• Turning Angel

  • By: Greg Iles
  • Narrated by: Dick Hill
  • Length: 17 hrs and 37 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (5,063 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Turning Angel  By  cover art

Turning Angel

By: Greg Iles
Narrated by: Dick Hill
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $25.00

Buy for $25.00

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Turning Angel marks the long-awaited return of Penn Cage, the lawyer hero of The Quiet Game, and introduces Drew Elliott, the highly respected doctor who saved Penn's life in a hiking accident when they were boys.

As two of the most prominent citizens of Natchez, Drew and Penn sit on the school board of their alma mater, St. Stephen's Prep. When the nude body of a young female student is found near the Mississippi River, the entire community is shocked - but no one more than Penn, who discovers that his best friend was entangled in a passionate relationship with the girl and may be accused of her murder.

On the surface, Kate Townsend seems the most unlikely murder victim imaginable. A star student and athlete, she'd been accepted to Harvard and carried the hope and pride of the town on her shoulders. But like her school and her town, Kate also had a secret life - one about which her adult lover knew little.

When Drew begs Penn to defend him, Penn allows his sense of obligation to override his instinct and agrees. Yet before he can begin, both men are drawn into a dangerous web of blackmail and violence. Penn finds himself doubting his friend's motives and searching for a path out of harm's way.

More dangerous yet is Shad Johnson, the black district attorney whose dream is to send a rich white man to death row in Mississippi. At Shad's order, Drew is jailed, the police cease hunting Kate's killer, and Penn realizes that only by finding Kate's murderer himself can he save his friend's life.

With his daughter's babysitter as his guide, Penn penetrates the secret world of St. Stephen's, a place that parents never see, where reality veers so radically from appearance that Penn risks losing his own moral compass. St. Stephen's is a dark mirror of the adult world, one populated by steroid-crazed jocks, girls desperate for attention, and jaded teens flirting with nihilism. And hidden among them all is one true psychopath.

©2005 Greg Iles (P)2005 Brilliance Audio

What listeners say about Turning Angel

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3,009
  • 4 Stars
    1,480
  • 3 Stars
    404
  • 2 Stars
    102
  • 1 Stars
    68
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2,859
  • 4 Stars
    1,111
  • 3 Stars
    340
  • 2 Stars
    110
  • 1 Stars
    69
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2,697
  • 4 Stars
    1,251
  • 3 Stars
    366
  • 2 Stars
    92
  • 1 Stars
    75

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

I Kept Waiting For the Trial

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

No. I didn't finish it though I labored almost 3/4 of the way through. Granted I am a late middle aged woman but the explicit, descriptive, detailed sex and the debauched portrayal of teens was more than I could endure. I felt like I needed to wash my brain and erase the images. Somehow I think that it reveals a lack of imagination when authors resort to surrounding their stories with sex instead of interesting characters and plots.

What do you think your next listen will be?

While I enjoyed a previous book by this author, I doubt I will try him again.

What three words best describe Dick Hill’s voice?

Familiar.

Did Turning Angel inspire you to do anything?

Put it down.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

56 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Southern accents are best left to Southerners...

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, for the story. I like suspense and complicated relationships.

What didn’t you like about Dick Hill’s performance?

With the notable exception of the late, great Frank Muller, Southern accents are best left to native Southerners and British actors. I cringed each time I heard Nah'-chez' instead of Natch'-iz, and could'-sue' instead of cud'-zoo. I have always liked Dick Hill's performances, but I far prefer his Jack Reacher-type voice to this one.

Any additional comments?

I had planned to listen the rest of the books in this series, but I'm not sure I'll be able to get around the accent. I know whereof I speak; I am from south Alabama.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

46 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Ed
  • 01-21-10

Heathers meets Matlock meets Marcus Welby

I enjoyed this book despite the implausible plot and sub plots. Penn Cage is a likable enough protagonist who is a very believable. Most of the other characters in this book strain credulity. You have a well-respected middle-aged dentist who plans to divorce his Lorcet addicted trophy wife to run off with a beautiful 17-year old high school class valedictorian. You have a Croatian teen who has conspired with an African-American drug dealer to market narcotics to college students in Louisiana and Mississippi. You have another beautiful high school student who babysits for Page and yearns for a one-nighter with him and risks life and some other things to help Cage find a killer. You have an African-American DA conspiring with a redneck sheriff to get the DA elected mayor. Then you have an amorphous gang of Asian thugs who appear and disappear when Iles needs to tie up loose ends. You get the picture. I'm not sure why I enjoyed the book. Maybe it was because it was slightly over the edge. But I look forward to listening to another in the Cage series, hoping for improved story telling. I listened to the abridged version of The Quiet Game where Iles introduced Penn Cage and the potential is there. Dick Hill's narration wasn't as good as usual in this offering, with his voice trailing off at times making it difficult to hear. An average book which I believe will evoke neither hate nor excessive praise.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

37 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Boring, too long and drawn out

Any additional comments?

Nearing the end of the book, I didn't even care anymore what happened to the characters.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

26 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Two Stars? Yep, That's Generous

I had to skip hunks of this story, and crank my iPod to 2X for a lot of the second half.

Iles, who I usually REEEEELY enjoy is a powerful writer, which is why I plowed through to the end of "turning Angel". Unfortunately he's determined here to justify intimacies between middle aged men and high school girls… justify by showing not telling.

Pity, especially since Dick Hill's such a masterful actor that he adds power to Ilies detailed scenes of one couple's graphic experimenting while the other two are voyeuristically immersed in moist details of the other's May/December couplings. It reminds me if the ingenue who explained that her on-screen sexcapades were, of course, fully justified by the plot.

I'm crushed. Until "Turning Angel" Greg Iles was one of my favorite authors. I'm going to VERY carefully read reviews before purchasing another of his novels.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

23 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

trash

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

What started out as a good story quickly turned to an unbelievable story. And the underage sex part made me want to puke.

Would you ever listen to anything by Greg Iles again?

No

Which character – as performed by Dick Hill – was your favorite?

Penn

What character would you cut from Turning Angel?

Marco

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

I really like Greg Iles. Usually.

But this book doesn't come close to his others. First, it's WAY too long. The plot drags. Usually his books are longish, but they need the time for a plot that keeps turning and twisting. Second, it's just too graphic. I'm okay with details, but this one went too far for me. Third, it was just too predictable.

If this is your first Greg Iles book, I hope you don't judge him but it. There are plenty of others that are absolutely terrific. This one is mediocre by comparison.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Ew

I bought this because I loved his previous book in this series. But this book has a creepy focus on middle-aged men having sex with teen girls. The descriptions go on and on, totally unnecessary to the plot and, in fact, halting the plot for seemingly endless periods of time while the author focuses on intricate sexual details. Really pervy, to use the words of one of the teens. I had to stop listening. No thanks. Give me a good story, not this junk.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

SEXY MIA

I have liked the books by Greg Iles for some time and this book was no disappointment. The twists and turns keep the story riveting. I strongly recommend a listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Disappointed

I just finished "The Quiet Game" by Greg Iles and was anxious to start another book by this author right away. Unfortunately, after several chapters of "Turning Angel" I've given up hoping the plot, the characters or the narration will improve. I can hardly believe these two books were written by the same author. The characters in Turning Angel are shallow, unrealistic and just plain boring. Can't waste any more time on this one...definitely sending it to the reject bin.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful