Description
Penn Cage has experienced a lot of turmoil in his life, but lately, they have been escalating. He is watching his Mother slowly slip away from cancer, while he keeps his own grim health prognosis a secret from family and friends. His feud with his racist militia neighbors is reaching a fever pitch. However, these issues take a backseat once a shooting breaks out at a unity concert and his daughter Annie is injured.
The police are under scrutiny for their actions and the racial divide is palpable in Cage’s hometown of Natchez as well as nearby Bienville. The explosive potential for a calamity only grows as a string of fires hit a number of former slave plantations and retaliation soon follows. This is coupled with the approaching presidential election where a native son named Bobby White looks to capitalize on the crisis to propel himself into the White House.
Southern Man is the latest brilliant chapter in the chronicle of Penn Cage written by the first-rate Greg Iles. The subject is sensitive and controversial, but Iles approaches it with tremendous depth and understanding. Penn Cage is a rational voice in a world which is quickly losing the plot.
