Mississippi Blood

A Novel

By: Greg Iles

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 28 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

The endgame is at hand for Penn Cage, his family, and the enemies bent on destroying them in this revelatory volume in the epic trilogy set in modern-day Natchez, Mississippi - Greg Iles' epic tale of love and honor, hatred and revenge that explores how the sins of the past continue to haunt the present.

Shattered by grief and dreaming of vengeance, Penn Cage sees his family and his world collapsing around him. The woman he loves is gone, his principles have been irrevocably compromised, and his father, once a paragon of the community that Penn leads as mayor, is about to be tried for the murder of a former lover. Most terrifying of all, Dr. Cage seems bent on self-destruction. Despite Penn's experience as a prosecutor in major murder trials, his father has frozen him out of the trial preparations - preferring to risk dying in prison to revealing the truth of the crime to his son.

During 40 years practicing medicine, Tom Cage made himself the most respected and beloved physician in Natchez, Mississippi. But this revered Southern figure has secrets known only to himself and a handful of others. Among them, Tom has a second son, the product of a 1960s affair with his devoted African American nurse, Viola Turner. It is Viola who has been murdered, and her bitter son - Penn's half brother - who sets in motion the murder case against his father. The resulting investigation exhumes dangerous ghosts from Mississippi's violent past. In some way that Penn cannot fathom, Viola Turner was a nexus point between his father and the Double Eagles, a savage splinter cell of the KKK. More troubling still, the long-buried secrets shared by Dr. Cage and the former Klansmen may hold the key to the most devastating assassinations of the 1960s. The surviving Double Eagles will stop at nothing to keep their past crimes buried, and with the help of some of the most influential men in the state, they seek to ensure that Dr. Cage either takes the fall for them or takes his secrets to an early grave.

Tom Cage's murder trial sets a terrible clock in motion, and unless Penn can pierce the veil of the past and exonerate his father, his family will be destroyed. Unable to trust anyone around him - not even his own mother - Penn joins forces with Serenity Butler, a famous young Black author who has come to Natchez to write about his father's case. Together Penn and Serenity - a former soldier - battle to crack the Double Eagles and discover the secret history of the Cage family and the South itself, a desperate move that risks the only thing they have left to gamble: their lives.

Mississippi Blood is the enthralling conclusion to a breathtaking trilogy seven years in the making - one that has kept listeners on the edges of their seats.

©2017 Greg Iles (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"It takes gravitas and a quiet dignity to capture the people caught in a racial maelstrom in this concluding volume of Iles's atmospheric trilogy. Narrator Scott Brick lends both these qualities to this audiobook's central characters... Thanks to Brick's stellar narration, this lengthy production never drags, and listeners will want to visit Penn's Natchez again as a result." ( AudioFile)

Reviting and exciting, on the edge if your seat!

If you like Greg Isles then thisnvokk will not let you down. Always on the edge of your seat at the end.

Bgchipper

This was a book that was hard to put down! I have read every one of Greg Iles' books as he writes wonderful books. I am so sorry that this is the last in this trilogy. I hope he writes another book very soon!

Couldn't put it down!

This is the most enthralling story that I have listened to in a very long time! Now I will go backwards and listen to the first three.

Great !!!

Thrilling and riveting conclusion to a great series. I have found a new favorite author!

Good Book

Takes awhile to get going, but it’s a really good book. The ending is great! I love Greg Iles

Enjoyed the Natchez saga. Looking forward to the next one

Enjoyed every book so far in the Natchez saga. Greg Iles does a great job of tying all the characters together in great detail. It gets a bit gruesome on some parts but couldn’t stop listening.

A Great Finale To A Powerful Trilogy!

To begin with, I must say I have enjoyed the entire trilogy immensely and would recommend not only these books but all of Greg Ilse's book to anyone who enjoys listening to books with most on their bones! I did have to be careful to make sure there were no young ears in listening range because because of the graphic racial language but I spent the summer with Penn Cage and his entire entourage while I was driving or in my house on my Echo Dot while cleaning or working on projects. each character is well developed almost from the first time you meet them and with the exception of Penn Cage i was happy with how they played out through all three books. However, in my opinion, Penn Cage turns into a whimpering sap with no faith in anyone including his father. He seems to lose faith in his suddenly in everyone involved in his father's case especially his lawyer whom he second guesses even while talking about how great he is. Of course it's normal for this type of story arc however to me it seems there is no basis for him going from a strong leading man to what seems to be just another whiney son whose father wont tell him all the nitty gritty details of his life. It was a great trilogy, don't let my issues with the character prevent you from enjoying what will give you days and days of great southern hospitality :-)

Pay attention, It moves quickly

Greg Iles never disappoints. I have been reading his books for over a decade and have not found a bad one yet. The quiet game was the best. The series was riveting from beginning to end. I did read two of the books out of order. It was not hard to follow. One final thought. These characters who were born and raised in the south, all have northern accents. The only southern accents heard are overdone and are given to bad or stupid characters. Just a thought for future narration.

Timely

Good story, reminding reader of difficult times in the south and 60s. Well written.
As usual, Scott Brick is excellent!
Well worth the 30 hours.

Mississippi blood indeed

This Book was amazing….I was on edge with each chapter! The story was good