by Greg Iles
First published 2014
Penn Cage faces an impossible choice when his father Tom stands accused of murder. The beloved family doctor allegedly killed Viola Turner, a nurse he worked alongside during the turbulent 1960s in Natchez, Mississippi. Penn learned his sense of justice from Tom, but now he must decide whether to believe in his father's innocence or accept a terrible truth. His investigation pulls him into a web of old secrets involving the Double Eagles, a violent Ku Klux Klan faction controlled by one of Mississippi's most powerful men. As Penn digs deeper into events from four decades past, he discovers that the murder connects to a broader conspiracy of greed and racial violence. The case forces him to confront how the past never truly dies in the South, where old hatreds and buried crimes continue to shape the present. Penn's search for truth becomes a fight for his family's survival.
Genres: historical-fiction, mystery, crime, thriller, african-american-historical-fiction
Vibes: dark, emotional, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-drama, investigation, secrets-and-lies
Setting: Natchez, Mississippi
Period: 1960s
791 pages · Hardcover · William Morrow
Content warnings: racism, violence