly coincidental and inexplicable occurrences, most of which are beyond belief. We see almost sudden conversions by persons on one side moving to the other that are so effortless they defy true human behavior. Many of the factual happenings are never followed up or explained, because they can't be. A medical examiner gets hold of important physical evidence from the D.A.'s office? How? Magically I guess. A woman's hands are tightly bound with rope (as we are told at least 3 times), then she jumps into the Mississippi from a small boat and miraculously survives without any explanation or even a hint as to how her hands become untied. The same woman is then recaptured. After previously exhibiting her determination to survive, she assists her captives to cause her final exit from the book by tightly re-binding her own hands with her panties. So the rope miraculously disappears only to have the panties miraculously appear and replace them as she suddenly and inexplicably loses her will to live. How does one tightly selfbind one's own hands? How did this character so suddenly lose her will to live? We are told that certain dogs are so vicious they not only maul people to death but actually devour the victims' entire bodies? A character is attacked by a group of these dogs and is not rescued. Hours or days later (it is hard to tell which) the remains of this dog attack victim are cremated. What remains??? The character was devoured!!!! Where did the remains come from? I could go on and on, but you really have to read this nonsense yourself to believe just how bad it really is. This is the work of a junior high school student attempting to write his/her first story. Isle's other Penn Cage novels (yes! I have read them all) are not nearly as good as his other books. Writing in the first person with the protagonist as both narrator and hero softens all of the book's thrilling moments. We know nothing can happen to the narrator, or else the book would never have been finished. I cannot understand the use of first person narrative in this genre. It is an inherent flaw in almost all thrillers. Lastly, the book ends with the onset of another life/death situation befalling a main character that will, according to the author's notes, be taken up in next year's Penn Cage novel, a book I will spare myself from ever reading. Sorry Greg, I am not taking the bait in a ploy reminiscent of one of espionage writer Vince Flynn's efforts to get his readers to buy a sequel. I no longer read Vince Flynn and now Isles has lost at least one former fan with this garbage.Book Review: What Would You Do If Caught in the Jaws of the Devil?
Summary: 4 Stars
"When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time." -- Luke 4:13 (NAS)
Many thrillers attempt to engage you by causing you to empathize with the hero or heroine who is being threatened with some horrible fate. The Devil's Punchbowl takes this technique to an extreme by successfully providing lots of good reasons to feel threatened if you empathize with any of a dozen characters in the book, each of whom is pushed to the edge of what anyone can expect to stand. Greg Iles takes that technique one step further by repeatedly providing hope of escape . . . before utterly wiping out the opportunity.
Before going further, let me caution you that this book contains more scenes involving disgusting forms of inhumanity to man and animals than I can remember among novels I've read in recent years. If one awful crime doesn't leave you feeling horrible, another one will. This book definitely disturbed my sleep . . . and it may do the same for you.
The story involves Penn Cage, who has appeared in two earlier novels, The Quiet Game and Turning Angel. In The Devil's Punchbowl, Cage is halfway through his first term as mayor of Natchez. He gave up being a novelist in hopes of reforming his old hometown through bringing white students back into the public schools. That hope hasn't been realized, and the major change he's brought about is aiding legalized gambling on riverboats. An old school friend, Tim Jessup, approaches Cage with the bad news that the riverboats have brought more than a new source of jobs and taxes . . . they've brought corruption of the worst kinds involving blood "sports" and prostitution involving underage girls. Tim promises to deliver the goods to nail the criminals, and Cage has to decide how to handle it all. Before long, the story takes an unexpectedly personal twist when Cage and his family become subject to threats and violence that would chill the blood of anyone.
Unlike many people, Cage isn't one to run . . . even though he's tempted. Before long, he begins to assemble a team of devoted, trustworthy people to help him. But the bad guys have some powerful allies, too. It's nip and tuck throughout.
The subtext of the book is questioning how "civilized" people should deal with those who are totally corrupt and dangerous . . . when the authorities are corrupt or unable to help. What is the right of self-defense in such a situation? Whether you agree with the answer of not, the book will certainly cause you to look deeply within yourself to imagine what you would do in the same situation. That's one of the book's great strengths.
The book's main weaknesses are two-fold:
1. The violence and evil-doing are truly disgusting. I felt like I needed to take a shower every time I read a few pages to get the moral filth off me.
2. The plot adds a lot of twists and turns to make you feel helpless against these evil-doers. I thought that much of this plotting was unnecessary and just stretched out the book. I prefer a more compact and direct plot.
Book Review: No Animals Were Harmed in the Making of this Novel
Summary: 3 Stars
I enjoyed this novel. However...
The heroes were too superheroic. When they gathered, it was not so much the Seven Samurai as it was the X-Men.
The bad guys were too unabashedly villainous. Black hats, black hearts, not much character complexity.
Violence and sadistic sex were too prevalent and too salacious.
The story is about second tier, legalized casino gambling on the Mississippi. Easy money attracts the scum of the earth, camouflaged within regulatory loop holes, bringing with them purveyors of money laundering, prostitution, and other illegal activities: most notably, in this story, dog fighting. Their power in a small community looking to slow its economic decline is absolutely corrupting. At the casino, the house always wins. The devotees are always in debt. And when that happens, the house owns you and it is just a matter of time before the master calls on you to pay up, never on the square.
Penn Cage, the town's idealistic mayor, is frustrated. He sought elective office to help rebuild and remake the town where he grew up. But politics keeps getting in the way of progress, and he's looking longingly toward the end of his term. He's also looking longingly at media mogulette Caitlin Masters, the one who got away. She still owns the house across the street from his, and she still drops into town from time to time to oversee her interests in the local newspaper. But she's moved on. Or has she?
Against this backdrop, a childhood friend whose path through life has hit the skids seeks out Penn's help - to save the town from corruption. It seems the floating pleasure palace is a façade for unspeakably nefarious activities, and he has the goods on the evil doers. If only he can smuggle the evidence off the boat, things could be put right and he could earn redemption from a tragedy he caused long-ago. But the simple course is fraught with peril. Deaths occur, threats are made, vengeance is sought, and Penn is faced with a moral dilemma: save the town, or save those he loves?
A lot of storytelling capital is spent tying the activities in this sleepy Southern town to globalized crime syndicates. I'm not sure that's necessary, and I'm not sure it rings true. Purely local bad guys probably would have sufficed and fit better within the texture of the story. Exotic war dogs also stretch credulity. Michael Vick has raised the profile of this sinister, illegal blood sport to the point where upping the dramatic ante really isn't required.
As probably is apparent, I liked this story less than the two Penn Cage novels that preceded it: The Quiet Game and Turning Angel. Those, I think, were masterworks. The Devil's Punchbowl is well-conceived, but with some shortcomings in execution. Iles has promised another Penn Cage novel soon to follow. Let's hope it doesn't just tie up loose ends, but elevates the standard in a way that this book failed to accomplish.