Blood Memory

By: Greg Iles

Narrated by: Joyce Bean

Length: 18 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Catherine "Cat" Ferry is a forensic odontologist, a specialist in bite marks and the clues they provide. But while Cat's colleagues know her as a world-class scientist, she secretly attempts to manage her fragile psyche with alcohol, delving into the minds of rapists and murderers yet never allowing her own frightening past to creep into the foreground.

Cat's latest case involves a disturbing murder in New Orleans. Banishing her personal demons, she focuses on the potential killer, until one morning she's paralyzed by a panic attack at a grisly murder scene. Praying the attack is a onetime event, she continues her job as a consultant to the New Orleans Police Department, but when another victim dies in the same shocking way - raising fears that a serial killer is at large - Cat blacks out over the victim's mutilated corpse.

Suspended from the FBI task force, plagued by nightmares, and at odds with her married lover - a homicide detective - Cat finally reaches her breaking point. In a desperate effort to regain control over a life spiraling out of control, Cat retreats to her hometown of Natchez, Mississippi. But her family's secluded antebellum estate provides no sanctuary.

When some of Cat's forensic chemicals are spilled in her childhood bedroom, two bloody footprints are revealed. This sight shocks her more than any corpse she has seen in her career. Cat's father was murdered when she was eight years old, but she always believed the crime occurred in the garden outside their home. The bloody footprints suggest otherwise.

Driven by this fragment of her past, Cat attempts a forensic reconstruction of the decades-old crime, even as developments with the New Orleans task force pull her back into the case she left behind.

©2005 Greg Iles (P)2005 Brilliance Audio

Wow!

The story takes a little while to get moving, but once it does, it’s unstoppable.

I guessed the identity of Kat’s abuser well before she does, but that didn’t lessen my enjoyment of the story at all.

My only quibble is that Kat could be a little sorrier about what happens to her lover, Sean. She pulls him into a dangerous situation and stops him from using his good judgment by blackmailing him.

The reader is tremendous. Each character’s voice is distinct.

Good book start to finish

Several mysteries going at once. Although, I am sure there are some that will find the discussion of child abuse offensive. Don’t be put off still very well written.

Excellent, suspenseful story!!

The storyline and delivery were excellent. This novel keeps you engaged- you don't want to stop listening!

Loved it!

Loved the narrator! Had one or 2 mispronounciations, but one was a medical term and one very obscure word. That is not a criticism by any means, am just being nit-picky.
Was spellbound by the narration and ended up with ringing ears after listening for hours. Great story. Very pleased.

Trigger warning: rough content

The story is compelling, but it’s not a typical murder mystery as the description might lead to believe. Those triggered by child abuse, child sexual
abuse, and incest should steer far away from this material.

The performance dealt well with the rough context, but the New Orleans characters’ accents were terrible, as was the Mississippi accents: totally wrong. A number of Louisiana words and phrases were totally pronounced wrong — most annoying among those was “Metarie.” And NOBODY from New Orleans pronounces the city’s name as “N’Awlins” — that’s a drunk tourist and Hollywood pronunciation. A native or long -term resident would rather die than say it that way. Y’all need to get some real Southerners to read books set in the South so the accents aren’t so wrong.

Great book!

This was a fantastic read! The subject is a difficult one, and the story kept my attention constantly.

One Of Greg Iles’ Very Best!

This book is as well done as ”True Evil, ” ”The Quiet Game, ” and The Bone Tree.” Mr. Iles is one of the most gifted writers I have ever encountered and I can NEVER figure out ”who done it.”

Please write a sequence and don't give up on Penn Cage. Cemetery Road was good but not great! Thanks for sharing your incredible talent. I'm obsessed with your work.

Not exactly thrilling, but powerful all the same

Greg Iles has a real talent for telling stories about strong but very flawed women.

The book is long and drawn out, and comes to a conclusion that will not shock you absolutely, but you'd have to be pretty much heartless not to feel anything at all.

This book is, IMHO, a bit of a departure; I generally find Iles' stories to be thrillers of some variety, and there is an element of that in this book. More than anything else, though, this book feels like a peek behind a curtain into a very dimly lit room, where you know that what you'll see when your eyes adjust might damage you for good, but you can't NOT look.

It's not for the faint of heart, and probably not for someone with a history of being sexually abused as a child, but otherwise, it's a story worth reading.

Excellent Story

This topic and the author's understanding of the nuances of abuse and DID was cutting edge in 2005. The narrator is excellent, capturing the language and tone of the region.

Gripping & Gut-Wrenching

I like a book with a strong sense of place, and "Blood Memory," set in Natchez, MS. and New Orleans, definitely conveys the feel of the place. Joyce Bean's wonderful narration aids in this considerably.

The mysteries at the heart of this story are interesting and deeply knotted. Part of the satisfaction in this novel is the journey of untangling these threads. The protagonist is deeply flawed (and as we discover, deeply wounded), but relatable nonetheless. We are never not rooting for her.

Be warned: although not a horror book (and certainly not supernatural), there is much that is horrific about this book, made more painful by Greg Iles' deftl writing and because the subject is so very, very real. It's impossible to read this book and not feel disgusted and angry as we watch this skillfully-rendered story play out.

This is a painful, but redemptive book. I'm glad I made the effort. This one will stay with me for a long time.