Lies, cruelty, and murder are in us all—this is the lesson of this nail-biting Penn Cage novel—the third in the series. Two years after Penn becomes the mayor of his hometown of Natchez, Mississippi, he's ready to throw in the towel. The changes he wanted to make to improve the school system failed due to prejudices deeply rooted in the South. Shad Johnson, the DA in town, is still a formidable adversary, and Caitlin is gone. Then, a secret meeting with Tim Jessup, an old friend making allegations of chilling crimes being committed up and down the river, changes everything. After Tim's brutal murder, Penn's family is threatened, and the story explodes into a kill-or-be-killed struggle with international thugs protected by the government. I couldn't put this book down once I started reading. The Devil's Punchbowl is the most suspenseful and exciting Penn Cage novel Mr. Iles has written. The villains in this book are sadistic, evil monsters. Beware that some cruel and despicable acts they commit on humans and animals are hard to read. ( )

I am done trying to read books by this author. It’s not because he can’t write it because he likes to write too much.
First problem. Like the last book I read from this author- cemetery Road, this book is easily 250 pages too long.
If graphic descriptions of dog fighting and women being treated poorly by a real sadistic bastard isn’t your idea of a good book, then skip this one.
If however you say well I don’t like these subjects but if the rest of the book is great I might read it, then keep the following in mind.
Second problem. The main character is milquetoast, whimsy, and boring. He is like some forgettable character from a Hallmark channel movie.
He is the mayor of a small town in Mississippi and helped bring riverboat gambling to the area. Turns out a real evil, nasty, sadistic, bad man is involved with the casino. Between mister nasty doing his thing and mister boring doing anything, the reader is repeatedly overloaded with ramblings that add absolutely nothing to the story. Whole chapters go by that add nothing to the story the book is supposed to be about.
No more Greg Iles for me. I should have known better once I saw a recommendation for one of his books by his pal Stephen King. For some reason I have never liked any book or author Stephen King recommended. Stephen king used to write great books but a couple of years after his accident he realized he could add some random notes to his grocery list and sell a million copies of it. In the last King book I read, I learned all about his liberal politics, the same is true of this author. In both cases if the stories were any good I wouldn’t care, in the case of this book, there may have been a good story in the book but there was so much filler, that by the end, I was just happy it was finally over! ( )

Having read 5 other books by the author, Punchbowl redefines the meaning of page turner. Its off to the races from the first pages and non-stop right to the end. Like all great authors careful attention to details, dialog and momentum combine with a family driven theme while continual plot twists come out of left field keeping the reader engaged. In all the author's books a yin/yang balance of good/evil, up/down, fast/slow with characters we easily relate with is used effectively. For any interested in reading the Natchez Burning series, I highly recommend reading this book first. Regardless this is my favorite when compared to the other five, but only by a narrow margin..Highly recommended in all respects. ( )

Dog fights the Irish and a small town in South USA. On the Mississippi gamblers dream comma but the devil Waits 2 pounce. Goodread for the bus. ( )

Another Greg Iles thriller, starring Penn Cage as mayor of Natchez battling a sociopath manager of a riverfront gambling house, drawing in characters from other Iles novels. Suspenseful and well written although I think Iles' use of italics when Cage is not narrating is truly unnecessary. ( )