I have loved Penn Cage and Greg Iles my whole adult life! I was incredibly excited for book 7 in the series and IIes did not disappoint.

Clocking in at just short of 1,000 pages, I do wonder if this could have been two books. Once I dug in however, the pace was non stop and I remember all of the enjoyment from past thrillers starting Cage and his family.

It's 15 years later and Penn Cage is licking his wounds and living in self-chosen exile. His mother is on her deathbed and his adult daughter has finally left the nest. Penn thinks he has little to live for and after his large windfall lawsuit, is no longer interested in practicing law. Iles changes that quickly when there is a shooting at the nearby Beinville concert gathering. Simultaneously, antebellum plantation houses are burning. Suddenly there are multiple issues of race, politics, income and plenty of secrets pulling Cage back into the peacemaker game.

Iles does an excellent job of threading contemporary issues through the story while also world building to the point that you might even have to take a break from the stress of the story! By the time I finished the book I cared for the community members as much as the neighborhood friends I live near and I wanted to dig in and help.

Plenty of politics and Iles makes no secret of where his loyalties lie. Mine are quite similar and thus it was an enjoyable read. The prescient predictions and the all too similar situations between Mr. Iles and Cage however, sadden me and I hope there are many more books to come.

If you love that old time thriller and a smart hero facing contemporary issues, this is a book for you! #Natchez #gregIles #PennCage #williammorrow #SouthernMan

Greg Iles takes readers on a gripping journey through the heart of the American South in his latest novel, "Southern Man." Set against the backdrop of Mississippi, Iles weaves a tale of suspense, family secrets, and the complexities of race relations that is as riveting as it is thought-provoking.

The story follows protagonist Penn Cage who finds himself drawn into a web of intrigue when he stumbles upon a decades-old mystery involving his own family. As he delves deeper into the past, Penn uncovers long-buried secrets that threaten to unravel the very fabric of his existence.

What sets "Southern Man" apart is Iles' masterful portrayal of the Deep South. Through vivid descriptions and authentic dialogue, he brings the setting to life, capturing the essence of the region with both its charm and its flaws. From the sweltering heat of summer to the sprawling plantations steeped in history, the novel is steeped in atmosphere, immersing readers in its rich and evocative world.

At its core, "Southern Man" is a story about identity and belonging. Penn's journey is not just a quest for truth, but also a search for a just society divided by race and class. As he confronts his own prejudices and misconceptions, he is forced to reckon with the legacy of slavery and its enduring impact on the South. Through Penn's eyes as well as the other characters, Iles explores themes of redemption and forgiveness, challenging readers to confront uncomfortable truths about the past and its implications for the present.

Iles' writing is sharp and compelling, keeping readers on the edge of their seats from start to finish. The pacing is brisk, with twists and turns that will leave readers guessing until the very end. The characters are well-developed and multi-dimensional, each with their own motivations and secrets that add layers of complexity to the narrative.

Overall, "Southern Man" is a gripping thriller that offers much more than just suspense. With its richly drawn setting and thought-provoking themes, it is a novel that will linger in the minds of readers long after the final page(page 976!) is turned. Greg Iles has once again proven himself to be a master storyteller, and "Southern Man" is sure to captivate audiences far and wide.

I have always loved the Penn Cage books, and this one was a great addition to the series. I will say..it is L O N G. Too long in my opinion, but still a really good book. This is a southern gothic thriller that kept me on my toes. Don’t let the length keep you from this one. Just go in knowing you’ll be there for a while.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance reader copy of this title. WOW, just wow.....Greg Iles continues the saga of Penn Cage in this novel. I love all of his books, but this novel rises to the top like the best cream ever. Penn has been through so much, and now his mom is on her deathbed, and he is dealing with his own mortality. In the wake of his personal struggles, the racial tension in Mississippi is at a boiling point due to crooked, clueless cops, a rogue presidential candidate who is not at all what he seems, and a cabal of good ole boys (and girl) who are pulling puppet strings.

There are many intricate plot lines that Iles weaves seamlessly together, and the character relationships and arcs ring true. Iles descriptions of the settings in and around Natchez, place the reader in the situation with beautiful subtlety. Penn has been through so much, and this story feels like it might be the end of him, but he will live to fight another day. His relationship with his daughter is now on an adult level, and he has found love again.

This book may be hard to top, but I hope Iles continues to write the story of Penn Cage, even if it is through his ancestors and/or descendants.

"Southern Man" by Greg Iles is like taking a thrilling rollercoaster ride through the heart of the American South! With characters as rich as the region's history and plot twists that'll keep you guessing until the very end, this book is a total page-turner. Iles perfectly captures the essence of Southern culture while weaving in themes of family, justice, and redemption that'll leave you pondering long after you've finished the last page. Grab a copy and get ready for a wild ride.

Southern Man has been a long time coming and it’s worth the wait to reunite with Penn Cage, and what is now his life. Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow for the chance to read an ARC of this important book. Greg Iles I hope it’s not as long to wait for your next novel, you have a gift with words.

Southern Man, in my opinion, is without doubt the best novel that Greg Iles has written and that's not an opinion I hold lightly given the long list of great books he has written.
This is another Penn Cage novel and it is clear that this accomplished lawyer is nearing the end of his career, strong as ever professionally but suffering many of the joys of aging. That being said, Cage finds himself at the center of a story that includes national-level presidential politics and the continuing struggles of race relations in Mississippi, the South, and our nation.
This was not a short read but I could never leave it alone until it was over and when it was, I wished there was more because the characters were compelling, and, the story was hypnotic.

I received an ARC for free and gave my honest opinion voluntarily.

Fifteen fictional years have passed since readers got to peek into the life of Penn Cage, and things have changed, as told by Greg Iles in Southern Man (Penn Cage 7), which comes out May 28. Iles recently announced that he needs a stem cell transplant, just like his character Cage, saying “This should explain the multiple postponements of the release that generated so many emails and which I was unable to answer candidly at the time.”

The series started in 1999 with The Quiet Game. In 2024, Cage is a different man—no longer a hot shot attorney active in local politics—and his writing career has been set aside to tend his mother who is dying of multiple myeloma, the same disease Iles has suffered from for years and that is now escalating. Over the years, Cage has also lost his physician father in a prison riot and nearly his own life in a serious traffic accident that took part of his leg, the very same thing that happened to Iles.

Daughter Annie has grown up and is working as a civil rights lawyer in Jackson, Mississippi, while Cage is living quietly on a former cotton plantation above the Mississippi River. Before she succumbs, his mother Peggy has made a deep dive into family history, and she is encouraging her son to put off his next book until he reads all the work she has pieced together.

Meanwhile, Cage is drafted into advising local government when a police action shooting at a hip-hop concert not only injures his daughter but threatens the community structure of Bienville, Mississippi. Quick action by third-party presidential wannabe Robert E. Lee White, who moves in to re-inflate Annie’s collapsed lung, gives her some relief before an ambulance reaches her backstage at the concert.
Besides the shooting dubbed the Mission Hill Massacre, a radical group is setting fires to antebellum mansions in Bienville and Natchez that the black community sees as concentration camps for slaves. The city and county governments are challenged to find answers to calm the county-wide panic. Before all is said and done, Bienville is on the verge of a race war.

Cage theorizes that the fires are not historic retribution by radicals but what he calls “false flag strikes” that have triggered the chaos in the streets of Bienville. Worse, the white county police and the black city police are at odds as county leaders begin to dissolve the city government made up mostly of black citizens including the mayor.

The situation deteriorates as the black community is fuming over the assassination of one of their own and the lynching of a teenager who witnessed that bloody event. The white community in the divided town is outraged by the continuing destruction of its antebellum mansions. Before the story ends, lives will be lost as Cage and Annie find themselves in the midst of events triggered by Bobby White as he seeks a national stage for projecting himself as the man of action destined for the White House.

Chockful of local history and a family history narrative, Iles has created his magnum opus in a multi-layered story that stretches more than 900 pages. The work seems to be a culmination of everything Iles has wanted to say about politics, race relations, and civil rights as he plumbs the depths of United States history, especially the Civil War and its aftermath. The whole nation has its eyes on the unfolding events in Bienville as anarchy threatens the state of Mississippi.

Greg Iles has penned standalone books as well as his Penn Cage series. He was set for a stem cell transplant to take place before Southern Man was published, and at this time, there has been no further announcements regarding the author’s health. Born in Germany in 1960, where his father ran the US Embassy Medical Clinic during the height of the Cold War, Iles lives in Natchez, Mississippi, with his wife and children.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting March 8, 2024.

I would like to thank HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

This book was totally worth the wait. I had forgotten how much I loved Penn Cage. The writing was wonderful. I feel the door was left wide open for another book. Oh how I hope!!!! This book was totally worth the wait!

Greg Iles has created a masterpiece. He has taken the pulse of the country and woven a cautionary tale wrapped in a mystery which reflects the downward spiral of America. He has examined race relations, white supremacy, power brokers, a lack of morality, politics and usurping the rule of law and juxtaposed it with Penn Cage, a retired lawyer and mayor, his daughter, a civil rights attorney and Black leaders seeking to establish a peaceful and nonviolent way to live in the Jim Crow South.

What is amazing is that Iles does all this within the framework of his story without being preachy or lecturing. He allows the reader to explore the harsh realities as he propels you through the novel. The book opens with Penn’s dormant terminal illness awakening as his dying mother leaves him her secret research project for him to finish. At the same time, several Black Americans have been gunned down at a music festival. A young, charismatic black man emerges to quell the situation. A white war hero is trying to obtain funding from the power brokers for his third party run for President while at the same time the power brokers are trying to dissolve the city. White county and black city police are at odds. White supremacists abound. Death is everywhere. Hope is trying to stay alive. Whew!

The honesty, bravery and brutality of the characters are written so that you feel like you are immersed in the plot and experience the emotions in real time. This book will be with me for a long time. While this may be #7 in the series, this definitely can be read as a standalone book and I encourage you to read it! Don’t be reluctant because of its length. It is amazing.

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for this advance copy.

In the seventh Penn Cage novel, Southern Man, Penn is rambling. He is sitting by his dying mother's bedside and managing his own health issues due to blood cancer. On top of this, a third party candidate is entering the presidential race and has captured Penn's interest and time. A mass shooting at a local hip hop concert creates more drama for Penn when his daughter is injured. Author Greg Iles has enabled readers to feel the weight of Penn's life, history, and being. Recommended for readers who are familiar with Penn Cage and the series.

This highly anticipated book from Greg Iles is a masterpiece! I appreciate the advance copy and loved being back in Penn Cage's world. For readers that have read the Penn Cage series, they will enjoy reuniting with some familiar characters and appreciate the new characters like Bobby Lee, an ambitious politician from Bienville who figures strongly in this story about life in a the southern town of Bienville, MS, and the crime, racism, and division that has occurred after an incident that tears the community apart.

Penn finds himself in the middle of a conspiracy once again that threatens his family. The themes in this story will resonate with the reader and reflect the times we live in. I highly recommend this book and only wish the author could write faster. This is a book you cannot put down and will think about long after you finish.

Thank you to Net Galley and Harper Collins Publishing for an early copy of Southern Man by Greg Iles

Enter the world of Penn Cage---present-day Bienville, Mississippi-and do not fear the 900+ pages of mesmerizing, diabolical and tragic events that play out as the small town becomes the victim of a power-obsessed American soldier bent on becoming President of the United States and leading the country to a new reality. The unceasing assaults, both personal and public, leave little room for any kind of joy. In addition, the work here of Greg Iles is almost eerily in sync with what is occurring in American politics today.

Cage, a Don Quixote-type both good and flawed, interrupts his endeavor of writing about past lynchings when his mother, the heroic Peggy Cage, succumbs to cancer after completing research of her own that documents her family's ancestry. When Penn is urged to study her research, he is better armed to take on the battles being fought in his own town. Racially motivated and pathologically false, it will take everything Penn has to right the wrongs, even as he is confronting his own mortality and impending fatherhood.

Author Greg Iles has implemented a number of additional story lines that only add to the Southern Man narrative: a bear that has made more than one appearance and seems to be a kind of messenger, the thought processes of a mass shooter, and the lengths that those in power will go to in order to control the narrative.

Have at it---follow the events chronicled in Southern Man---come away just a little more cognizant of human capabilities---become a sharper critic of the motives of politicians---it's all here.

As the blurb says, for readers of Greg Iles, this has been a hugely anticipated title. And, right off, I can see that it does not disappoint, was worth waiting for, and is an utterly mesmerizing read. When I saw that it was over 1000 pages, I wasn't the least bit daunted; in fact I was thrilled because I knew I'd be 100% immersed. And, dear reader, I certainly was. It's a true masterpiece and is directly relevant to the times we are living in.
Of course it has that Iles magic going on where he creates his scenes so well that you are able to easily visualize the situation and feel that you are actually there. He's a little brutal in this one; people die. And you want to just turn the pages back and hope that you read it wrong. I kept wondering how this would do on the big screen and if anyone could do it justice. Because it does unfold like a movie as you read it.

Don't let the length of the book hinder you if you're a fan. It moves quickly and smoothly. In fact, you'll wish for more when you hit the end!

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. It's brilliant!

This book is a commitment with the number of pages, but if you are a Greg Iles fan, I am, you commit. Along the same lines of other Penn Cage novels racial injustice, slavery, extremist groups, Southern lore and a legal slant are all present and accounted for. Some parts made me uncomfortable and some were too much. There is a lot of violence and racism in this book. But there is also good writing and imaginative depictions of history and genealogy. A commentary on the political arena and corruption with democratic leanings. There are many characters and plot lines and its a slow read. But you won't be disappointed, especially if you're a Greg Iles fan.

Copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley

I’m a retired librarian, and I read a LOT of books. Over the years, two of my favorite genres seem to have been “Southern Gothic “and “Mystery/thriller” and finding authors who combine the two is AWESOME. Greg Iles has been a favorite, and while I haven’t totally loved every single one of his books, I have truly enjoyed the Penn Cage series, particularly Natchez Burning (2014), The Bone Tree (2015), and Mississippi Blood (2017). I was excited to get an advance copy of Southern Man, #7 in the Penn Cage novels (thank you, William Morrow and NetGalley) in exchange for my honest review.

From the jump, I have to say WOW! I excitedly sat down with my Kindle several days ago, unaware of much about Southern Man other than that it was the next in the series. I had no clue about things like when the story took place, how long the book was, and how closely the events in it matched today’s political/social scene in the U.S. About the length: it is LONG. I was reading for a couple of days and noticed I was only like 11% through, so I just had to look and see how long it really was. When I saw the print version was NINE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SIX PAGES, I was equally surprised (can it really hold my attention for that long?) and excited (I hope it keeps being as good as it already is). Spoiler: It did and it was.

The story takes place TODAY. So, it is set fifteen years after the “Natchez Burning Trilogy,” and wow have things changed for Penn. He has gone into a sort of self-imposed isolation now that he is dealing with serious health issues and the loss of nearly all his loved ones, other than his daughter Annie (now all grown up, and an attorney herself), whose work focuses on civil rights issues. Early in the book, the way the story matches today’s reality is clear: there is talk about a Trump rally: “Even the dumbest Republican advisers have figured out the skinny on the next election. There’s only one way they win. White Panic.” In case anyone isn’t clear about the state of racial harmony, “…where race in America was concerned, the twenty-first century might soon make 1965 look like a warm-up bout…”

As I was reading, I was struck by how the intensity of the words on the page matched today’s headlines. “…businessmen voted for a repeat bankrupt…evangelicals for a serial adulterer, women for an admitted sexual assaulter, patriots for a draft dodger…educated men for an ignoramus. But they did so with fierce gladness in their hearts. Because what their chosen one had done was open Pandora’s box—yes, the old one, filled with…race hatred and infinite greed…all their anger was justified.”

The action gets going when there is a shooting at a concert, followed by the burning of several antebellum mansions and increasingly large demonstrations. “Their signs demand to know whether black lives matter, when, sadly, the nation has answered that question many times over.” It is tense, and unsettling. Iles reminds us that “Since 2016, we’ve all been living through a great unraveling of the America in which we came of age…That’s what this Trump thing has done…shown that the true white tribe’s got nothing to do with geography. Not really. It’s a blood thing.”

So Penn (along with everyone else in Bienville) finds chaos all around, including the murder of his best friend by a sheriff’s deputy right on the street in broad daylight. The protests continue to grow, arsonists continue to burn buildings, and the racial warfare erupts to the point that the racially divided city government dissolves and activists (often known as “outside agitators”) come to town.

It’s a LOT. I loved the writing, and loved being so drawn in to the story that I did not want to put it down…but I kept having to take breaks because it was so unsettling. It mixes the themes of race, class, family, and morality and takes a deep look at the way complicated individuals react as their whole history and approach to living in today’s world threaten to completely come apart.

I kept making so many involuntary exclamations while reading that my husband just had to dive in as well. He was (if possible) even more enthralled than I was. HIGHLY recommended. Five stars for sure, and I’m hoping that Mr. Iles’ health issues (mirroring Penn’s) benefit from the new treatments available for MM, and he continues to entertain and inform us.

Finally Greg Iles brings back Penn Cage and it’s been worth the wait. This book reads more like a present history lesson! Iles doesn’t leave any stones unturned - he writes about everything going on in today’s world and shows how history always repeats itself! Settle down for a long story!! Thanks for the advanced copy!!

Penn Cage is back in this seventh edition. And of course he is at the center of controversy.


This book was long and very intense. And I didn’t want to put it down. Maybe because of the current climate around race, this was difficult to read in places.


Antebellum homes are torched, There is a secret psycho running for office and is not above using whatever means he has to.


Penn is different too. Learning to deal with his infirmity and not being happy about it.


Iles writes with such description you feel in the room. The characters are so well done and you feel all of their pain.


With the race wars once again at the forefront of the news, this could really be a nonfiction!




NetGalley/ William Morrow May 28 2024

I love Greg Iles and have been waiting for this third story. It was worth the wait. I can't believe the characters and especially respected all his important insights in race and politics. It was long read, but I could not put it down. The characters stayed with me and I wanted to get back to their stories. I was sad when it ended and now am waiting for the next Greg Iles storylines.

A few years ago, I came across the Penn Cage series. I was immediately invested in the series. This series will pull you in from the start.

This is book number 7 in the series and it was interesting to see the parallels of what's going on weigh the world today. Pen is investigating burnings of antebellum homes, which are homes that are constructed before the Civil War. This was an intense book but long book. The fact that it's such a long book didn't prevent me from reading it in 2 days. I couldn't put it down.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.