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Turning Angel : A Novel
 
 
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Turning Angel : A Novel [BARGAIN PRICE] (Hardcover)

by Greg Iles (Author)
Key Phrases: civil rights murder, flash drive, sexual battery, Kate Townsend, Cyrus White, Sonny Cross (more...)
3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (147 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. A string of unique bestsellers (24 Hours, etc.) is testament to Iles's ability to leap genres and geography. His latest, a gripping legal mystery set in Natchez, Miss., proves he doesn't have to stray far from home to explore the darkest recesses of the human heart. Penn Cage—lawyer, author and protagonist of The Quiet Game—has just learned that his best friend, Dr. Andrew Elliott, was the secret lover of 17-year-old Kate Townsend, a high school senior found raped and murdered. "Drew was our golden boy, a paragon of everything small-town America holds to be noble, and by unwritten law the town will crucify him with a hatred equal to their betrayed love." Though Penn is furious with Drew for his relationship with Kate, he signs on to represent him in court and unearth the real murderer. Things look bleak for Drew as a DA with political aspirations comes up with plenty of evidence against him. When people start to die and the secret lives of the town's high school students are revealed, Penn begins to doubt not only Drew, but himself as well. This is a study of character and morality, but also of place, as Iles shows Natchez to be emblematic of racial, social and economic issues. The job of great fiction is to entertain, elucidate and educate while keeping readers nailed to their chairs; this does all of that brilliantly. (Dec. 27)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Bookmarks Magazine
Much more than a thriller, Turning Angel is a portrait of a Southern town blighted by a poor economy, bad schools, drugs, racial tensions, and the contrast between this life and the one of privilege. Iles, who lives in Natchez, convincingly depicts how these tensions play out among high school students, who, as Gage repeatedly learns, are not the innocent babes of his youth. The lurid scenes of pornography, drugs, and sex will attract many readers, but so will Iles's portrayal of emotions and morality. A two-dimensional villain and somewhat hackneyed plot barely detract from the novel's powerful depiction of teenagers' lives today.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 512 pages
  • Publisher: Scribner (December 27, 2005)
  • ISBN-10: 0743234715
  • ASIN: B000GCG9DE
  • Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (147 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #684,461 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Front Cover | First Pages | Surprise Me!
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
civil rights murder, flash drive, sexual battery
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Kate Townsend, Cyrus White, Sonny Cross, Sheriff Byrd, Chief Logan, Marko Bakic, Shad Johnson, Quentin Avery, Drew Elliott, Brightside Manor, Penn Cage, Steve Sayers, Billy Byrd, Coach Anders, Ellen Elliott, Chris Vogel, Catherine's Creek, Holden Smith, Mia Burke, Turning Angel, Wade Anders, James Ervin, Jan Chancellor, Jewish Hill, Reverend Herrick
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Customer Reviews

147 Reviews
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 (63)
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 (40)
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Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (147 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Turning Angels is my first Greg Iles read and it will be my last, March 25, 2006
This review is from: Turning Angel: A Novel (Hardcover)
I had heard such great things about Greg Iles and had not read anything by him because murder mysteries are not my genre. Remember, I just owned up to the fact that murder mysteries are not my thing. So, a book has to be good; no, really good; to impress me. However, a friend was so excited about his books and told me that this was just a page turner so I was eager to give it a go.

The book is a pot boiler. Truly all that is missing is the kitchen sink. The plot has no depth, teaches us nothing and hopes to convince us that the mere complexity of who could have done it makes it a brilliant book.

The murder scene becomes laughable with so many who-done-its right there like they were all invited for a wienie roast.


I finished the book and was interested enough to do that. However, I walked away from it wondering why I felt like I had to shake my head and find something to read that would take the bad taste away. This is not a good book.
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63 of 82 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars PURE ILES - POWERFUL AND UNPUTDOWNABLE, December 19, 2005
This review is from: Turning Angel: A Novel (Hardcover)
With seamless, suspense filled plotting and dialogue so crisp that it crackles, Greg Iles (Blood Memory, The Footprints of God) delivers another surprise packed story. Turning Angel is a thought provoking thriller as it reveals the dark side of high school life today, educating many as it spotlights the choices and crises faced by our youth. It's pure Iles, powerful and unputdownable.

Penn Cage, writer and attorney, has returned to his hometown of Natchez, Mississippi to raise his young daughter, Annie. He's widowed and has had an off again - on again relationship with a younger woman on a high career curve. More than age, distance tends to separate them. Penn has also returned to his childhood friend, Dr. Andrew Elliott, Rhodes scholar, internist, a "golden boy, a paragon of everything small town America holds to be noble, and by unwritten law the town will crucify him with a hatred equal to their betrayed love."

Both men serve on the board of a private school, a bastion of learning that produces such outstanding students as 17-year-old Kate Townsend, class Valedictorian, tennis ace, beautiful, soon to attend Harvard. She is the best of the best - and she is found raped and murdered, her body discovered in St. Catherine's Creek.

That's enough of a shock for one evening, but Penn receives a double whammy when Drew confesses that he loved Kate and had been having an affair with her. He had planned to leave his wife, had even placed a down payment on a house in Cambridge where he and Kate would live.

As a friend, it takes Penn some time to mentally accept Drew's confession; as an attorney he knows that in Mississippi, due to Kate's age, Drew can be arrested for statutory rape. Even worse, as the full impact of what he has heard sinks in, Penn realizes that his friend may well be accused of murder.

District Attorney Shad Johnson, a black man, can hardly wait. Born in Natchez, he grew up in Chicago and returned to Natchez to run for mayor. He lost that election but he's determined not to lose another - sending a rich white man to death row and the attendant headlines would serve his political ambitions well.

Penn has little time to mull over his friend's options before he receives a call from Drew saying that someone has called demanding $20,000 or he'll tell the world about Drew's affair with Kate. The anonymous caller tells Drew to put a bag with the money on the fifty yard line of the school's stadium. Penn tells Drew not to go near the stadium, but he knows better - grabbing a gun he drives to the school in search of his friend.

What ensues is a nightmare scene like no other as the pair find themselves being shot at by not one but two people. When the money bag is picked up, Drew and Penn begin a futile chase that nearly is the death of both of them. And all of this before page 55!

It soon becomes obvious that Penn is up against some formidable foes - not only is Shad Johnson eager to pin the murder on Drew, but he's joined by Sheriff Billy Byrd and Judge
Arthel Minor. Many of the townspeople are developing the mentality of a lynch mob, and Drew's wife is filing for an ugly divorce. What becomes patently obvious is that if Penn has any chance of saving his friend, he'll have to find Kate's murderer himself.

Author Iles has a gift for developing strong ancillary characters - they're etched with precision and color. There is Mia, Kate's classmate and Penn's baby sitter, who guides Penn through the murky corridors of drug wheeling and dealing at the respected school; Marko, an exchange student who grew up in a war zone; and Ellen, Drew's vengeful, addicted wife.

While Turning Angel is without a doubt a first-rate thriller, it is also a mind numbing story of the loss of innocence. An innocence never to be found again.

Highly recommended.

- Gail Cooke
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16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Save Your Money, April 18, 2006
This review is from: Turning Angel: A Novel (Hardcover)
I used to be a fan of Greg Iles but his writing has gone steadily downhill and his most recent novel is really the nadir. The plot is completely contrived and full of implausible developments whose only purpose is to keep the narrative careening along at breakneck speed so that you don't stop to ask whether it makes any sense (which it doesn't). The characters are equally unbelievable, from the overachieving male protagonists whose lack of common sense makes you wonder how they tie their shoes in the morning to the vapid, Ivy League-bound coeds whose sole fictional purpose seems to be to satisfy the wet dreams of Mr. Iles and his middle-aged readers. Underlying it all is a leering voyeurism that makes the self-congratulatory moralizing of the narrator seem completely fraudulent. If you want cheap thrills tarted up as "unflinching realism," save your money and watch the OC.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Great read
Like many others, I was captivated by page 4 and finished reading Turning Angel within 24 hours. It is a fascinating book, fiction, about the beautiful little MS town of Natchez... Read more
Published 10 days ago by June Hollis

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read
Great book. First time I read this author and am anxious to read more of his writings
Published 12 days ago by happy costomer

4.0 out of 5 stars Good high school murder thriller
I thought True Evil was average and almost gave up with Iles, but then found Turning Angel, which is a great thriller. Read more
Published 22 days ago by Clive

2.0 out of 5 stars Don't Bother
I haven't read a book this bad in years. I skimmed the last 150 pages. The plot develops into a story so unbelievable, it became laughable. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Steph

4.0 out of 5 stars ccrunch
Being a Greg Iles fan I found the book emersing, but somewhat predictable. Cage Penn, Iles new serial character, gets himself into unrealistic situations making unrealistic... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Ccrunch

4.0 out of 5 stars Well written with some implausible plotlines
Another well written novel by Iles with well developed characters that define an author with exceptional writing abilities. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Reads Thrillers

5.0 out of 5 stars A Southern mystery well told.
After a 17-year-old high school girl is found raped and murdered in St. Catherine's Creek, author and non-practicing attorney Penn Cage finds out that his best friend may be... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Virginia Rifleman

5.0 out of 5 stars don't believe the negative reviews
This is the second Greg Iles book I am reading. I am so impressed with the story that I took a few minutes to read the negative reviews. The negative reviews are just wrong. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Philip J. Herman

4.0 out of 5 stars On The Mark
Greg Iles is a truly gifted writer and one can find certain consistencies in the books that he writes. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Samuel Levin

2.0 out of 5 stars Middle Age Fantasies Run Amok
Have read this author before and was not dissapointed, but this book left me feeling "icky". I won't drag on about this book, it's just not worth my time and so many others have... Read more
Published 11 months ago by amyjammin

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