How I rated this book.All books start with 5-stars then have stars or partial stars deducted. 1. This book was not jaw-droppingly amazing in the way The Remains of the Day or Things Fall Apart were. Neither was it brilliant, ground-breaking, and thought provoking like pretty much anything by Jonathan Coe or by Denis Johnson is. Deduct one star for non-brilliance. Rating now at 4-stars.2. First person. I am not particularly in love with first person. There are times when it works and times when it doesn't. In this case, it's a draw. Deduct no stars or partial stars for first person, but keep in mind when rounding.3. Present tense. I abhor present tense. The only reason for it is in the case of an unreliable narrator as in Fight Club. In this case, the present tense became so annoying and so completely unnecessary that I was forced to skim the verbs so that I could pretend it was in past tense. Did this change the tone or impact of the book? Not one bit. Deduct 1/4 star for unnecessary present tense. Rating now at 3.75 stars.4. Were the characters, the plot, and the action believable? This lawyer is on the scene and involved in several murders, yet never reports them. He is shot at, beat up, threatened, and knocked silly yet he still keeps a tickin'. The characters aren't badly drawn, but they are cliché: The old flame, the new girl friend, the perky little girl, the rich and powerful bad guy. The list goes on and on and on. And the twists! Gracious the twists! I lost count of how many there were. A few twists well done add spice and interest to a crime novel. This many turns it into drudgery. Deduct 1/2 star for unbelievability.Rating now 3.25 stars.5. How does the book rate with its genre contemporaries?Iles has to compete with the contemporary crime writers such as Michael Connelly(his earlier work), Jo Nesbo, etc. He tries, but from the beginning of the book, it's obvious that he is playing way above his league. Deduct 1/4 a star for missing the bar.Rating now at 3 stars. 6. Did I learn anything about the setting, the main character's occupation, or human behavior from this book.Paul Doiron has taught me more than I ever wanted to know about what it means to work in the backwoods of Maine.Jasper Fforde has opened my eyes to the world inside books. Tony Hillerman has taught me about the Navajo people. It is important that writers entertain as well as open your mind to new places, people, thoughts, and experiences. I'm certain that Iles felt he was explaining the culture and people of Mississippi while writing. Unfortunately, he failed and failed miserably. Coming away from the book, I felt that not only did I still not understand modern Mississippi's problems stemming from the Civil Rights Era, I felt that I was being handed a line. When the writer spoke through the main character's thoughts, rather than hearing the explanations and justification that I'm sure the writer intended, I just kept hearing same old tired cop-out: "But don't you see? Some of my best friends are black."Deduct 1/2 star for failing to open a new perspective on an old or unknown topic.Rating now at 2.5 stars.7. Rounding. Because Goodreads doesn't allow partial star values, and because of the first person irritant, I'm rounding down 1/2 a star. Final rating: 2 stars
Lemme tell you a story.I'm perusing the stacks at my local Books-a-Million (hitherto referred to as BAM), when I come across an absolutely gorgeous hardcover by a guy named Greg Iles. That novel was Natchez Burning, and if you're ever at BAM or any other brick-and-mortar bookseller, check it out. Shoot, maybe you own this marvel of modern publishing. I wanna have babies with that hardcover. Papercuts on my dinglehopper be damned! Anyfuck, I'm wiping drool from my mouth as I pull out my phone and bring up my Goodreads app. Fuck my couch and call me Naugahyde, Natchez Burning is the FOURTH goddamn book in a series starring author/lawyer Penn Cage. What's a book junkie to do? Start the series at the beginning, that's what.Horribly tragic side note: The Bone Tree (Penn Cage #5) just came out and it's just as fucking sexy as it's predecessor. My lights are gonna get cut off, people, but at least I'mma have some pretty books to read by candlelight.Back on track. After ogling Natchez Burning, I traipsed over to my second favorite stomping grounds (Trade N Books in Montgomery, AL) to find the first three Penn Cage books because BAM didn't have any of the earlier novels. Bad BAM! Shame on you! Luckily, my used bookseller had the first and the third books in the series. I bought them posthaste. This was two weeks ago. I went back today, after having finished the first novel last night, and they had the second book. Series acquired. Let the Greg Iles marathon begin!The Quiet Game is one of those novels that defies categorization. It is equal parts action, suspense, courtroom drama, and literary novel. There's even a bit of horror toward the end. (The last meeting with Ike Ransom was intense and disturbing. Two words: Bone fragments). And the final court case damn near gave me an anxiety attack. I know absolutely dick about lawyer-type shenanigans, but I understood everything in this book. Iles does a fantastic job of dropping knowledge on your ass without making it feel as if you're taking a law course at a community college. In other words, this novel is never boring. It grips you from the first page and hooks you through the bag until the end. I read the final 200 pages in a day. Couldn't put the book down. Iles ends every chapter in such a way that you feel the pressing urgency to continue on. And when you do put the book down you feel as if you've lost a friend. In summation: I could go on and on about the terrific twists and the brutality and the tragedy and the stellar dialogue but I won't. I will tell you to read it and find out for yourself. Now would you kindly fuck off so I can start the next book in the series. Peace!Final Judgment: You'll break the bank searching for the rest of this guy's books.
What do You think about The Quiet Game (2000)?
One of the best books you will ever read! I'm a big Greg Iles fan. While I enjoy reading a number of other authors and trying out new authors, I always come back to Greg Iles. Mr. Iles writing is strong and the cadence just right. There is nothing boring about this book. The storyline is pulled from a time and events in this country that a lot of us grew up with. Mr. Iles works the reader; there is loss and new relationships the reader will pull for. There are family secrets and long lost loves. All of this wrapped around an engrossing mystery. A man is dead. Those responsible seem obvious and the reason even more obvious. But, Mr. Iles skillful pen brings the reader along to a perhaps more callous reason - it's just business.Reading Greg Iles is a commitment of time and attention. This is not an easy afternoon read. Rarely have I encountered a work of art in story telling like this. Where you might consume other books in short engagements, I found myself reading for hours not wanting to put the book down for another night. I read at night to help me decompress before going to sleep. That was a mistake with this book. I didn’t want to put the book down and go to sleep. I fought sleep so that I could keep reading - to the point of exhaustion and anxious for the next heaping portion.
—Charles
**You can see this full review and more at Book Briefs: http://bookbriefs.net** The Quiet Game is the first book in the Penn Gage series. He is a prosecutor turned author, turned detective (kind of). I thought the mystery in the Quiet Game was really compelling, but the audiobook narrator kind of took away from the story. He did about 3 or 4 of the voices well, but all of the other voices sounded comically bad. He could not do a woman's voice at all. And the story is a serious one, so it was distracting. But if you could get past the bad female and secondary character voices, you can't help but get sucked into the story.There is a decades old civil rights murder in this small southern town. It is a cold case and because of some meddling from a journalist and some help from Penn Gage, the case is about to get re-opened. There are national forces involved and the whole thing gets crazy really quickly. It was a pretty good murder mystery and there was a lot of legal stuff going on. Most of the legal aspects of the story were accurate, but some of the trial parts were a bit sensationalized. But nothing too bad.The story is very light on the romance (but that might change later in the series) and very heavy on the action. It made for a very fast paced read and the audiobook listening flew by. I listened to the whole thing on a one day car trip. Everyone in the car liked the story and it was engaging enough and interesting to make everyone want to keep listening. I think this would be a better book to read, because the characters were interesting and the mystery was really well done. I didn't really like any of female characters, but there were plenty of male characters to like. If you like action packed murder mysteries with a strong male lead, check out the Penn Gage series. This review was originally posted on Book Briefs
—Michelle Book Briefs
3 ½ stars. Above average complicated mystery, but it’s missing rich, fascinating character development. I wasn’t pulled in enough.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.
—Jane Stewart
