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The Devil’s Punchbowl
Greg Iles
The shocking new thriller from the king of southern gothic.When he was a prosecuting attorney Penn Cage sent hardened killers to death row. But it is as mayor of his hometown - Natchez, Mississippi - that Penn will face his most dangerous threat.Urged by old friends to restore the town to its former glory, Penn has ridden into office on a tide of support for change. But in its quest for new jobs and fresh money, Natchez has turned to casino gambling. Five fantastical steamboats float on the river beside the old slave market like props from Gone With the Wind. But one boat isn't like the others. Rumour has it that the Magnolia Queen has found a way to pull the big players from Las Vegas. And with them comes an unquenchable taste for one thing: blood sport, and the dark vices that go with it.When a childhood friend of Penn's who brings him evidence of these crimes is brutally murdered, the full weight of Penn's failure to protect this city hits home. So begins his quest to find the men responsible. But it's a hunt he begins alone, for the local authorities have been corrupted by the money and power of his hidden enemy. With his family's life at stake, Penn realizes his only allies in his one-man war are those bound to him by blood or honour.
GREG ILES
The Devil’s Punchbowl
Copyright (#u8f61f8db-ead2-51f5-a1e8-e41749f04d5d)
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
Harper An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF
www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
Copyright © Greg Iles 2009
Cover layout design © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2014
Cover photographs © Shutterstock.com (http://Shutterstock.com)
Greg Iles asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks
HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication
Ebook Edition © 2009 ISBN: 9780007317486
Version: 2018-07-16
ForMadeline and MarkWho pay the highest price for my writing life. Thank you.
No man in the wrong can stand up against a fellow that’s in the right and keeps on a comin’.
— Captain Bill McDonald, Texas Ranger
‘You’re an animal.’
‘No, worse. Human.’
— Runaway Train
Contents
Title Page (#u13df6807-69d5-56ea-a113-af18475bba4c)
Copyright (#u13df6807-69d5-56ea-a113-af18475bba4c)
Epigraph (#ub5ebfe44-c349-566e-9663-5cfa383ee1b3)
Chapter 1 (#ua50d73db-047b-5f2c-850c-8405467550ac)
Chapter 2 (#u4673e8dd-317c-5f3b-af02-47a1f13117f8)
Chapter 3 (#u21d659f0-e5e3-5f1d-a104-0a8e2f377d30)
Chapter 4 (#u59f5f6fd-fe4f-5515-bd63-b9f6e144ee58)
Chapter 5 (#u47d24576-bb88-5889-8412-59e47bff0a45)
Chapter 6 (#ub2eabc13-1ecf-5077-8c8a-46475b7990c7)
Chapter 7 (#ud3a8051d-53b9-5399-ae34-e50e514b86ca)
Chapter 8 (#u9cb56e44-b94f-5928-8027-e607e7b9a2b8)
Chapter 9 (#u322ca7da-c1c8-523a-b70a-e28ba2460143)
Chapter 10 (#u413ef908-bf78-5ec6-a50d-2097ee285102)
Chapter 11 (#u332148fb-4ef2-5f5c-b1d6-fa3cdb095690)
Chapter 12 (#u3d9e03e7-ac4a-519f-a679-b7d95e3c0c8f)
Chapter 13 (#u27196eee-a194-5a8e-8be1-ec480f1142b7)
Chapter 14 (#u15de08e1-4295-51c9-8a55-824cd46aa156)
Chapter 15 (#uf60f5b3d-59f6-5f43-8693-40fa92805fc3)
Chapter 16 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 17 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 18 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 19 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 20 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 21 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 22 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 23 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 24 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 25 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 26 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 27 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 28 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 29 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 30 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 31 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 32 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 33 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 34 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 35 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 36 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 37 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 38 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 39 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 40 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 41 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 42 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 43 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 44 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 45 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 46 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 47 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 48 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 49 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 50 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 51 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 52 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 53 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 54 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 55 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 56 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 57 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 58 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 59 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 60 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 61 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 62 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 63 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 64 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 65 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 66 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 67 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 68 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 69 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 70 (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Acknowledgments (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)
