Turning Angel by Greg Iles

Using the murder of Kate Townsend as the centerpiece of this story, although there is actually more than one murder that occurs, Greg Iles boldly wades into typically forbidden territory – the sexual attraction between high school girls and older men. Kate was one of those beautiful and talented high school seniors who was headed to Harvard, “the start of the senior class,” but she also had a dark side. She had pursued a sexual encounter with the famous and handsome local doctor, Drew Elliott, who was most unhappy in his marriage. Who was really responsible for the seduction? Iles handles that matter with sensitivity and skill by using his protagonist, Penn Cage, as the counterpoint to Drew. Of course, after Kate’s death and the news of her relationship with Drew and her pregnancy, it is Drew who is accused of the murder. Did he really kill her when he found out about her dark side?

Iles leads us into the drug culture in the South. He takes us through the startlingly different world that faces high school students today. He notes the freedom and information that high school kids now have compared to what was experienced by those of us who are a bit older. Some of us fought for those freedoms and now watch our children struggle to manage them. Iles writes of the dilemma by having a high school student, Mia Burke, who was an integral part of the story, deliver her graduation valedictorian’s speech:

“Don’t get me wrong, I like freedom. But you can have too much of a good thing. At some point you have to draw a line, agree on some rules, or all you have is chaos. Anarchy. So I guess what I’m saying tonight is this: That’s our job, guys. Our class, I mean. And our generation. To figure out where freedom stops being a blessing and starts being a curse. Our parents can’t do it. They don’t even understand the world we live in now. Maybe that job can’t even be done for a society. Maybe it’s an individual decision in every case. But it seems to me that humans given absolute freedom don’t do a very good  job of choosing limits.”

Turning Angel is the third Penn Cage novel by Greg Iles that I’ve read, and I’ve already acquired his next, Natchez Burning. You can see that I’m impressed with these murder mysteries. His character development, plot and subplots are excellent. So far, there are six books in the Penn Cage Series, and Iles has written a number of other books that I’ll probably get to. No doubt, Iles belongs in my power rotation of authors, no matter who he might crowd out of my top ten authors.


Buy Turning Angel: A Novel (A Penn Cage Novel) on Amazon!