The Bone Tree by Greg Iles

Author : Greg Iles
Title : The Bone Tree
Published : 2015
Publisher : Harper Collins
Genre : Thriller / Historical Fiction
Pages : 864







     Former prosecutor Penn Cage faces the crisis of a lifetime. His family has been torn apart and his father made a fugitive after being accused of murdering an African-American nurse. Now, Penn has unwittingly started a war with the Double Eagles, a violent faction of the KKK who know more about Dr. Tom Cage than Penn ever did. Tracking his father through Natchez and beyond, Penn is targeted by criminals and corrupt police whose power reaches the top levels of state government - people who will stop at nothing to prevent the truth from coming out. To clear Tom's name, Penn must either make a deal with the devil or destroy him. But there are others pursuing a different mission - one which will lead them to the `Bone Tree', a legendary killing site that conceals far more than the remains of the dead.

     I first came to this author with the previous book in the series to this one Natchez Burning, It was one of those books that seem to deal with a lot of big issues but wrapped up in the illusion of a thriller.  Much like this book Natchez Burning was a massive book also at eight hundred and sixty-four pages long. It is not too often I pick up such books, too often I'm put off by books over five hundred pages. But having enjoyed the previous one I was hoping this would be as enjoyable as that.

      The bone tree start right after the end of Natchez Burning, so you really have to have read that before jumping into this one. It continues the epic tale of Penn cage and the most violent racist group at large in America. I was hoping for more of the same when it came to this book, but for me, something has gone a little off the rails when it comes to the plot. Whereas the first was about people struggling to make a difference. For Penn, this was about trying to make his town safe for every citizen of Natchez and protect those he loves most in the world. This one seemed to me to spin off into the world of conspiracy theories, and some of the greatest unsolved murders of the civil rights period. The assassinations of Martin Luther King and JFK have been covered into from here to eternity in other books both fiction and non. It is a subject I only know the bare bones of so I would not want to hazard a guess as to the true facts about. But for me at least this book didn't really add much. More the case it seemed to shoehorn the authors' characters around to form his plot.

     It was difficult for me to come down on this viewpoint, It was a book I was so hoping to love after the previous one. The level of witting is still up there the author knows how to write a long book. He can add a decent amount of thrills to his work. And with this one, he did keep me guessing as to the fate of each of his leads. For me knowing more books had bee written gave me a certain amount of faith that Penn would make it to the other side. But as for each and every other there where defiantly moments when I had to question if their time had come. The underlying story of two families that had been at war for a long time comes through strong and due to the length of the book it allowed the writers to build up and complex and violent past for them. What also comes through is despite a very prominent theme of racism in the south African Americans seem to only play second fiddle to the leads.

     Overall this book is not a bad book, I'm sure for a lot of others this book will play out great. But for me, I was left feeling lacking by the plot. There is still so much to be said on the themes and subject brought up by the previous book. I'm sure I will pick up the third in the trilogy within a series to find out how it all comes to a no doubt fiery end.  I just hope for a little less conspiracy and a little bit more about family bonds and the dark core of a small town in the south.