Customer Reviews

The Quiet Game

5 star:		(125)
4 star:		(44)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Greg Iles has possibly the greatest range of any current suspense novelist: WWII, Internet Sex, Secrets of the Deep South... Iles weaves into his books the historical texture of Caleb Carr, double the plot twists of Grisham, and thrice the build-up of Crichton. Speaking of those two, they should be reminded there are writers like Iles who put in the effort to allow a book to stand on its own merits without the carrot of a movie deal.

Despite Iles' harsh characterization of my native Boston (perhaps he is as misinformed of New England as he believes I am of his home) I became entranced by his use of setting as character and his portrayal of imperfect heroes and revered heels. He uses enough misleading foreshadowing to annoy me into staying up late to try to come to a conclusion.

I believe Black Cross was his best work, this his second, Mortal Fear third and Spandau Phoenix fourth. Funny that most people have read only Spandau Phoenix. I do have one complaint - please hurry up on your next book. Stephen King may be from dreaded New England, but for God's sake, at least he puts out a book every now and then! Maybe then more would learn there are great alternatives to the latest drivel from the big boys.

Nothing gets in the way of the story in The Quiet Game, a suspenseful page-turner that keeps the pace through over 400 pages.

Penn Cage, a prosecutor from Houston and an author of legal thrillers, returns to his boyhood home in Natchez, Mississippi to help his daughter Annie recover from his wife's death. In an interview with an ambitious local journalist, he mentions the Del Payton case, a racial murder that has remained unsolved for thirty years.

Suddenly Cage finds himself in the midst of a storm of racial tensions, crime and political intrigue in which all the major suspects are playing The Quiet Game, a game of waiting to see who breaks first.

Greg Iles has done a wonderful job writing a book that is hard to put down. Not only is it well-plotted, but the characters are likable and the setting is well-established. The swamps of Natchez yield not only old grudges, but new insights about race relations as Cage works to bring the murderer to justice. Definitely a 5-star read.

Not that I have any problem with John Grisham, but he seems to be compared quite often to Iles and I honestly don't see it. Grisham, although sometimes entertaining, tends to write screenplays rather than novels. The Quiet Game, although as familiar as Grisham in landscape, takes you on an absolute roller coaster of intrigue with a diverse cast of players leaving you with an uncontrollable passion to continue turning pages.

Parts of this tale are certainly predictable, who the bad guys are is no secret, and the majority of the plot is far fetched,... but isn't that what fiction is supposed to be all about? Particularly fiction in the thriller genre?

Iles has a gift for making even the predictable components of the story exciting to read as well as taking ordinary dialog and making it compelling. His use of the first person narrative, which I am not often a fan of, was an excellent choice for unfolding the story in a Whodunnit fashion that grips you and steadily immerses you into Natchez Mississippi and the heart of this story.

This is Iles' 4th book, and very different from the rest, and I loved them all. He's just replaced Crichton as my personal favorite author. I recommend him to anybody.

If you are an avid reader every once in a while you stumble onto a book that is impossible to put down. I am delighted that I found Mr. Iles and this terrific book. An absolutely wonderful read.

It was one of the best books I have read in quite a long time. I don't see the comparison between Greg Iles and Grisham. He writes in a more intelligent manner, and does a far better job of developing his characters. What I especially liked about it was the fact that his character Penn Cage touched on emotional issues as well, and I felt like I was reading a mystery thriller, that was much more than a mystery thriller.

The premise of the novel kept me going and I had a hard time putting it down. I enjoyed the historical references, and the plot development.

I'm probably not helping anyone by not describing the plot, or characters, but I don't choose what I read based on plot alone. My main reason for reading the book was that I picked up the book and liked the way the story was being told and it didn't let me down one bit. My initial impression remained the same. I figure that other reviews will discuss the story content and plot.

A quote on the cover of "The Quiet Game" says, "Rivals Grisham's best - Will transfix the reader until the very last page." Sorry! Grisham can't write this well. I read three or four books a week and have for many years. This is one of the best books I have ever read; for plot, for character, for ambience, for entertaiment, for instruction; for every conceivable reason I can think of. I very much enjoyed the other books this author has written but he seems to improve with every subsequent book. I loved this book and I will hold onto it and reread it from time to time. Thank you, Greg Iles!

Greg Iles' use of the first person singular point of view in his novel, "The Quiet Game", is a powerful tool to make the reader align himself with Penn Cage, an attorney and author who debuts as the hero of Iles novel of the south. Raised in Natchez, Mississippi and haunted by the death of his wife, Cage returns with his small daughter. Life is not as simple as remembered, and Cage is drawn reluctantly (and by his ego!) into a complicated mystery that has remained unsolved for many years.

Too quickly, his family and friends are endangered by his probes into the coverup of what appears to be a civil rights murder of his childhood. Cage keeps digging, formulating his own conclusions (sometimes wrong!) as he goes, and eventually bringing the misdeeds of the past to light.

Iles' prose will leave you breathless and will cause you to delay your chores while you get to the end of "one more chapter"...and then another and another.

4 stars instead of 5 when I so obviously enjoyed it? Iles makes
the plot unnecessarily complex with one too many twists and turns. For instance, the story could have survived and remained powerful without Olivia....but, small flaws notwithstanding, Iles novel will keep me going back for more of his writing. Enjoy!

Like MORTAL FEAR before it, Greg Iles' THE QUIET GAME is an unrelenting, unputdownable thriller. After the death of his wife, former Houston prosecutor, turned novelist, Penn Cage returns to his boyhood home of Natchez, Mississippi with his young daughter Annie. A comment he believes to have been made off the record to Caitlin Matsers, editor of the local newspaper regarding the suspicious death of a black man which occurred 30 years ago, opens a Pandora's box of family secrets, scandal, blackmail and even government complicity in the crime itself. Greg Iles writes with such understated elegance, yet elicits such powergul emotions. His books hit home on so many different levels with great insight and intelligence. To compare Iles' to John Grisham seems unfair, since frankly, Grisham pales in comparison to this bright and talented writer. THE QUIET GAME should not be missed...after reading it, pick up MORTAL FEAR as well.

This was my first Greg Iles book, and I have gone back to order more and will look for his books to come. The characters were well developed, and the plot fascinating. In going back 30 years to solve a murder, relationships that have changed the course of lives, and the events in the town of Natchez come to light. The Quiet Game is more compelling and literate than Grisham's books. I enjoyed the insight into Mississippi culture and the racial boundaries that existed in the late 60's as well as the ongoing revelations about J. Edgar Hoover.

Lawyer/writer Penn Cage flees the big city after his wife Sarah dies, heading back to the hick town where he grew up. He's hoping that good old Mum and Dad will help heal his little daughter, distraught at the recent loss of her Mom.

But no sooner does Penn hit town when a beautiful local journalist (in a see-thru blouse...) makes him feel 'absolute proof that someone else will one day occupy the place that Sarah held in my life'. His poor daughter also rarely gets another mention as another beautiful girl from his past re-appears, and Penn finds himself drawn into a whopping cover-up encompassing no less than murder, blackmail, arson, money, illegitimacy, revenge, incest, white trash, rednecks, black pride, lawyers in love, civil rights, the Klan, JFK, J. Edgar Hoover, the full range of FBI and ex-FBI characters, and the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King - I kid you not.

The whole book's like this - an enjoyable holiday read, but too excessive. Too many conspiracies, too many stock characters, too much angst too often - is he involved for selfish or selfless reasons? and too many words, with action scenes taking pages and pages to describe. The main character somehow remains unknown - he does this, he does that, but you never feel you know what he's like - but you do get some wonderfully drawn minor characters, and the author doesn't avoid the pointy end of race relation issues.