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The Quiet Game (Abridged) Audiobook
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(4.00) - 6,331 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
Penn Cage is no stranger to death. As a Houston prosecutor he sent sixteen men to death row, and watched seven of them die. But now, in the aftermath of his wife's death, the grief-stricken father packs up his four-year-old daughter, Annie, and returns to his hometown in search of healing. But peace is not what he finds there.
Natchez, Mississippi, is the jewel of the antebellum South, a city of old money and older sins, where passion, power, and racial tensions seethe beneath its elegant façade. After twenty years away, Penn is stunned to find his own family trapped in a web of intrigue and danger.
Determined to save his father from a ruthless blackmailer, Penn stumbles over a link to the town's darkest secret: the thirty-year-old unsolved murder of a black Korean War veteran. But what drives him to act is the revelation that this haunting mystery is inextricably bound up in his own past. Under a blaze of national media attention, Penn reopens the case, only to find local records destroyed, the FBI file sealed, and the town closing ranks against him.
Penn joins forces with Caitlin Masters, a beautiful young newspaper publisher, on a quest that will lead from the bayous of the South to the highest reaches of the U.S. government. His need to right a terrible wrong pits him against the FBI, the powerful judge who nearly destoyed his family, and his most dangerous adversary: a woman he loved more than twenty years before, and who haunts him still. His crusade for justice will ultimately lead him into a packed Mississippi courtroom, where he fights a battle that could end a decades-old silence and force the truth to be spoken at last.
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"A good fast-paced read, with action, mystery, and quietly compelling, tasteful sex. The local color (Natchez, on the bluffs of the Mississippi River) plays a starring role, perhaps with more verisimilitude than some of the characters. Very good plotting. Some of the best prose I've read in a thriller novel. Iles really does know how to write. Yes, there are the heart-strings twisting cliches: a lone celeb dad and his daughter recovering from the death to cancer of his wife; the good country doctor (McCoy Southern style) and his wife; the power-hungry, unprincipled FBI director; and the retired, hard-boiled Clint Eastwood-like FBI agent brimming with integrity. But the truly badass Southern cop is no stereotype. The character of Livy Marston was convincing. Apart from her simmering sexuality (yup, I'm a guy, and it worked on me), the inner tension and mystery surrounding her past carried through right to the end. I would like to have seen more conflict on Penn's part around his attractions to Livy and Caitlin Masters -- both stunning, wealthy, daring, but from different cultures, North and South. But once Livy appeared on the scene, she seemed to suck the oxygen out of Penn's relationship with Caitlin. A shame. Seems there was some good ore left there unmined. Perhaps the author felt it would've diverted from the main plot line, but I have faith that if he'd given it his attention, he could've pulled it off. I would have rated this book 5-stars but for two things. The big conspiracy it's centered around just didn't carry the kind of impact it needed to. So rather than climax and denouement, it was a bit of a ho-hum. The second was a glaring oversight on the part of protag Penn that seemed totally uncharacteristic and designed solely to set up a surprise reveal during the novel's climactic scene. [I'll give more detail below after the Spoiler Alert line.] But all in all, this is a good one -- far better than much of the junk they pass off these days under the Thriller genre.SPOILER ALERT BEYOND THIS POINT:The scene in question is when Penn learns from that the waitress in the bar who thinks she's his illegitimate daughter that she has actual recordings of phone conversations between the New Orleans crime boss and Leo Marsten. Penn blithely shows no interest. In real life, anyone in his situation would've been all over those tapes asap. This allows Penn to introduce the waitress and tapes at the trial and carry the day. A bit of cheating by the author, in my opinion. Bi"
— Robert (4 out of 5 stars)
The Quiet Game Listener Reviews
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" This is one of my favorite books of all times. It is set in Natchez, MS, with references to Oxford and Ole Miss, as well as Texas. Flashbacks to the Civil Rights Era. "
— aldr6870, 2/20/2014 -
" Not bad once I got down to it! "
— Keri, 2/18/2014 -
" Lawyer-turned-writer Penn Cage returns home to Natchez, Mississippi after the death of his wife from cancer. While there he gives an interview to the local newspaper that sets in motion his reluctant investigation into a 30-year old murder. In the process, Cage reconnects with his parents, community, and former love, Livy Marston; learns some truths about his own personal past; falls in love; gets shot at several times; solves the 1968 murder; brings down a town bigwig; and most importantly, saves his DC-based FBI contact from the awful fate of being posted to Fargo, ND. "
— Pam, 2/15/2014 -
" A little bit all the president's men, a little bit chinatown, and a little bit mississippi burning, this book has a lot going on. Good fun, had me hooked from the start. "
— Dan, 1/27/2014 -
" Another armchair gripping novel featuring Penn Cage, lawyer/writer,by Greg Iles. I had a really hard time putting this book down! This book is a prequel to "The Devil's Punchbowl". I've definitely become a fan of this author. The novel starts in the present for Penn Cage, whose wife recently died, and introduces the character of Caitlin Masters. A 1968 murder of a black man in Natchez, Mississippi quickly becomes a primary focus of the story and, in attempting to solve the who and why of it, a lot of Penn's early history unfolds. "
— Barbara, 1/23/2014 -
" Family secrets and a trail of intrigue leads Cage, the protagonist, to an unsolved murder that occurred decades earlier. Conspiracy, collusion, and an old flame make this a good read. "
— Julie, 1/15/2014 -
" An ok book, but the author doesn't half go on and on when describing. Many a time I had to skip whole pages just to avoid the bore of the descriptions, some of which were not even relevent to the story. Otherwise an ok book. It got better as it went on. "
— Lisa, 1/15/2014 -
" This book was a lot longer and harder to read than "Sleep No More" "
— Dorothy, 12/8/2013 -
" LOVED this book! So good! Well written! "
— Ashley, 11/12/2013 -
" This is the first in the Penn Cage series. Typical Iles---which means it's really good. "
— Pat, 11/11/2013 -
" Love the character Penn Cage! "
— Tricia, 10/26/2013 -
" I Loved It! What a page turner. You get lost in what time it is, what you have to do today, you don't want to put it down!!! "
— Carol, 10/19/2013 -
" Really 4.5. "
— Carol, 9/23/2013 -
" One of the best legal thrillers I have read. Iles makes one love south with all its detailed overview. Gets the deepest sexual thoughts to the surface lucidly. Makes you hold your breath with suspense and really writes an " unputdownable" book. "
— Milind, 9/17/2013 -
" I really liked this one. I just found out that it's a series...yes!! Greg Iles is a new author for me. So far, so good. "
— Lisa, 3/26/2013 -
" I really liked this book...it was very hard to put down and I spent many nights staying up late just to read another chapter! I'm on to the next Penn Cage book...so far it's just as good as this one! "
— Karen, 2/4/2013 -
" This was my first Greg Iles book. I liked it but there's too much of a racial story for my taste. I will read the next Penn Cage if there's less racial elements to the story. "
— Peg, 9/11/2012 -
" deep south mystery at it's finest "
— Ann, 9/6/2012 -
" I WOULD LOVE TO MEET THIS MAN. WHAT A COOL & BRILLIANT IMAGINATION "
— Holly, 8/22/2012 -
" The the Deep South is as odd as I think it is and I grew up there!! "
— Annie, 6/3/2012 -
" It was a great read as far as twists and turns that keep you guessing. It made me interested to find more out about Pres. Hoover, he wasn't shone in very good light. A legal thriller, reminded me of Grisham's books. "
— Sue, 5/3/2012 -
" Excellent read. More twists and turns than a 15-minute game of snake on your phone. I was a bit worried about a couple of melodramatic OTT bits early on, but VERY glad I put them aside. "
— Mic, 5/3/2012 -
" Greg Iles rarely misses. This is great. "
— Beverlee, 4/27/2012 -
" Great writing, great story, great characters and just enough plot twists to keep it interesting without being ridiculous. "
— Stacy, 2/22/2012 -
" Greg Isles is great for just having fun and escaping. "
— Danyelle, 10/31/2011 -
" A good mystery written in first person about opening a "cold" murder case during the civil rights era in the south. "
— Jacki, 6/1/2011 -
" Violent, but well written, with well drawn characters. "
— Cathy, 5/20/2011 -
" I'm a big fan of Greg Iles and this is one of my favorite books he's authored. The first Penn Cage book that delves into the racial tensions still existing in the South and goes back to the late 50's/60's and racial crimes of those times. <br/> <br/>Heart-stopping thriller. "
— Cheryl, 5/6/2011 -
" The reader runs the gamut of emotions while enjoying Iles knowledge and ability to keep you in suspense. I couldn't put it down. "
— Robin, 4/22/2011 -
" I actually listened to this driving cross-country. It was a nice distraction. "
— Robin, 4/20/2011 -
" LOVED this book! So good! Well written! "
— Ashley, 4/14/2011 -
" What a good book! The more you read the better it gets! A whole town has played a game of "quiet" for many years with blackmailing, murder, and rape being involved. Can all this be solved and how would you go about undermining the FBI? "
— Joanie, 4/8/2011 -
" I like ALL of Greg Iles books, but this is the start of one of my favorites of his "series". "
— Moonyean, 3/30/2011 -
" This book was awesome. The ending had so many twists and turns - could not put it down! "
— Becky, 3/5/2011 -
" Great writing. My Mom told me about Greg Iles and this was the first book I read. Really good mystery, set in the deep south which was really interesting. "
— Cindy, 2/18/2011 -
" What a great story! New author for me and I am glad I started at the first in the Penn Cage series. "
— Deanna, 2/10/2011
About Greg Iles
Greg Iles is the author of twenty-four novels, including eight New York Times bestsellers. His novels have been made into films and published in more than thirty-five countries.
About Dick Hill
Laural Merlington is an audiobook narrator with over two hundred titles to her credit and a winner of multiple Earphones Awards. An Audie Award nominee, she has also directed over one hundred audiobooks. She has performed and directed for thirty years in theaters throughout the country. In addition to her extensive theater and voice-over work, she teaches college in her home state of Michigan.