The Quiet Game (Penn Cage Novels, 1)

I accidentally read Natchez Burning first at the recommendation of a friend, who didn't mention it was actually book four in the Penn Cage series. Then I went back and started with book one, The Quiet Game, and it's very similar and just as good as Natchez Burning. They both center around Penn Cage, a lawyer, turned novelist, turned investigator, who takes up old civil rights cases for his personal cause. The next two books in the series vary from the historic/civil rights issues and deal with modern-day issues, but they are just as good. I'll review those later. The thing I love most (it's hard to pick) about Greg Iles and this series is the way he builds such highly complex characters. As a writer myself it makes me jealous, but it's very inspiring. You either totally love or totally hate the characters. And you only hate the characters you are supposed to hate.It's very hard to have so many characters in your story and keep them all so balanced and complex, but Greg Iles pulls this off as if it is no effort at all. The other thing I love most is his vivid descriptions of the settings. I've never been to Mississippi, but I feel like I have. Specifically Nathez. I can close my eyes and picture every single scene he creates. That, too, is very hard to do. Take my word for it. After reading this series, I'm going to make a more concerted effort to describe my settings as he does. As for the storyline, I hate it when people summarize the story on these reviews. What I look for in a review is whether or not the book/author is any good. Which is what I'm hoping to convey here. But I will tell you that in a nutshell, Penn Cage resurrects an old civil rights era murder and investigates it despite the mounting obstacles by the locals and small-town politicians. Of course, Iles is also good at creating several intriguing sub-plots (another difficult task for writers) that add to the story instead of distract from it. It's not a legal thriller at all, as some might think when they hear that the MC is a lawyer. Yes, there's a lot of dead-on legal knowledge included which he nails (I'm a paralegal...I know), but it's a far cry from John Grisham's quickly churned-out run-of-the-mill legal thrillers. This book almost leans toward literary in its style. Each book in the series could easily wind up being considered a "classic" one day in the future. His writing style is different, but in a way, Iles reminds me of John Steinbeck in his storytelling abilities. All in all, you will be very satisfied when you pick up this book and realize you don't want to put it down. I read it in a week or less even though it's a bit thick. There were several nights where I stayed up because I couldn't stop reading. That, to me, is the litmus test for a great book, and Iles passes with flying colors. Until I discovered Greg Iles, Stephen King was my writing idol. But I now believe King has met his match. The Quiet Game is an easy to read, but very complex, novel. Do yourself a favor and buy the entire series, because the minute you put down The Quiet Game, you'll want to immediately pick up The Turning Angel, then The Devil's Punchbowl, and on and on....

Luxury cars, gorgeous women, a power trip between men, and a sweltering hot southern October gives Iles' readers yet another intense page turner full of twists and turns. He makes other thriller writers seem like amateurs by the way he is able to create such solid plots and deep characters, while creating a universe that you feel like you are a part of. Somehow Iles can create a story that feels like truth by weaving historical facts with action packed adventure. It is in this story that Penn and Caitlin meet for the first time (I had read The Devil's Punch Bowl and Turning Angel prior to this) and we are able to see Penn as a recent widower. When he brings his daughter back to Natchez to regain some peace in their lives, he is instantly swept up in hot blooded warfare and bringing back a civil rights cold case from the 60s. As always, Iles goes a bit over the top (bullets are always flying, homes burning, criminals lurking at every corner), but face it -- this is what we love. It is simply amazing that so much can happy in the little city of Natchez, Mississippi. As a female reader, I wanted to reach into the book and hit Penn over the head when it comes to his decisions regarding women in this particular novel, but you can't help but be on his side even when he is breaking the law by burying evidence or making back alley deals with murderers. Why? Because he is ultimately one of the "good guys" and everything he is fighting for revolves around justice, family, and community. Another job well done by this incredible writer.

This is my first Greg Iles’ book. It did not disappoint. Plenty of action, great plot, believable characters. It’s an easy and fun summer read!

This was my first book of Greg Iles. I loved almost every page from the very beginning. I'll say more about my choice of word "almost" later in my review. The main character, Penn Cage, was a likeable protagonist, down to earth, sympathetic and morally admirable. The reader is drawn to him from the start of the book when we learned that he is deeply grieving from the loss of his wife to cancer. He realizes the potential for failing to comfort his daughter who looks for her mother in the women that Penn encounters. Not far into the story line, Penn decides to move back to his childhood home in Natchez. His parents become interesting additions to the story line. His father Tom Page is the local doctor and his mother is a caring grandmother. It is in this idyllic homecoming that all begins to fall apart in Penn's life. He is asked by the mother and widow of a 30 year old murder victim to solve the murder. He is reluctant to get involved until he realizes the shoddy investigation of the crime and the possible connection the murder has to do with Penn's long time nemesis Judge Marston. The book rockets off into mysterious directions. His life is threatened, as well as the lives of his parents and young daughter. His childhood sweetheart and the daughter of Judge Marston suddenly pull him into conflicting situations and feelings. We're introduced to many interesting characters including the ghost of J. Edgar Hoover who may have been involved in the cover up of the 30 year old murder. I found myself wanting to spend more time each day in the pursuit of reading this book. I was distracted by the possibility that Penn was being seduced into reigniting his affair with his childhood sweetheart. I didn't like her and I didn't want Penn to like her either. These were my "almost" pages. I worried about Penn's moral compass which fortunately was never really compromised. The book ended satisfactorily with a few unexpected twists and turns. I knew from the onset that I had found a reliable mystery writer which is always a great treasure for me. I am now reading my second book by Greg Iles.

Delighted to have read this book and be introduced to the character of Penn Cage by this wonderful author I didn't know before. As a constant reader, it is always a delight when you find a new author you didn't know but wished you had known them far earlier. If you like stories that use historical facts, where the writer merges facts with fiction, you will enjoy this book. If you love a good crime-solving story, you will love this book. If you love it when a writer takes time to make sure there is good character development you will not be put off by the amount of pages this book has. If you love it when a writer is skilled enough to explain in detail the surroundings and the atmosphere in which the story is taking place, so good with the details that you can literally see it in your mind, you will love this book. There were a few quotes that to me were worth sharing, just little things that can touch you. The suspense of what is going on, who committed the crime, why it was committed and all the other action and suspense was gripping. I had a hard time putting the book down since you just want to understand what's going on, I even had tears at the end it was so good. If you don't like crime novels where law and justice etc. dashed with some conspiracy theory are the main themes of a book you probably won't like it.

Some seven months after his wife's death, best-selling author and former prosecuting attorney Penn Cage returns with his four-year-old daughter to his home town of Natchez, Mississippi. He manages almost at once to stir up long-moldering racial tensions in the small town with a chance remark he makes to an ambitious and unusually persuasive journalist, the braless insubstantially shirted Caitlin Masters. Penn soon finds himself investigating the thirty-year-old murder he had mouthed off about, but many people--among them the director of the FBI and Natchez's most fearsome resident, the corrupt Judge Leo Marston--would prefer that the 1968 car bombing of black factory worker Del Payton remain unsolved. The plot of Greg Iles's The Quiet Game is complex, and its principal characters are three dimensional, but the book did not pack the emotional wallop I expected of it after reading Iles's 24 Hours. It may be that the story is slowed down by unnecessary detail. For example, describing Penn's arrival at the site of the murder, the parking lot of a battery plant, Iles launches into a history of the factory: "The dark skeleton of the Triton Battery plant materializes to our right as Ike turns onto Gate Street, then right again into a parking lot lighted by the pink glow of mercury vapor. The Triton Battery Company came to Natchez in 1936 to build batteries for Pullman rail cars. In 1940 they retooled the line to manufacture batteries for diesel submarines. After the war it was truck batteries, marine batteries, whatever fit the changing market. The last I heard, Triton was using its ancient equipment to produce motorcycle batteries for European manufacturers." But while slower than it might be and longer than it perhaps should be, The Quiet Game remains a decent read. Fans of courtroom dramas in particular will enjoy the book's denouement. Reviewed by Debra Hamel, author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece

This was the first Greg Iles book I ever read, and it wasn't the last. When I started reading it, I was almost instantly caught up in the characters and the story. His settings and themes are similar to John Grisham's books, but, although I like Grisham and have read many of his books, Iles is a much better writer. In fact, I would go so far as to say that he is one of the best writers I've ever read. His writing is poetry, his story is the work of an artist. I cannot recommend this book enough. Not all of his books have taken me in this way. Some of them are too uncomfortable, too graphic, and I steered clear of his books for a time because of that. But I have recommended this book over and over without reservation. I'm reading it now for the second time, and aloud for a friend. It's a great read-aloud book. He has recently put out a trilogy (the third book is due out in March of this year), that features the same characters as The Quiet Game, and is just as good as this one, though there are some descriptions of things done to blacks in the south that are pretty horrific. I still highly recommend this trilogy. I have read several stories that were written in the present tense, and there has always been a sense of disconnect that kept me from engaging in the story because of that. Iles does this very effectively and makes it work. Who are the great writers in my opinion? George R. R. Martin (The Game of Thrones), J. R. R. Tolkien (The Hobbit), Frank Herbert (Dune), among others. And, of course, Greg Iles. Read it. You won't be disappointed.

STORY BRIEF: This is the first book in the Penn Cage series. Penn was a prosecuting attorney in Houston. He is 38 and has written three bestselling thrillers based on cases he's seen. His wife died of cancer seven months ago. Still grieving, he and his four-year-old daughter Annie move in with his parents in Natchez, Mississippi. Being with his parents will help both Penn and Annie. Years ago Penn's father Tom crossed paths with the wrong person causing something bad to happen. That person is now blackmailing Tom. Leo Marston is wealthy and a former DA. For an unknown reason many years ago, Marston prosecuted Tom with a vengeance on a medical malpractice suit. It caused a heart attack for Tom, but he survived. He was found not guilty. Thirty years ago a black man Del Payton was killed in a car bomb. The FBI solved the case but covered it up. No one was prosecuted. Someone tells Penn that Marston was involved. Penn wants revenge for what Marston did to his dad so he starts investigating. Penn receives death threats. In high school Penn was in love with Livy, Marston's daughter. A mystery caused their breakup. They each married others. She is now going through a divorce and returns to Natchez for a while. Penn is haunted by his emotional connection to her. He can't stop his feelings for her, and he has trouble staying away from her. REVIEWER'S OPINION: This is a complicated, in-depth plot with several subplots. Subjects include race relations and corrupt politicians. It has good plot development. But it's missing the rich fascinating character development that I find in John Grisham books. In this book I cared about the good guys. By the end I had some strong distaste for other characters. It's above average and interesting. But I didn't get emotionally excited about the characters. I want to be so pulled in that I don't want to stop reading. That didn't have this. It was easy to put down. There were a few good action scenes. There were some interesting phrases I liked. For example page 21 "Natchez exists in a ripple of time that somehow eludes the homogenizing influences of the present." Page 148 "In the great train of cases that crossed my desk as a prosecutor..." DATA: Story length: 576 pages. Swearing language: strong, including religious swear words. Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: 3. Total number of sex scene pages: 4. Setting: 1998 mostly Natchez, Mississippi, with some Florida, Texas, and Colorado. Copyright: 1999. Genre: mystery suspense. Ending: Successful for the main good guys. Reasonably satisfying, but there are some losses and regrets.

It was my first experience with Greg Iles and it was a good one. The story is very exciting and one can hardly put the book down. I have just wondered whether the negative impressions given about the FBI during the time of Edgar Hoover and the resulting political implications were real. Obviously they were. Illegal FBI activities during his time seem to be a fact as well as the secret files kept by him, although it remains somewhat unclear whether they were intended for his own protection or for political blackmail. Two Presidents would have liked to fire Hoover but did not dare to so. I highly recommend the book.

Good book, one of my favourite authors.

"The Quiet Game" de Greg Iles est un thriller exceptionnel qui vous tiendra en haleine du début à la fin. Ce roman marque la première aventure de Penn Cage, un ancien procureur devenu écrivain, qui retourne dans sa ville natale pour découvrir des secrets enfouis et affronter un passé troublant. L'intrigue est captivante, mêlant mystère, suspense et révélations surprenantes. Les personnages sont bien développés, et l'ambiance du Sud des États-Unis est rendue avec une grande authenticité. L'écriture fluide et immersive d'Iles rend ce roman difficile à lâcher. Un must pour les amateurs de thrillers

This is the first book of the author which i have read and i have thoroughly enjoyed this work of the writer and he had made me his fan. The plot of the book is good and so are his characters and the pace never slow down from the start to the last.

I thought this was a good book, intriguing plot, fascinating context (the Mississippi of the 60's and of today), characters moved by strong human passions, twists and turns until the very last page. Only remark carrying a question mark for me is the hero of this story, counsellor and writer Penn Cage, almost too perfect in every aspect to be human...nonetheless acceptable in the context of a fiction story.