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deecreatenola 's review for:
The Bone Tree
by Greg Iles
The Bone Tree picks up where Natchez Burning left off. And in similar fashion, it follows the trials and tribulations over a few days in the life of Penn Cage, his family, and his enemies. And again, it's an epic story. You see even more than Penn is a flawed hero, as is his father. In fact, nearly everyone in this story has shades of grey, with the exception of the worst antagonists whose hearts are black as night.
As with the first novel, it's hard not to think that Iles could use a good editor to trim the story down. Iles is a gifted writer with an extreme eye for detail. He really puts you in the scene, and you see and sense every single detail. However, it can get to be a bit much. Clocking in at 800 pages, it's a long read. I read Natchez Burning on vacation, which helped, but this book was my nightly read...and as such it took me a long time to get through. Although I love descriptive reads, this is very much like the TV show 24. You are living every second of every minute of every hour - and not just in Penn's life. The story is told in multiple POVs, including his girlfriend Caitlin, evil force Forrest Knox, his dad Tom Cage, and a few others. So often you will read a period of time through multiple eyes. Not the same scene, but what else was going on at the same time. It's a lot and there are occasions that a bit of explanation would have done. Iles takes "show don't tell" to an exhausting extreme.
The story is worth reading, but it's an investment. Block out some time!
As with the first novel, it's hard not to think that Iles could use a good editor to trim the story down. Iles is a gifted writer with an extreme eye for detail. He really puts you in the scene, and you see and sense every single detail. However, it can get to be a bit much. Clocking in at 800 pages, it's a long read. I read Natchez Burning on vacation, which helped, but this book was my nightly read...and as such it took me a long time to get through. Although I love descriptive reads, this is very much like the TV show 24. You are living every second of every minute of every hour - and not just in Penn's life. The story is told in multiple POVs, including his girlfriend Caitlin, evil force Forrest Knox, his dad Tom Cage, and a few others. So often you will read a period of time through multiple eyes. Not the same scene, but what else was going on at the same time. It's a lot and there are occasions that a bit of explanation would have done. Iles takes "show don't tell" to an exhausting extreme.
Spoiler
This novel is also much more violent than the previous, which is saying something considering the fiery end. The body count is high by the time you finish this book, with the most surprising being Caitlin. It bothered me that much of the first half is told in her POV (albeit not first person). It somehow felt disconnected that we experienced Caitlin's actions and thoughts told in the past when she was not alive by the end of the story. It also ramps up the pathos. Penn is a guy who has already lost one wife and now he's lost his fiancee as well as his unborn child. It's brutal and made finishing the novel tough. Penn's killing of Forrest (as well as the death of Ozan) was redemptive, but it was still difficult, for me, to lose the only strong female protagonist.The story is worth reading, but it's an investment. Block out some time!