Although born in Germany, Greg Iles is really a U.S. Southerner, having been raised in Natchez, Mississippi. He has also joined a tradition of fellow authors as a member of the lit-rock group, The Rock Bottom Remainders. His mystery-thriller novels also tend to be long, often about 600 pages, and many have been called “southern Gothic.” I find that he excels at maintaining a tension that makes me resistant to putting the book down.
“Blood Memory” (2005, 646 pages in paperback format) is a stand-along novel, although Isles manages to sneak in a character or two from his popular Penn Cage series. This work, however, revolves around Dr. Catherine (Cat) Ferry who is a specialist in the fairly obscure branch of dentistry called forensic odontology. Iles describes her as being “an expert on human teeth and the damage they can do.” This, of course, is a simplistic definition, based on the tone of the story.
This case takes place downriver from Natchez, on the Louisiana side of the Great Muddy. Four murders have occurred in New Orleans (pronounced Naw’lins, if you ever happen to go there) and in each instance, the bodies have been gnawed on by human teeth, posthumously. Because of this weird circumstance, homicide detective Sean Reagan calls Cat in for consultation. She speculates that the dental impressions could have been made by a set of false teeth or human teeth set in a device that may be operated by some means other than human jaws.
Incidentally, Cat and Sean are more than just professional investigators. They’ve been lovers, and Sean once vowed to leave his wife and children for her but, as time passed, his resolve became less certain. I suppose this diminution of devotion may be due to the fact that Cat has some psychological problems. She’s been suffering from extreme anxiety on occasion, initially having a panic attack while examining the chewed corpse of Arthur LeGrande. Something about the scene made a connection to her past, and she fled upstream to her home in Natchez. The death and strange circumstances surrounding the death and mutilation of LeGrande harkened back to events in her earlier years.
When her father was shot to death, her grandfather insisted that the assailant was some mysterious stranger, but Cat sensed that was a cover-up. Cat was so seriously affected by her unresolved suspicion that she became alcoholic and bipolar. Often, the combination led to promiscuity. But back in Natchez, she begins to uncover secrets along with some forensic evidence that tends to support her suspicions. She becomes convinced that the events in Natchez are definitely connected to the gruesome murders in New Orleans.
Her relationship with Sean Reagan as well as her very life may be in jeopardy if she continues with her investigation.
Books by Greg Isles almost immediately become New York Times bestsellers. Several of his books have been the bases for movies, and they’ve been published in at least 35 countries. He’s one of my favorite authors, and I recommend his works.
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Jim Glynn may be contacted at j_glynn@att.net.