I can't praise this novel highly enough. It is extremely topical and a frightening example of how powerful, but wrong-minded, groups can manipulate circumstances, social media for their own ends. 'Southern Man' also gives an overview of Mississippi history and politics from the US Civil War to now, and how, sadly, certain attitudes have not changed. It is a continuation of Penn Cage's story some years after the events of 'Mississippi Blood', and is just a thrilling, frightening and real as all the previous books. A real page-turner it is extremely well-written with fully-rounded characters.

With many thanks to NetGalley and Hemlock Press for an ARC>

Wow. After reading The Natchez Burning Trilogy a few years ago I thought Greg Iles had peaked. Surely reaching such a high standard again just wasn't possible but I could not have been more wrong.
Penn Cage is well and truly back. Set in current day America Penn Cage goes head to head with Robert E Lee a loved and respected war hero known as the Tik Tok Man and his financial supporter - billionaire Bobby White. Robert E Lee is running for president and riding a tidal wave of support. Penn Cage has nothing to lose and throws everything he can in an attempt to expose the real reason they want Robert E Lee as president. It's gripping, heart wrenching and absolutely captivating. I just inhaled this book, I couldn't get it enough.
Greg has the very rare ability to really bring his characters and their personalities to life. You're on this journey with them and you share their emotions and pain.
Living in Natchez for most of his life he'll understand the motivations behind racism and is able to articulate that in a sensitive manner and he handles that incredibly well.
In summary I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

I started to read this, excited as I’d been a big fan of the earlier Penn Cage novels by Greg Iles. They were well constructed and exciting thrillers set in the South of the USA.
The Natchez Burning trilogy was excellent and I was disappointed when I got to the end of the series.
I don’t know what it was about this one, maybe because I’m English and I just couldn’t get into the politics of Southern Man, maybe it was because the politics really slowed down the narrative, maybe I really didn’t care about the characters but I got to about a third of the way through and I just had to give up. I was forcing myself to pick up the book and that is not a good sign, particularly in a book running to 900 pages.
I’m sure many readers will love the novel, but I did not. It was quite depressing both in subject matter and even the character of Penn himself was not the same as the one I remembered from the earlier trilogy.
When I read a thriller I just don’t want to read about the author’s politics and what is actually happening in the world today. I read for escapism and I was not getting it with this book.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my advance copy.

Southern Man is the new Penn Cage novel following on from the brilliant Natchez Burning trilogy. After an incident at a black music festival in Mississippi when the police response leads to a number of deaths the atmosphere becomes increasingly tense and on the brink of eruption. Old antebellum plantation homes built in the days of salve labour are burnt down in events claimed by a previously unknown black radical group. The situation goes downhill from here.
I have read and enjoyed the books in the Natchez Trilogy and Southern Man follows on in the same style (although it is also a free-standing novel in its own right). It is a long book and I felt that some of the historical background was rather complex and perhaps could have been shortened a little but I can understand that Greg Iles had a lot to say and wanted to include it all.
All in all this is an excellent novel and probably Greg's magnum opus to date.

Greg Iles, best selling author of the Natchez Burning trilogy and Cemetery Road, zeroes in on the the contemporary state of the US, a polarised and divided nation where the issue of race is at its heart. I am not going to lie this is a long read at 976 pages, which may put off some readers, but I would strongly urge you to pick up the latest harrowing Penn Cage offering where the explosive present threatens to eclipse the tragedy and horrors of the past. Cage is a shadow of the man he used to be, his mother, Peggy, is dying after having researched the family's past, where nothing is as he believes, challenging his sense of identity and his understanding of and links with the historical genocidal Southern slave plantations. He has lost so many, and he is keeping secret his cancer, including from his daughter, Annie, a civil rights lawyer.

However, he has no choice but ro once again be thrust into the terrors that unfold, initially triggered by forces of law enforcement's senseless shootings that results in the Mission Hill Massacre at a hip hop concert, leaving a black community enraged as time and time again America demonstrates that Black lives absolutely do not matter. This is followed by the burning of old Southern antebellum homes, apparently by a radical black group, tossing incendiary fuel that, as might have be forseen, with the inevitable white panic that follows. A race war, death, and deadly anarchy is all but guaranteed, but is this all a case of false flag acts, are there more sinister, manipulative, and powerful ruthless forces of hatred, greed, and deranged political ambition driving what is happening?

With those close to him and his family being targeted, and the unexpected news from bookstore owner, Nadine, Cage has no choice but to look below the surface of the chillingly disturbing escalation of the seemingly random events, there is nothing he won't do to secure the future of his family, even if it kills him. Iles poignantly invests Cage with many of his real life circumstances, such as suffering from cancer himself, and he is to be applauded for signposting and illuminating the consequences of the pitiful state of the US today, with the upcoming presidential elections, and exploring the truth and complexities of American history and the personal ramifications it can have. I cannot recommend this highly enough! A must read. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

OMG. What an incredible book and one that reveals so much about the author, his state of health and fears and concerns about the politics and racial history of his country.

This is a long, long book which takes time and effort on the part of the reader but please stay with it and you will be richly rewarded. It is exciting with incredible action scenes but far more importantly you really get inside the head of the main characters particularly Penn Cage and his daughter Annie and the aspiring and amoral politician/president./psychopath Bobby White.

The writing is terse and spare with not a word wasted and you are soon drawn in and mesmerised by the audacity of the plot which is being launched against the stability of the state and the a plan to elect a third party candidate to the presidency.

This is a book for those who want to lean more about the history of slavery and racism in the South, the deep instability and racial tension that currently exists and of course, the state of mind of an immensely talented author for whom we can only send our hopes and prayers for a full recovery.

This is his magnum opus and a must read.

Thank you Mr Iles.

A hard-hitting and controversial read.

More than fifteen years have passed since the events of the Natchez Burning trilogy, and Penn Cage has not had it easy. His wife is dead, his mother dying. He lost a leg in a car accident and he's been diagnosed with cancer. No longer the mayor of Natchez, he's now back working as an attorney. To please his now grown-up daughter, Penn attends a rap festival. Unfortunately this soon turns into a bloody mass shooting in which his daughter is shot and his girlfriend killed.

And with that, Cage is drawn into a story of racial hatred, riots, and political manoeuvrings. Soon, homes are being razed to the ground, more shootings and lynchings take place, and in-between a Black racial supremacy group is pushing the cities of Natchez and Bienville towards a race war. This is all set against the background of the 2024 Presidential elections and a Black candidate who is ready to rise to prominence, whatever the cost.

This is a big book - over 900 pages, and it's hard-going. Nothing new for Greg Iles, but "Southern Man" is particularly hard going. The book is going to divide readers - long-time fans who like to see current events integrated into their reading will lap it up. Those of us who prefer to be entertained and not distracted by real-world events, and not have the author's clear opinions writ large on the page will probably relegate the book to the DNF pile. Iles has never been afraid to address issues others consider too controversial, but sometimes social commentary simply gets in the way of a good story. Character development in this book is not what it was in the earlier Natchez books. Cage is not that man he was, reflecting the events that have taken place in the author's real life. And while its good to follow him as he seeks meaning in his life, it's sad to see what he has become.

Conversely, Annie, Penn’s daughter and herself an attorney, shines brightly as she refuses to take the easy road and pushes to do do what is right.

This is a powerful story, pulling in many issues which affect America and its citizens right now. There's already a number of glowing reviews for "Southern Man", so clearly it's going to be another bestseller - but I suspect many long-time fans will decide to leave Penn where he was.