Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
What does a book's plot need to entice you? Sex, drugs, murder? How about sleazy politicians, bigotry, gunfights ... and more sex?
If the answer is yes to all of these, then Turning Angel by Greg Iles should take its place on your bedside table.
Iles is the best-selling author of nine other novels, but if you haven't yet discovered him, Turning Angel will have you wondering where he has been all your life.
The premise of Turning Angel is tantalizing. The partially clad body of Kate Townsend, one of the most promising high school students in Natchez, Miss., is found floating in the river. The city's shock turns to horror when it's discovered that Dr. Drew Elliott, a 40-year-old married pillar of the community, was romantically involved with her. Could he also have been involved in her rape and murder?
Iles ramps up an already sexually charged story with enough teen depravity to make parents' heads spin.
But Turning Angel is not just a novel to read for kicks. The author's portrayal of a Southern town struggling with economic failings, drug problems and racial friction is riveting in its honesty and stark reality. (Iles lives in Natchez.)
The novel is told from the point of view of Penn Cage, an attorney-turned-author (very Grisham-esque) who also was the protagonist in Iles' The Quiet Game. Cage grew up with Elliott and eventually shoulders the task of clearing Elliott and unmasking the killer.
A book's true test is whether it makes readers eager for more. After Turning Angel, this reader checked out Iles' Blood Memory, a suspenseful tale of murder, sexual abuse and recovered memories. That leaves eight books to go.
Turning Angel
By Greg Iles
Scribner, 499 pp., $25.95
To see more of USAToday.com, or to subscribe, go to http://www.usatoday.com
© Copyright 2006 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
