This is the second volume of Greg Iles' trilogy, the first being NATCHEZ BURNING. This continues where NATCHEZ BURNING left off, with Mayor Penn Cage determined to find out the truth about the Kennedy killings, what his father had to do with the recent death of his early lover, Viola Turner, an African American. The search is complicated by competing interests, first, his fiancee, Caitlin Masters, is the editor of a major newspaper in Natchez and she of course wants to break any news story. The FBI is also involved, John Kaiser and his wife, a famous photograph, searching for the truth about the Kennedy assassinations but they also are looking for former Ku Klux Klansmen who were involved in numerous killings in the 1960's.
The notorious Knox family, led by Forrest, next in line to be Chief of Louisiana State police and his brother Snake, cause all sorts of problems for the FBI and Penn in their search for the truth, for the perpetrators of racial killings. Along the way, mostly because various interests refuse to share the information they have, Penn's fiancee, Caitlin, throwing caution aside to get a story, is shot and killed on the orders of the Knox brothers. Various leads take Penn and the FBI to the conclusion that Snake may have been the sniper who shot Kennedy and they have heard of a note which seems to confirm this. On their way to get at this data, they kill Forrest Knox though his brother Snake, lives on, no doubt to appear in the final novel. Penn's father, a retired physician, has been on the lam but at the end of the book, he turns himself into the police and is charged with the murder of Viola Turner. We know that there's some involvement on his part but he insists on remaining silent, as he has now for two books, which drives his son Penn crazy and leads to numerous deaths. The book, like NATCHEZ BURNING, is well over 600 pages, so be ready for a long read. I liked it enough to finish but am glad it's done.
It's a thriller but has lots of Southern atmosphere, of villains, and interesting characters which make it worth reading
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