Greg Iles resides in Natchez, Mississippi, and has chosen the Southern region of the United States as the setting for many of his novels. THE DEVIL’S PUNCHBOWL may be his finest and most nuanced work to date, with the action taking place in Natchez. This is the third time Iles has featured Mayor Penn Cage. I think this is one of the most interesting character names I’ve ever heard and wonder if he chose it from the last names of two popular actors --- Sean Penn and Nicolas Cage.

The subject of the book’s title represents several things. First, “The Devil’s Punchbowl” is an infamous area found north of Natchez where outlaws were known to dump the bodies of their victims. More significantly to this novel, it is the name of one of the bars found on the Magnolia Queen, a gambling riverboat. It is also the nickname given to the torture room on the same riverboat, where the nefarious owners of the vessel commit heinous acts of brutality against both employees and ill-fated guests.

Mayor Cage has not seen any reason to poke his nose into the gambling riverboats that are run by the Golden Parachute Company because, quite frankly, they bring much needed revenue into his depressed town. Also, since the action is taking place in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, it is good for the local citizens and visitors to have an outlet that takes their minds off of the death and destruction Katrina has brought to the area. It is only when an old friend and former classmate of Cage’s, Timothy Jessup, brings forth evidence of many serious crimes taking place on the Magnolia Queen that Cage realizes he needs to investigate further. It is a mere 24 hours later that Jessup, a card dealer on the Magnolia Queen, is found dead --- the apparent victim of a brutal torture session at the hands of both men and attack dogs.

Cage is immediately spurred to action. Gambling, prostitution and human trafficking are just the tip of the iceberg with the claims Jessup turned over. At the heart of the Golden Parachute’s criminal ventures is the illegal blood sport of dog fighting. This activity, made infamous in recent years with the Michael Vick case, attracts everyone from rap stars and NFL players to Arab princes and Chinese billionaires. Jessup was in the process of bringing complete evidence to Cage at the time of his brutal murder. Cage is overwhelmed by Jessup’s death and the fact that the rape of young girls and slaughter of dogs and other animals might be happening right under his nose.

It is when Jonathan Sands and his henchman, Seamus Quinn --- infamous Irish gangsters and local leaders of Golden Parachute --- directly threaten Cage and his family that the mayor realizes he is about to take on a syndicate much larger and more internationally connected then he ever imagined. Cage, however, is not without resources. He calls on those individuals in his life who can help him battle the evil that has a stranglehold on his town: news reporter and ex-lover Caitlin Masters; helicopter pilot and war hero Danny McDavitt; legendary local physician and Penn’s father Tom Cage; retired Texas Ranger and old friend of Tom Cage’s Walt Garrity, and special forces veteran and member of Blackhawk Risk Management Dan Kelly.

Cage and his group set off on a plan to bring down Sands, Quinn and the rest of the Golden Parachute group. As they gain more information, they find that Sands is actually a key informant in a National Security Case that Homeland Security and the Justice Department have been building against a Chinese billionaire, who is the employer of Sands and behind all of the illegal international activities that include the crimes aboard the Magnolia Queen. Can Cage and his crew battle and defeat an enemy with endless funding and the protection of an international syndicate? Can they do so knowing that it might be in direct conflict with the workings of the U.S. government?

What Greg Iles has accomplished with THE DEVIL’S PUNCHBOWL is a complex and thoroughly engaging novel that does not possess one boring moment. The nearly 600-page book reads quickly, and there are so many characters and situations going on, it’s a tribute to Iles at how deftly he juggles all of these situations while continuing to drive the plot to its electric conclusion. I wish more of Iles’s work would find its way to the big screen. His novel 24 HOURS was made into the successful Charlize Theron and Kevin Bacon film, Trapped. I believe THE DEVIL’S PUNCHBOWL is perfect material for another film treatment. Here’s hoping we see Mayor Penn Cage and the rest of these compelling characters again very soon.