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Turning Angel
Turning Angel
Turning Angel
Audiobook17 hours

Turning Angel

Written by Greg Iles

Narrated by Dick Hill

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

“Greg Iles’s storytelling blazes like a supernova” (BookPage) in this ingeniously twisting and atmospheric New York Times bestseller.

After winning the most dangerous case of his career, prosecutor Penn Cage decides to remain in his Southern hometown to raise his young daughter in a safe haven. But nowhere is truly safe—not from long-buried secrets, or murder.… When the nude body of prep school student Kate Townsend is found near the Mississippi River, Penn’s best friend, Drew Elliott, is desperate for his counsel. An esteemed family physician, Drew makes a shocking confession that could put him on death row. Penn will do all he can to exonerate Drew, but in a town where the gaze of a landmark cemetery statue—the Turning Angel—never looks away, Penn finds himself caught on the jagged edge of blackmail, betrayal, and deadly violence.

Turning Angel will have you wondering where Greg Iles has been all your life.” —USA Today

LanguageEnglish
Release dateDec 27, 2005
ISBN9781597108836
Turning Angel
Author

Greg Iles

Greg Iles spent most of his youth in Natchez, Mississippi. His first novel, Spandau Phoenix, was the first of thirteen New York Times bestsellers and his new trilogy continues the story of Penn Cage, protagonist of The Quiet Game, Turning Angel, and #1 New York Times bestseller The Devil's Punchbowl. Iles' novels have been made into films and published in more than thirty-five countries.

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Reviews for Turning Angel

Rating: 4.000757631515151 out of 5 stars
4/5

660 ratings46 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    im hooked on the Penn Cage novels. Gripping and entertaining
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    This is the most disgusting work of fiction that I've ever read. The undertones are disgusting. I kept skipping through sections in hope of finding a redeeming quality in the underlying story. Instead, it was abhorrent to the last paragraph. I wish I would have put the book down entirely instead of skipping parts. My desire to complete books I start was my ruin. In short, the authors mind is twisted to think of the backstort of the character Marco. Possibly worse (and I only say possibly because the filthy backstory or Marco is disgusting beyond belief) was the main character sympathizing with adult teachers having sexual relationships with their minor students. Absurd, ridiculous, abominable, perverted, and disgusting.

    I had high hopes after reading The Quiet Game. Now I don't want to touch another Iles book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Book DescriptionAfter winning the most dangerous case of his career, prosecutor Penn Cage decides to remain in his Southern hometown to raise his young daughter in a safe haven. But nowhere is truly safe―not from long-buried secrets, or murder.… When the nude body of prep school student Kate Townsend is found near the Mississippi River, Penn’s best friend, Drew Elliott, is desperate for his counsel. An esteemed family physician, Drew makes a shocking confession that could put him on death row. Penn will do all he can to exonerate Drew, but in a town where the gaze of a landmark cemetery statue―the Turning Angel―never looks away, Penn finds himself caught on the jagged edge of blackmail, betrayal, and deadly violence.My ReviewThis is a story that will grab your attention right from the start. It was hard to put down and the plot had many twists and turns. The ending was a surprise that I didn't see coming. The subject matter was disturbing but the characters are very realistic. I loved the setting of the book - the South in Natchez Mississippi, a historic civil war city. I now look forward to reading the 3rd book of the Penn Cage series and highly recommend this author to those who love page-turning mystery novels.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A little slow starting, but I kept with it because I knew it would be long before I couldn't put it down.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book is a very good thriller that I had a hard time putting down. It tells the story of a small town murder of the highly successful and beautiful class valedictorian. After the murder, the story explores the dark underside of high school students today with their great exposure and openness to sex and drugs. The plot twists and turns at a rapid pace, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Even the end was satisfying as all the important story lines are closed up nicely. I would recommend this to anyone who likes a good story but is willing to read some explicit content.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    ?Turning Angel is the second book in the Penn Cage series. Penn Cage is a retired prosecutor who moved back home to Natchez, Mississippi were he writes his best seller novels. In Turning Angel, Penn finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation. Kate Townsend, a beautiful, and intellegent teenager is found murdered and raped floating the the Natchez River. Drew Elliot, Penn's best friend and the one of the town's well respected physicians confessed to Penn that he has been having an affair with Kate. As soon as word of this gets out to Drew is charged with Kate's murder. Penn works with his babysitter Mia, to follow Kate's life, through rave's, drug dealers, and the sexually relationships of the teenage girls in Natchez. Penn must race to find out what happened to Kate to save Drew from being convicted and sentenced to death. I loved the Quiet Game, book one in the Penn Cage Series, which deals with soutern secrets and racism of the past. However, I believe the best Greg Iles novel I have read was Blood Memory.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Excellent book! Thank you Greg Iles! I enjoyed every single word! Very entertaining! I love how Greg gets into the deeply seated emotions of each character! I learned more about myself with each book I’ve read written by Mr. Iles! Absolutely love his Book! About to read my next book now!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The story for this one was okay, but pretty slow. I listened to the entire audio book hoping for a dramatic ending but was disappointed. Love the author's books still.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    After loving every second of The Quiet Game, I tried to be realistic with Turning Angel. Primarily, the story is dark and I could have been okay with the mature storyline. This is not for kids. Iles chose to use language that made me uncomfortable. I'm not naive, and I accept that kids have access to sexually explicit materials more than I did. There was an issuance of body slang that crossed class lines, as well as the age of the kids with no filter that I wasn't buying, and I kept waiting on the punchline that never came.

    High school kids (35ish in the graduating class) having multiple sex partners, couples sex, passing each other around and drugs, heroin not weed, seducing teachers. The path was well-written and the story was moving, until the dialogue started with the kids, and it lost the realism.

    It makes me question going forward with book #3. I think Iles writes a good story; and I'm saddened of not going on. I like the characters and the direction they are headed.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I hope this isn't the world our kids live in ! I'm not quite sure why I finished it though there actually are some good messages if you can Wade through the cesspool to reach the end . the first book in the series grabbed me and reeled me in but this second in the series read more like a hardcore pornography book. I won't be reading any more in the series. very talented author but this was way over the line
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Another page turner by Greg. It’s racial content is also worth considering during these uncertain times.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Very fast-paced story. A teen with an older, married lover dies. Small town intrigue.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Turning Angel, the second in the Penn Cage series, is a gripping thriller that focuses on the privileged teens attending St. Stephens, Penn's old high school. In the dying city of Natchez, Mississippi, the kids are making risky choices, which inevitably lead to illegal sex, drug use, and murder. After the police discover seventeen-year-old Kate Townsend's pregnant body in the river, Drew—Penn's close childhood friend—is arrested by a DA with his own agenda. As racial and political issues grow in the wake of another death, Penn realizes he might be the only one who can save his friend from being convicted of a murder he didn't commit. The book sucked me in immediately and kept me hooked with plot twist after plot twist. I found the characters authentic and complicated. Some are disgusting but still authentic. I can see from the reviews that some people consider the subject of underage sex distasteful. So is rampant drug use in our schools. That doesn't mean it doesn't happen. That part of the book didn't bother me. My only critique concerns the main character's choices. Penn Cage is a widower and a single father to Annie, his nine-year-old daughter. The entire story is about his quest to save the life of his friend, Drew Elliott, by proving he didn't kill his girlfriend so he could be there to raise his nine-year-old son, Timmy. Yet, Penn recklessly risks his own life—which would leave Annie motherless AND fatherless—by pursuing dangerous drug dealers without backup or even a weapon over and over again. In this respect, some of Mr. Iles' plot choices were frustrating. However, after our hero's run-in with Cyrus, we are reminded that Penn is only human.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The books are lengthy, but they are good.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Audiobook narrated by Dick HillBook two in the Penn Cage series. Drew Elliott is a highly respected doctor in Natchez. He is also a life-long friend of Penn’s, having saved his life when they were boys, and he serves alongside Penn on the school board of their alma mater, St Stephen’s Prep. When the nude body of the school’s valedictorian is found near a creek bed behind the school property, the entire community is shocked. But Penn soon discovers that Drew had an inappropriate and passionate relationship with the girl, and Drew’s likely to be accused of her murder.Okay… Iles can write a compelling story with lots of suspects, many twists and turns in the plot, complicated motives and subplots, and a fast pace that keeps the reader turning pages. Penn’s background as a prosecuting attorney in Houston serves him well, but also complicates matters; he’s no longer practicing law, though Drew wants to maintain an “attorney-client” privilege to their communication. Iles books are full of violence … and of the three I’ve read, particularly against women. Murder is always a violent crime, of course, but the sexual component herein is particularly disturbing. But I have a major problem with THIS book due to the basic underlying relationships. We have a doctor having a torrid love affair with a TEENAGER who is his PATIENT! And her mother “approves” of this?!!!??!!?!?! Then Penn is attracted to and kissing the teenager who babysits his daughter …. YUCK and DOUBLE YUCK. So the basic “thriller genre” gets 3 stars (even with the violence against women), but loses a star for the particularly distasteful – and disgraceful – underlying theme here.And by the way … Penn is going on about how he wants to improve Natchez and bring more people to the community. But the author is sure doing a good job of painting it as a den of iniquity that no one would want to visit, with shoot-outs in hotels and drug cartels running rampant. Um, not my idea of a vacation spot (or a place to live).Dick Hill does a pretty good job performing the audiobook. He sets a good pace and I like his voice for Penn Cage. He manages a decent teenaged Mia too, which is a bit surprising given his deep voice. But I really disliked the voice he used for Drew, who sounded whiny, cowardly and weak. No way I believed he was a big, strong man.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The ending was a bit 'meh'... I kept waiting for a big 'surprise'. But well-written characters, and I like how Iles digs into the Southern psyche.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This was an excellent follow-up to the first book in the Penn Cage Series, The Quiet Game. The events in this book take place five years after the first book and revolve around the murder of a girl two weeks before her 18th Birthday and the affair she was having with a married Doctor. Was he responsible for her murder or was there something else going on in her life that led to her murder? Call in Penn Cage, the doctor's best friend, to investigate.This is quite an in-depth story with many layers that have to be unpeeled. This held my interest from the very beginning and was difficult to put down the further I got into the book. I like the character of Penn Cage and the link he had with his baby sitter, Mia, who helped him throughout this case. The further the story goes on the more ramifications that it has on the town of Natchez and Kate's murder isn't the only casualty of the period. It lost half a star for me for the indepth description of the effect of taking heroin, I didn't feel this was called for, otherwise I would have given it five stars. I would certainly recommend this series based on the first 2 books in the series.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It begins as a taut legal thriller where Penn Cage (From Quiet Game and Sleep No More) has to defend his friend who had saved his life previously. His friend was in love with a high school student who turns up dead. All clues begin pointing to Penn's friend as the killer. Meanwhile, the story touches on drug warfare, adolescent sex and more double-crossing and political reaching than you can imagine. "Turning Angel" is a good book that explores the loss of innocence among the young. Is there anything that can be done? Iles doesn't answer that question but still writes an fun novel.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Unputdownable. Engrossing and exciting, but harrowing towards the end. Will definitly will rea the third book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Kind of creepy theme of a 40+ doctor having explicit and graphic sex of all types with a teenager.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Not as good as some of his stuff, but Iles still tells a good story.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Once again, Greg Iles and his protagonist, Penn Cage, have reeled me in to become engrossed in a taut thriller. The author is able to create moral dilemmas within apparently black and white issue of right and wrong. The characters are engaging and memorable as well. I am looking forward the next Penn Cage installment.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The main protagonist of this crime/mystery is "a distinguished attorney who switched careers in midlife to become a best-selling author, but to the people of this town he will always be the tight end on St. Stephen's championship football team. Ladies and gentlemen, Penn Cage.”Penn gets called by his old friend Drew Elliott, a doctor and prominent citizen, to help him out with a jam. Kate Townsend, the intelligent and attractive star student of St. Stephen's Prep school, and former babysitter for Drew Elliott, has been found dead in the river. She had been raped and murdered. Drew confesses to Penn that he had been having an affair with the girl, but firmly insists he didn’t kill her. But if the real killer isn’t found, Drew could be convicted for the crime.As the story unwinds, we learn the sordid secrets behind the facades of the putatively upstanding citizens (and their children) of Natchez. The high school kids are heavily involved with parties, drugs and sex, which the parents don’t notice, because they are also busy with the same things. Meanwhile, the bodies start piling up. Penn gets some investigative assistance from his own intelligent and attractive babysitter, Mia Burke. Since Penn is a widower, he too has temptations to sort out. In addition, the story is complicated by race relations, since the DA is a politically ambitious black man facing - for the defense, a one-time civil rights leader who has become an expensive legal gun-for-hire.Evaluation: Interest is added to a search for a murderer by the city of Natchez itself and by the theme of the perils of and to today’s very precocious teenagers.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Greg Iles, Turning Angel (Penn Cage series), the second installment riveting suspense thriller, set in the Deep South, dives into the high school, when a popular high school girl is found dead in the river.

    After winning a dangerous case, prosecutor Penn Cage chooses to remain in this Southern hometown of Natchez, Mississippi in order to raise his young daughter. After The Quiet Game and as always, trouble is waiting around the corner as Cage has a way of bringing out the worst.

    This time long buried secrets and murder surface when the body of prep school Kate Townsend is found in the river, and Penn’s best friend and family physician, Drew needs his help. The house school girl’s murder points to the married man, having an affair with the killer. When Cage offers his assistance, he puts himself in the middle of blackmail, dark secrets, betray and risk and once again has to keep his family safe.

    Love Penn Cage series and Greg Iles is an incredible writer for a satisfying and engaging read! Would recommend reading each of the books in series order (I fell in love with Natchez Burning and working my way backward to read them all). So looking forward to The Bone Tree (#5) and the Unwritten Laws (#6).

    My only negative for this one was Dick Hill, narrator of the audiobook, (which I have mentioned in previous reviews), as would prefer David Ledoux, narrator from Natchez Burning.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Could not tolerate much of this. Male fantasy gone bad? I thought the first of this series a passable read. Not this one.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Although I'm not much of a fan of murder mysteries, I've come to like the writing of author Greg Iles very much. What stands out for me is that his home town of Natchez, Mississippi, has just as big a role in his novels as do his characters. A sense of love for his hometown is always in the forefront even if the plots of his novels are somewhat malevolent.Turning Angel is the third book by Iles that I have read, and it does not disappoint. I like the level-headed character of former lawyer, and now writer, Penn Cage. I also like that the novel, although pretty hefty at almost 500 pages, moves along steadily. It's not like other mysteries in which nothing is unravelled until the bitter end. It could have been a bit shorter (and maybe a bit more believable), but I think the author wanted to take time to develop the story and provide the reader with unexpected plot twists.The history of the south seems to rattle through Iles' books with an eye to educate rather than anger. I especially like this quote:What's the third type of black leader? ... The prophetic leader. That's Martin, Malcolm...Ella Baker. Or James Baldwin in the intellectual sphere ... The current generation has produced no leaders of this type, much less of that caliber. I'm watching Barak Obama, but I'm not sure yet.After reading those lines, I was curious to see when this book was written. It was copyright 2005, well before Barack Obama was a household name.The story begins with the revelation that stunningly beautiful Kate Jennings, a 17-year-old Harvard-bound high school senior is found raped and murdered. Penn Cage's friend Dr. Elliott, a well respected 40-year-old physician, reveals that he has been involved in a secret love affair with this woman although he firmly states that he did not kill her. So who did? If the true killer is not found, a jury is soon to put Dr. Elliott behind bars for 30 years. If you've never read a book by Iles before, I must admit that I liked Mortal Fear and The Quiet Game better. However, this story will give you an idea of how Greg Iles can twist the history, the setting, and the people of Natchez, Mississippi, into a captivating story.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    My favorite book by Greg Iles. I could not put it down read it in 2 days.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    My first Penn Cage novel - and I enjoyed it *a lot*. I think I've found a new favorite!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    So far...about halfway into this book....it is good....I love this author...Natchez, MS....It is neat to read about a place you are familiar with. His other books about the area are good too.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This second Penn Cage thriller is excellent. Disturbing, intriging, brutal and absolutely page turning. Likable characters. This book established Greg Iles as one of my favourite authors