Cemetery Road

A Novel

De: Greg Iles

Narrado por: Scott Brick

The number-one New York Times best-selling author of the Natchez Burning trilogy returns with an electrifying tale of friendship, betrayal, and shattering secrets that threaten to destroy a small Mississippi town.

When Marshall McEwan left his hometown at age 18, he vowed never to return. The trauma that drove him away ultimately spurred him to become one of the most successful journalists in Washington DC. But just as the political chaos in the nation’s capital lifts him to new heights, Marshall is forced to return home in spite of his boyhood vow.

His father is dying, his mother is struggling to keep the family newspaper from failing, and the town is in the midst of an economic rebirth that might be built upon crimes that reach into the state capitol - and perhaps even to Washington. More disturbing still, Marshall’s high school sweetheart, Jet, has married into the family of Max Matheson, patriarch of one of the families that rule Bienville through a shadow organization called the Bienville Poker Club.

When archaeologist Buck McKibben is murdered at a construction site, Bienville is thrown into chaos. The ensuing homicide investigation is soon derailed by a second crime that rocks the community to its core. Power broker Max Matheson’s wife has been shot dead in her own bed, and the only other person in it at the time was her husband, Max. Stranger still, Max demands his daughter-in-law, Jet, defend him in court.

As a journalist, Marshall knows all too well how the corrosive power of money and politics can sabotage investigations. Without telling a soul, he joins forces with Jet, who has lived for 15 years at the heart of Max Matheson’s family, and begins digging into both murders. With Jet walking the dangerous road of an inside informer, they soon uncover a web of criminal schemes that undergird the town’s recent success. But these crimes pale in comparison to the secret at the heart of the Matheson family. When those who have remained silent for years dare to speak to Marshall, pressure begins to build like water against a crumbling dam.

Marshall loses friends, family members, and finally, even Jet, for no one in Bienville seems willing to endure the reckoning the Poker Club has long deserved. By the time Marshall grasps the long-buried truth, he would give almost anything not to have to face it.

©2019 Greg Iles (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers

Fantastic book! Who cares about the politics!

Look, everyone seems to be getting all worked up over Greg Iles' politics in the book. Give it a break. He mentions Trump a few times, and his Flex SUV. Big deal. I'm politically conservative and it didn't bother me in the least. This is a fantastic story with lots of build up, and twists and turns that you won't expect. It's classic Greg Iles, who is one of the best authors around. If you're going in for a good story, you will love this. If you get worked up over an author's' comments on politics, then you can skip this, but that will be pretty silly.

Greg. Iles does not disappoint us.

I loved this book. Great narrator. Hard to put down. Moves right along. It does not dwell on describing every little detail of every scene.

Disappointed!!

I normally love Greg Isle's books but this was a big disappointment for me. The main character was sort of "whimpy" and the politics disappointed me! Also the sexual references throughout the book were very distasteful!! Sorry for the honest post!

Politics ruin a great story.

So I read reviews stating the authors politics couldn't get out of the way to let the story breath. In early 2020 in the U.S. tensions are high when talking politics with you neighbor. It's easy today to take things personal, and think everything has a political slant. So I tried to take that into consideration while reading this.

Next, it's important for writers to consider preaching too much in fiction. So I tried to read this as the main characters political leaning, not the authors.

So taking both those thoughts into mind....this book is a self help book for those suffering TDS.

The point that made me say "Yes, the reviewers were right" was a fantastic scene with the main character and his father. Made me think about my own father and I. I actually had watery eyes during this scene....then I my jaw dropped in amazement as the man character went on a rant about the state of -ists -isms and -obes in modern day America. Completely ruining the scene. I audibly said "Nooooooo, why?!? Why now?!?"

There was a scene where police are in a place to escort people off property that was lawfully purchased, and I kid you not people started calling the police "fascists" lolol. All I could think of was the people yelling this at the police were holding iPhones and Starbucks, with a scarf around the neck, wearing t shirts with "keep Portland weird" on the front. It made the scene funny instead of intense. The main character was being screwed over here, and all I could do was laugh.

At one point a character references they are for social justice. I legitimately laughed out loud in the car here. The characters argument fell flat. Just cringe.

And then there's the side plot with a gay character.....that leads no where? What was the point? The only thought I had that made sense was to write this in so the author could tick the diversity checklist. If this wasn't in the story it would have not changed a thing. I do think he could have gone somewhere with it, but it just ended. All this buildup, and we learned two people were gay....and that's it. Not brought up again.

The main character makes a point about Atlanta not being "to busy to be racist". Living in Atlanta for the past 20+ years, and considering over 30% of the population is black, this was easy to spot BS. Author trying so hard to paint America as a racist heaven. It's the most diverse country on the planet.....

We're led to believe the main character was the only person in the planet who had the real scoop on Trump, we got him! But he gave it all up to move back home. I mean, Trump is basically Hitler here, and the main character doesn't share any of this info with anyone. I mean, this read like bad fanfiction :(.

Every white liberal is inteligent. Every black character talks like a stereotype. And every white conservative is evil or obnoxious. I mean, the black characters were just short of "yesir masser" level of stereotype. Makes me wonder who the real racists are....

And the main character has a very specific sexual fetish...that the author makes sure we know he has.... multiple times.

Which leave me to ask, did the author write this polarizing main character, or did the author insert himself into this main character? Is it the author that has severe TDS, and really really really likes bush?

If you're a lefty, you'll probably like this book. If you're a leftist, ANTIFA/commie type, this story is your wet dream. I mean the bad guys are basically high class KKK.

if you're a moderate or righty, you'll probably like the plot lines but roll your eyes every time one of the characters starts talking politics.

And that's the real tragedy here. The plot is really good. And there are some really good characters. The author just pulls you out of the story so many times, it's annoying.

Not political at all

I almost didn’t read this because of the majority upset because it’s a “political” book.

It had 4-5 SENTENCES regarding Trump. Literally.

The main character used to be a MSNBC reporter - so there is mention of “Trump supports rioting” (which is a true statement), and that Trump supports call liberals “libtards.” (Which is a true statement)

There is a storyline about corruption in politics, but that’s not abnormal in stories regarding the Deep South AND not a main story line.

I am shocked with how sensitive these Trump supporters/reviews are if they can’t handle 4-5 sentences about politics/Trump. (Not including the corruption storyline - which does not reference Trump at all)

And they call liberals “snowflakes.”

Leave politics out

Liked the story but the continual political references ruined it for me. I almost quit, actually I did quit but came back.

Five stars for “Cemetery Road”!

One of the very best books I have read/listened to in a long time. Multi dimensional, multi layered, very complex and highly engrossing. Five stars for sure!! I highly recommend this title.

A great story of tragedy & redemption in TrumpLand

This complex and gripping novel is the best American prose I’ve read in recent memory. Isles successfully incorporates disparate styles and elements that are at times reminiscent of classical authors spanning the spectrum from Shakespeare to Victor Hugo, Mark Twain and Gabriel García Márquez. The novel’s mid-sized Southern town setting becomes its own character in the story. This is accomplished as well as if not better than Isles’ contemporary Southern-raised colleagues James Lee Burke and John Grisham.

Despite the many comparisons I have noted to other writers, Greg Isles undoubtedly lays claim to his own brand of writing. His fully developed characters at times draw upon your sympathy, ire, indifference and even rage Although the protagonist may at times seem a bit slow on the uptake it’s usually more than made up for by surprisIng developments brought to sudden light by other characters.

Marshall McEwan is a conflicted and confused young man, He’s has lived through trials and tribulations that most men twice his age could ever endure. He’s personally surveyed America’s wars on the frontlines as an embedded reporter. He’d also reluctantly fired at his enemies in anger, engaged in guerrilla warfare and barely managed escape after being captured and nearly decapatated. His subsequent reporting and Pulitzer Prize winning book bring him stardom, if only temporarily. Just before the events of this book Marshall is reporting on the mortal combat we call today’s national politics. He’s doubling as a reporter and television talking head on CNN and MSNBC while uncomfortably ensconced in Washington, DC society.

Both in his work and personal life Marshall has soared to great heights. He lived for a time the life that many could only dream. He also endured the unbearable. He’s suffered the kind of losses that might cripple men thought of as unshakable oaks. At the forefront of these losses are his brother, whom remains forever present throughout the narrative. Equally jarring but less addressed is the emotional loss of a wife and death of his son. The latter for whom he mourns and former whom he blames. It’s a terrible coincidence that binds him closer to his detached father more than either initially know.

With his personal life in shambles and career stalled Marshall finds himself stuck in a rut as a still young but quickly aging man at a crossroad. It’s at this juncture in life that he finds himself called back home to Mississippi. Asked to return to a place where he’s been driven away into a sort of self-imposed exile but also drawn back to try and mend old rifts and rediscover the land of his adolescence. It’s back home, in Bienville, Mississippi, where his father lay slowly dying, that he returns at his mother request, to attend to their family newspaper. This is a temporary arrangement, agreed to mostly upon duty and custom, that will only last until Marshall’s father dies and business matters are resolved.

It’s in this reluctant setting that Marshall eventually settles into something like a routine. He begins mentoring a young boy with an irresponsible mother, reunites with old friends and rekindles old relationships, and engages in an adulterous affair. It’s in this whirlwind setting that a man whom acted as Marshall’s surrogate father, after his own emotionally checked out, is found dead in the river. What’s initially thought to be an accident is eventually exposed as a suicide, and Marshall see’s the fingerprints of Bienville’s secretive Poker Club and it’s far-reaching machinations at work. And that’s only where the story begins.

I give this book my highest recommendation. This is a grade I’ve seldom issued in over 25 years of Audible membership, It’s well deserved. I look forward to the next novel by Greg Isles and am especially hopeful that Cemetery Road is only the initial installment of many featuring Marshall “Goose” McEwan. He’s the modern incarnation of what a pragmatic young white man should emulate in what was once dubbed the New South. He’s a character sorely needed in such a divisive era.

So damn good!!!

From beginning to end this book was extraordinarily satisfying! Greg Iles is at the top of his game and Scott Brick just made a great book, greater!!! The details are spot on, Iles knows Mississippi. This tale has a ring of truth that can’t be denied, if you’ve lived in this area of the country for any length of time, which I have, you already know it and if you haven’t then you’ll just have trust that Iles knows his stuff! Some of the details you’ll see coming, others not so much and that’s what makes it so exciting!! The characters are fully developed, you’ll see them in your minds eye right down to the shoes on their feet! Iles is such a gifted writer, at almost 24 hours you’d have to be to keep even the most avid fan engaged and he does so most successfully! Spend the credit!

very good

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I found myself turning off the TV in order to continue listening. Okay I faked a couple of naps too.