Giveaway ~ The Bone Tree by Greg Iles

Available now from Harper Collins

Greg Iles continues the electrifying story begun in his smash New York Times bestseller Natchez Burning in this highly anticipated second installment of an epic trilogy of blood and race, family and justice, featuring Southern lawyer Penn Cage.

Former prosecutor Penn Cage and his fiancée, reporter and publisher Caitlin Masters, have barely escaped with their lives after being attacked by wealthy businessman Brody Royal and his Double Eagles, a KKK sect with ties to some of Mississippi’s most powerful men. But the real danger has only begun as FBI Special Agent John Kaiser warns Penn that Brody wasn’t the true leader of the Double Eagles. The puppeteer who actually controls the terrorist group is a man far more fearsome: the chief of the state police’s Criminal Investigations Bureau, Forrest Knox.

The only way Penn can save his father, Dr. Tom Cage—who is fleeing a murder charge as well as corrupt cops bent on killing him—is either to make a devil’s bargain with Knox or destroy him. While Penn desperately pursues both options, Caitlin uncovers the real story behind a series of unsolved civil rights murders that may hold the key to the Double Eagles’ downfall. The trail leads her deep into the past, into the black backwaters of the Mississippi River, to a secret killing ground used by slave owners and the Klan for over two hundred years . . . a place of terrifying evil known only as “the bone tree.”

The Bone Tree is an explosive, action-packed thriller full of twisting intrigue and deadly secrets, a tale that explores the conflicts and casualties that result when the darkest truths of American history come to light. It puts us inside the skin of a noble man who has always fought for justice—now finally pushed beyond his limits.

Just how far will Penn Cage, the hero we thought we knew, go to protect those he loves?

My review of Natchez Burning can be found by clicking here

About the Author

Greg Iles was born in Germany but spent most of his youth in Natchez, Mississippi His thirteen New York Times bestselling novels have been made into films, translated into more than twenty languages, and published in more than thirty-five countries worldwide. He lives in Natchez with his two teenage children.

Website

Twitter @GregIles

Amazon UK

a Rafflecopter giveaway



Thanks to Felicity at Harper for this fabulous giveaway opportunity.




~**Good Luck **~

Blog Tour ~ Natchez Burning by Greg Iles

I am delighted to feature my review of Natchez Burning by Greg Iles on this global blog tour.

Harper
2014
Penn Cage Book 4

The Sins of the Past Never Die

A bit of blurb...

Raised in Natchez, Mississippi, former prosecuting attorney Penn Cage learned all he knows of honour  and duty from his father, Dr Tom Cage.

But now Tom stands accused of murdering an African-American nurse with whom he worked in the 1960s, when racist violence was at its peak.

As  he hunts for the truth, Penn uncovers a long buried secret that could place his family in mortal danger- a conspiracy of greed and murder connected to a viscous sect of the KKK.

Up against the most powerful men in the state , Penn faces an impossible choice: does a man of honour choose his father or justice?

My review...

Whilst this is book four in the Penn Cage series of novels by this author, Natchez Burning heads the start of a trilogy, which looks in more detail the effects of the racial unrest which happened in the United States, and more particularly, in its Southern States in the early 1960s.

The story opens in 2005 when Penn Cage, a former prosecuting lawyer, has returned to his home town of Natchez in Mississippi. Hoping to find some sort of resolution, Penn has immersed himself in local life and at the start of this novel in 2005, Penn has become Mayor. It’s a position he takes very seriously, as honour and duty are traits that Cage takes to heart. These characteristics, which he has learned from his father, Dr Tom Cage, form the core of Penn’s emotional stability. However, Penn discovers, that there are secrets in in Tom Cage’s past which hark back to the dark days of racial unrest, and when Tom Cage’s friendship with his nurse, Viola Turner, is opened up to scrutiny, dark secrets which have been long buried, start to emerge with disastrous consequences.

Natchez Burning is a forceful novel with a powerful agenda, covering the relationship between a son and his father, about the accuracy of truth and the integrity of justice, and, more importantly, it's about the threat of dangerously volatile secrets, which over time become have become so deep-seated that they become almost too  difficult to vindicate. The book hits the ground running with a hard hitting prologue and makes no allowances for the impact it wants to make ,which then goes on to set the overall tone of the novel.

The novel is long, coming in at over 850 pages, and there is much to absorb both in terms of the actual story line which unfolds gradually but also in the simmering undercurrent of racial conflict which is embarked upon in some considerable detail. There is no doubt that the author has invested a great deal of time and emotion into this narrative, it’s extremely well prepared and contains content which is, at times, quite uncomfortable but, this I think allows great insight into an era which saw huge social and political turmoil.

Natchez Burning is a little out of my comfort zone, as I hadn't read any of the previous books in the series, so I found it best to read chunks of the story in short bursts rather than large sections as this  worked better for me and allowed some necessary time to absorb the finer points without getting too caught up in the sheer length of the story.

If you are familiar with this author and his writing, and have enough time to invest in the trilogy as a whole, I am sure that fans of his work will be delighted with the way that this trilogy continues the Penn Cage story.

Best Read With...A starchily sour Bourbon and a packet of peanut M&Ms...

About the author

Greg Iles was born in Germany but spent most of his youth in Natchez, Mississippi His thirteen New York Times bestselling novels have been made into films, translated into more than twenty languages, and published in more than thirty-five countries worldwide. He lives in Natchez with his two teenage children.

Website

Twitter @GregIles

**Fabulous chance to win a paperback copy of Natchez Burning and a Tote Bag**

My thanks to Felicity at Harper for the invitation to be part of this tour and 

for providing this bumper giveaway opportunity to one UK winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck


~***~