Into the Fire

The Bone Tree by bestselling author Greg Iles is Book Two in the trilogy that begins with Natchez Burning and concludes with Mississippi Blood. 

Let's face it: if you're writing a contemporary southern novel but your intent is to include the ugly history of prejudice then and now, plus you want to fire up the conspiracy theories on the JFK assassination after having done considerable research, and then add the well-known and documented southern corruption in different areas of law enforcement past and present, you no doubt will produce a very long, wicked, cruel story such as Greg Iles' The Bone Tree. 

There will be generational evil that accompanies more than one family of military and law enforcement men who have ruled an elite hunting reserve where politicians visit for more than the sport of killing exotic animals throughout the fenced compound that borders the swamp in this isolated area.

And of course you'd include a couple of intense journalists who want to bring down these crooked psychopathic killers who pose as lawmen and businessmen because their families have been killing blacks and anyone else who's gotten in their way as they climbed the ladder to wealth and notoriety while managing to spread absolute terror to any who oppose them. And what would happen to these challenging journalists when they get too close to exposing these men?

And how about a skilled and determined FBI agent who refuses to abandon what he's really pursuing?

Then you return the protagonist from other previous books including the first in this series, you challenge his very life and loves along with his principles, and you produce the second novel in this trilogy The Bone Tree. Phew. Yes, that's what you'd do if you're Greg Iles.

There is terror, profanity, and some vulgarity. The Bone Tree is a bit slow in developing but the final two-thirds of the novel are riveting. Recommended for those who are interested in the old South (even though this is set in the contemporary south), the JFK assassination, and are able to ignore an occasional skewed political perspective.

Father, man's inhumanity to man has been ongoing since the Fall of Man. We're born into sin and we clash with it on a daily, sometimes by the minute, basis. Please forgive us and help us to always repent. Lead us to your Son, the Savior of the world. I pray your blessing and understanding of who you are over Greg. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.