Penn Cage Series: Book 7
Publication Date: May 28, 2024
The hugely anticipated new Penn Cage novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Natchez Burning trilogy and Cemetery Road, about a man—and a town—rocked by anarchy and tragedy, but unbowed in the fight to save those they love
Fifteen years after the events of the Natchez Burning trilogy, Penn Cage is alone. Nearly all his loved ones are dead, his old allies gone, and he carries a mortal secret that separates him from the world. But Penn’s exile comes to an end when a brawl at a Mississippi rap festival triggers a bloody mass shooting—one that nearly takes the life of his daughter Annie.
As the stunned cities of Natchez and Bienville reel, antebellum plantation homes continue to burn and the deadly attacks are claimed by a Black radical group as historic acts of justice. Panic sweeps through the tourist communities, driving them inexorably toward a race war.
But what might have been only a regional sideshow of the 2024 Presidential election explodes into national prominence, thanks to the stunning ascent of Robert E. Lee White, a Southern war hero who seizes the public imagination as a third-party candidate. Dubbed “the Tik-Tok Man,” and funded by an eccentric Mississippi billionaire, Bobby White rides the glory of his Special Forces record to an unprecedented run at the White House—one unseen since the campaign of H. Ross Perot.
To triumph over the national party machines, Bobby evolves a plan of unimaginable daring. One fateful autumn weekend, with White set to declare his candidacy in all fifty states, the forces polarizing America line up against one another: Black vs. white, states vs. the federal government, democracy vs. Fascism. Teaming with his fearless daughter (now a civil rights lawyer) and a former Black Panther who spent most of his life in Parchman Prison, Penn tears into Bobby White’s pursuit of the Presidency and ultimately risks a second Civil War to try to expose its motivation to the world, before the America of our Constitution slides into the abyss.
In Southern Man, Greg Iles returns to the riveting style and historic depth that made the Natchez Burning trilogy a searing masterpiece and hurls the narrative fifteen years forward into our current moment—where America itself teeters on the brink of anarchy.
All eyes turn to Mississippi as racial lines are drawn, waiting for a spark to set off an uncontrollable explosion.
Author Greg Iles details the events in Southern Man, the seventh book in the Penn Cage series. A fight at an outdoor rap music festival triggers a series of events, leaving multiple dead, injuring Penn’s daughter, and igniting the need for revenge.
While antebellum mansions are torched and rioters take to the streets, there’s an effort underway by a Southern war hero to clinch a third-party candidacy for president. Harnessing the power of social media, Bobby White is willing to do whatever it takes to win.
For readers who have faithfully followed Penn Cage through his many adventures, this installment reflects a sense of vulnerability. It would have been so easy just to walk away, but Penn knows he has to intervene.
Iles delivers engaging characters and riveting plot lines. He takes readers beyond the page into philosophical questions about the very framework of our nation. As an author, he has earned a prestigious spot among those who spark intelligence with every line.
Southern Man provides a cautionary tale of a racial divide pushed too far and a political move threatening to destroy democracy.
Greg Iles has spent most of his life in Natchez, Mississippi. His first novel, Spandau Phoenix, was the first of many New York Times bestsellers. His Natchez Burning trilogy continued the story of Penn Cage, the protagonist of The Quiet Game, Turning Angel, and #1 New York Times bestseller The Devil’s Punchbowl. Iles’s novels have been made into films and published in more than thirty-five countries. He is a member of the lit-rock group The Rock Bottom Remainders, lives in Natchez with his wife, and his three children.
