Blood Memory: A Novel Reviews

• Bloody Great Book!

  
  By A3AFCZTWL5VNNR on 2005-02-20
  This reviewer is not one who like a child in class tells you the plot of a novel - you are mature enough to read the plot line when you are contemplating the book to buy.
  What I want to tell you is why you should choose this book, or any Greg Iles books.
  He not only chooses diverse subjects for each books, but almost all of his books have a lyric quality in his writing, that makes layers upon layers as you read - there is beauty in his style that is magic. I can quote passages from his earlier works, and not many can say they do that with other authors. I sent a 'fan letter' to Iles and he was gracious and I was impressed.
  I call him our generation's Faulkner, because he not only knows the South, but knows how to portray it not in black and white, but how it weaves its spell into the plot of the novel.
  If you have not read Mortal Fear and The Quiet Game, they are definite must haves. The others are excellent, but have varying impact on the reader. Blood Memory stands out among his excellent works - and is worth the wait we fans had to endure.
  Usually his works come out in September, and we had some time to wait this time, but it is worth it.
  This is a man who has a gift. Read the plot above, or others' reviews that read like a book review in school, although the book's subject is serious. What I am here to tell you is WHY to buy a book. It hits you on many levels and makes you think as well as experience. And that makes the difference between a good writer and a great one.
  
  

• Dark tale of blighted lives.

  
  By AC1K4OQOZ90RS on 2005-02-23
  Catherine Ferry, the protagonist of "Blood Memory," is in deep trouble. She is an alcoholic with a long history of promiscuity and manic depression. Cat is a forensic odontologist who is having an affair with Sean Regan, a married homicide detective with the New Orleans Police Department. Her relationship with Sean is an open secret that may soon derail both their careers and Sean's marriage. Cat has helped Sean solve a number of murder cases in the past. Now, they are investigating a series of brutal homicides of older men who were shot and covered with bite marks. For reasons that elude her, Cat has had panic attacks at several of the crime scenes, and she is rapidly losing her professional credibility.
  
  Much of "Blood Memory" is a recounting of Cat's hazy recollections of her early childhood. She fondly remembers her beloved father, Luke, a Vietnam veteran who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. Cat's grandfather, Dr. William Kirkland, is a powerful, tough, and influential businessman who has no tolerance for weakness. Her mother and aunt are unhappy women with serious personal problems of their own. Only by delving into her past will Cat uncover the dark secrets that have caused her so much pain for so many years. Both in flashback and in the present, the author provides evocative and vivid descriptions of Natchez, Mississippi, Cat's and Iles' home town.
  
  "Blood Memory" starts out well. Cat is a sympathetic heroine. She is smart, tenacious, and beautiful, but her problems threaten to overwhelm her. Will she be able to stay away from alcohol? Will her mania and depression destroy her ability to function? Will her married lover give up his wife and children to be with her?
  
  As "Blood Memory" progresses, however, the book gradually sinks under its own weight. At almost five hundred pages, the narrative becomes increasingly repetitious and melodramatic. One horror story after another emerges until, by the end of the book, I felt burdened and exhausted.
  
  Except for Cat, the characters are mostly one-dimensional. Pearlie is the steadfast house servant who has tried to keep Cat's family from disintegrating over the years. Michael Wells is a pediatrician who has always carried a torch for Cat, and he conveniently shows up to help her in her time of crisis. Cat's grandfather, William Kirkland, is a stock villain with absolutely no redeeming features. The only character other than Cat whom I found intriguing was Dr. Nathan Malik. He is a psychiatrist who specializes in manic depression and repressed childhood memories of abuse. Malik has a creepy aura about him and his supercilious manner reminded me a bit of Hannibal Lechter.
  
  By the time I finally turned the last page of this novel, I felt very weary and sad. "Blood Memory" is about tormented individuals who suffer for the rest of their lives when vicious people rob them of their innocence. Iles also explores the meaning of childhood memories, the psychology of vengeance, and the imperfections of our criminal justice system. If the author had streamlined his book, fleshed out his characters, and handled his subject matter with more finesse and subtlety, "Blood Memory" would have been a much better and more readable novel.
  
  

• one of Iles' best books

  
  By AP26NWNNVKV3S on 2005-02-22
  Blood Memory ranks right up there with the best of Greg Iles' novels to date, such as The Quiet Game and Mortal Fear. He is really talented at weaving complicated suspense with interesting characters, and in this book he returns to the Mississippi setting he knows so well. There are even appearances from characters and a storyline from two of his previous books, so that's a little extra fun for readers familiar with his work. What makes Iles' books even more appealing is the range of topics that he explores. Each book is a well-written suspense tale, and Blood Memory is no exception. I think it's his best book by far since The Quiet Game. The topical subject matter of Blood Memory is a troubling reality. While the basic plot idea of vengeance in this arena has been tried by other authors, Iles tells a more powerful story across the spectrum of predator and prey. This book really has a lot going for it: classic Iles suspense, detailed forensics, strong female characters, and vivid storytelling. Not only is it a hard book to put down, it's also one that will be hard to forget.
  
  

• A Top-NotchThriller From A Top-Notch Writer!

  
  By A2CVXUY1EYQGGA on 2005-03-25
  With his seventh book, Blood Memory, Iles continues to enhance his reputation as a writer of intellgent, compelling, suspenseful thrillers that keep you riveted to the page. While all of his books are well-worth reading, Blood Memory ranks at the top of the list, along with The Quiet Game and Mortal Fear. Without giving away the plot details, Blood Memory is an engrossing, gripping story of childhood sexual abuse and the phychological concept of repressed memory. What makes this book (as well as his others) rise well above the pack of thrillers is not just that Iles provides an intelligent, thought-provoking story that has edge-of-your seat excitement. His even greater strengths are: (1) his ability to develop intense multi-dimensional characters that, even with their flaws, you really care about, and (2) his deep knowledge of the subject matter he is writing about combined with his ability to describe it in a style that the reader can learn from and find interesting. Be warned that the subject matter of Blood Memory is disturbing and not for the squeamish. Be assured, however, that once you start this book you'll be in the hands of a top-notch author who'll soon become one of your favorites. Enjoy!
  
  

• Dark Blood, Deep Memory

  
  By A3F3Z6SD04PPPA on 2005-03-06
  At age 31, Cat Ferry has it all going for her: brains, beauty, family wealth, and an accomplished career in a branch of the dental sciences that puts her into frequent contact with police officers solving intriguing crimes. But Cat Ferry is a mess: dental school was a refuge from the medical school she was asked to leave, she has a string of broken relationships with older men, alcoholism is a likely diagnosis, and her current relationship with a married police officer is quickly reaching its crisis point. The good and the bad converge as Cat is drawn into the solution of two mysteries. One involves a series of bizarre related homicides in her adopted city of New Orleans. The other involves the unsolved murder of her own father decades earlier in her home city of Natchez. Is there a relationship between these two series of events so removed in time? It begins to seem so as Cat becomes the Clarice Starling to a (fortunately) non-cannibalistic psychiatrist who both figures obscurely in her own past and emerges as a link among the New Orleans homicide victims. Cat's journey toward the solution of these mysteries has as many twists and turns as the river that connects the two central points in the story, and it takes place against a menacing background of power, passion, violence and repressed memory that is just as raw and threatening as the bayous that predominate the landscape between her two homes, then and now.
  
  This book is very good reading for several reasons. First, it is very different from much popular mystery fiction today, which tends to be formulaic and abbreviated. So many of today's mystery novels, with their one-dimensional characters, trite plots, and brief chapters seem to be slightly pumped-up versions of screenplays that their popular authors hope to option to the movies as soon as the books ascend to their inevitable places on the best-seller lists (or perhaps even before). Indeed, many of the characters appear to be modeled to attract the A-list stars most likely to turn the story into big box office. As literature, these books are produced for people on the go, and are designed to be read between subway stops or umbrella drinks on the beach. They are breezy, they use short sentences and small words, and the sexual deviancy that seems always to be an inextricable element of the plot is inevitably crude and salacious. I confess to having indulged in the guilty pleasure of spending time with these novels.
  
  Blood Memory is a different "read". The only formula it follows is having a beginning, a middle, and an end. While the characters have their various virtues and vices that are important to the context of the story and the flow of its plot, they also tend to be multidimensional and interesting. While it partakes of elements of both, this book is far less a police procedural than it is an exploration of psychopathology. The story goes in some unexpected places, and the author is skilled in foreshadowing his plot developments in a subtle way that lets the reader anticipate the turning points just slightly ahead of the characters. This is both difficult to accomplish and very satisfying for the reader.
  
  Another bright attribute is the use of language. The author is skilled both in description and in the development of the interior monologue that contributes to the reader's appreciation of the conflicts and complexity of its central character.
  
  I recommend this book for those who want to experience the joys of reading without the guilt that accompanies the expenditure of time on so much of what passes for popular fiction these days.
  
  
  
• Depressing depravity
  By A2287R5IXFX042 on 2005-07-13
  I usually like Greg Iles' novels, but this one did me in. I was exhausted by the horrors and depravity experienced by the characters. The characters are not even likeable or sympathetic. They are flat and one dimensional. Their stories became repetitive and tiring. I had trouble finishing the book once; I cannot imagine wanting to read it a second time.
  
  
• Tooth "Ferry" Tales
  By A1SKNS2DGG46XM on 2005-08-27
  Catherine "Cat" Ferry is an odontologist, a forensic dentist specializing in the obscure field of analyzing bite marks. She is also manic-depressive, suicidal, alcoholic, and pregnant. At least give author Greg Iles credit for developing an unusually unique heroine. Buy we soon learn that there is a reason for the psychological baggage Cat carries as Iles pulls us into the shadowy science of repressed memory and loathsome crimes of child molestation. Not the stuff of an easy beach read, for sure.
  
  After blacking out at the crime seen of an especially brutal murder, Cat returns to her childhood home in Natchez, Mississippi for some R&R. Cat had no normal childhood: her family was of the American South aristocracy, a plantation-like home complete with slave quarters and servants, led by her patriarchal grandfather. We learn that Cat's father was murdered when Cat was a child, though her recollections of that night are sketchy at best. From this gothic setting, the author takes us through a rambling and overly long journey through memory and mayhem as this "he did it, no-I did it, wait-you did it" drama unfolds.
  
  Iles, while no James Lee Burke, does a more than credible job of capturing the rare beauty and uncommon contradictions of the lower Mississippi River environs. In the final analysis, this is powerful fiction, but not without it's flaws. Its nearly 500 pages of fine print would have benefited from a more ruthless editor's cut of another hundred pages or so. And the fragile Cat, despite frequent reminders of how strong she truly is, never captured my interest as a compelling main character. But if you're looking for a sprawling southern epic that is not afraid to take sensitive topics head-on, I'd give "Blood Memory" a try.
  
  
  
• A bit long
  By A1VJU3NG5W15L4 on 2006-04-29
  As usual the writing is top notch.
  
  The plot starts off with a serial murderer that eventually ties back to a wretched story involving the main character Catherine Ferry.
  
  Somewhere around page 500 I started checking on how many more pages were left. It seemed we were covering the same ground that had been thoroughly covered already.
  
  I think you could cut 150 poages out of this book without losing too much.
  
  The other knock on this bookk is that at one level it is a whodunnit and we don't meet the bad guy until the end of the book. There are vargue hints regarding the identity of the killer, but it feels more like a rabbit being pulled out of a hat than a satisfying mystery.
  
  
• antastic thriller
  By AFVQZQ8PW0L on 2005-02-15
  Forensic odontologist Dr. Catherine Perry specializes in bite marks on victim's bodies. She is on the task force with her lover, married New Orleans Police Detective Sean Regan working the case of a serial killer who leaves older men naked with deep bite marks all over their body accompanied by a nearby message "My work is never done". When Cat has a panic attack at the fourth crime scene, she is removed from the case and returns home to Malmaison, a mansion located in Natchez, Mississippi
  
  When a child spills some luminal in her room, she sees a child's bare footprint and an adult's booted footprint. She wants to call in a forensic team to obtain DNA evidence, but her grandfather tells her that her father was killed in her room, protecting her from an intruder. Strange dreams and returned memories make her doubt his story; he confesses that her father was molesting her so he killed him. While the police think the serial killer is psychiatrist Dr. Malik who specializes in sexual child abuse cases and repressed memories and is treating her aunt, Cat needs to know the whole truth that destroyed her peace of mind all those years ago though she has to live long enough to accomplish her quest.
  
  This fantastic thriller contains a dark and foreboding atmosphere that makes Malmaison feel like a mansion straight out of a gothic novel. Readers will empathize with Cat who suffers terrible emotional trauma without knowing why. Yet despite depression and a bi-polar condition, she refuses to give into to her suicidal urges and is determined to have her baby regardless of whether Sean leaves his wife or not. She also links the her abuse to the serial killer and helps Sean in his quest to find the killer. This is a riveting tale that addresses one of society's most evil ills: sexual abuse of children.
  
  Harriet Klausner
  
  
  
• Not for the sqeamish
  By AHLZRSA3VPP1H on 2005-03-10
  Set in ambient Natchez, Mississippi, forensic odontologist, Cat Ferry comes home after she starts experiencing panic attacks during the examination of the victims of a serial killer in New Orleans. Cat has battled many demons in life including alcohol, drugs, bipolarism, and affairs with married men. Now pregnant with her married lover's baby, she decides to go home to deal with some of her problems. Once home, an accidental spill of her forensic chemicals leads her to discover bloody footprints in her old bedroom stemming from the night her father was killed over twenty-three years earlier. In reconstructing the events of her father's death, Cat finds a link current serial killer case in New Orleans.
  
  Greg Iles has written an emotionally charged tale of repressed memory and childhood sexual abuse. The protagonist is complex, fragile, and an emotional mess. The story is well plotted, suspenseful to the end. Every possible outcome is explored in the story, but is an engrossing, page-turning thriller. Excellent.
  
  
  
• A close-to-perfect thriller
  By A16EIVIBBXFAQ0 on 2005-03-11
  While Iles' books always make for a good read, he may have written his best yet with this one.
  
  Iles manages to pull off a task with which many male writers have problems - writing from the point of view of a woman, in this case Cat Ferry, a vulnerable and likable character. While she's likable, she's also very human in her thoughts and actions, not a superwoman like too many fictional characters.
  
  While the plot includes a serial killer in New Orleans, the book is really about Cat's past and her attempt to get past those events. Of course, this past eventually ties in somewhat to the present, but Cat is really the focus, far more than the murders. There's plenty of action and mystery, and Iles keeps the reader hanging for most of the book.
  
  Thrillers are a dime a dozen, but excellent ones like this are far more rare. An excellent novel, one that will have most readers rushing to get to the end.
  
  
• An entertaining thriller about child abuse? YES!!!!!!
  By A17M6WUC0RRJVP on 2005-03-30
  Greg Iles is one of my favorite authors. His last two books have really disappointed me though. 'Sleep No More' was about souls switching bodies, and 'Footprints Of God' was just a boring Dan Brown rip-off. So when I heard the plot for 'Blood Memory' I was a bit leary. A thriller about child abuse? Iles actually pulls it off though. Blood Memory is the best book I've read this year. It is more than just a thriller, it reads like "To Kill A Mockingbird'. A fantastic portrait of life in the south. Iles characters jump off the page like they are real people living in Natchez, Mississippi right now. Buy this book, you will not regret it.
  
  
• Toooooo Long
  By A22LK1IV0PFPF9 on 2005-08-08
  Having read a couple other Greg Iles books, I thought this would be worthwhile. I don't doubt that the issues the author deals with are important, but 512 pp about this alcoholic, manic-depressive, obsessive, schizophrenic self-centered woman was just too tedious. It's hard to get into a lengthy book when you strongly dislike the main character. Half as long would have been twice as good.
  
  
• 5 stars is not enough....
  By A2U4J0M7TZAMT1 on 2006-06-17
  As a survivor of childhood sexual abuse I found this book to be very accurate in its description of the affects which it has on a person. This book will stick with me a long time and I hope even though it is long, readers will give it the chance it deserves. I thought this work by Mr. Iles to be very insightful.
  
  
• 760 Pages of Torture
  By A2VIBW6JFZ10MQ on 2006-09-29
  Would you stand in line at an Applebee's for three hours in order to eat a hamburger when you could get a hamburger just as good---maybe better---at a dozen other nearby places where the wait was only fifteen minutes? Of course not! Why, then, would you spend countless hours plowing through this 760 page monstrosity when you could spend the same amount of time reading two James Patterson books, or a Patterson and a Connelly, or two Thomas Harris books...my apologies, Greg Iles, but for a simple, formulaic serial killer book, Blood Memory was just WAY too long. The book has two co-plots; one involves a serial killer who murders older men, the second involves the mysterious childhood abuse suffered by the female lead. The serial killer plot is actually the more interesting, but at least two-thirds of the novel dwells on the abuse instead and unfortunately the "secret" is painfully obvious to any seasoned reader from the first few pages of the book. All in all this would have been a halfway decent novel if Iles---or his editor---had chopped out about 300 pages of unneccesary text. Iles just LOVES to have two characters sit and talk for 3o, 40 or even 50 pages, but since most of his dialogue is what I call "soap opera" speak, meaning you know what the characters will say before the words are even out of their mouths, these chapters dragged on and on and on. Iles also wastes pages by writing lengthy descriptions of people eating ice cream, taking showers, and doing other mundane things that should have been glossed over or chopped out entirely. Come on, Greg; why describe a character savoring the taste of vanilla ice cream as if it's some strange, exotic treat that no one's ever heard of before? Just as some people love to hear themselves talk, I think Iles loves to see himself write...and although some of his books have been quite good, Blood Memory misses the mark by a long shot.
  
  
• Great new book by Iles
  By A268EEWUXYCA8Q on 2005-03-14
  First off, I need to get my biases out of the way. I was looking for a book to read in the airport for a long plane flight and found Dead Sleep. Since reading that book, I have read all of Greg Iles's books and have loved each and every one for different reasons. Each book (while of the thriller genre) are so completely different from each other in theme and subject matter that I am amazed from each title.
  
  Blood Memory is no different. Some reviewers here and in professional magazines have talked in great deal about one of the plot twists that is fundamental to the book. I won't ruin what is a very emotional and powerful twist here and would recommend readers interested in this novel not to read more reviews than necessary.
  
  The story follows Cat, a sympathetic protagonist with many many problems. Not the least of which is that she is dating a married man and is addicted to pain meds and alcohol. She works as a criminal odontologist, who works on cases where teeth are involved. Her married boyfriend is on a case involving murders where bite marks seem to be the calling card. This case will open up Cat's past in a way that will either save her or damn her. I don't want to ruin anymore, part of my joy reading Iles is that he keeps the pacing, intensity and twists coming so that you are constantly wondering where you are going and where you've been in the novel.
  
  My other compliment to Iles is that he can write characters who are emotional damaged or have problems but not make them into victims. Dean Koontz has a problem with writing female characters who have similar character flaws or are troubled but I always felt like he portrays them more as a victim. I think Greg Iles missteps that problem and instead creatings interesting and sympathetic characters who, while having problems, still ring true.
  
  Sometimes I feel like Greg Iles's plot twists almost get away from him and tread the line of believability, and there are a couple points where this novel treads that line. But overall, the story and the characters are immensely appealing and intricate.
  
  If you like Iles's other works involving crime and murder mysteries, then this is definitely a book for you. Often times heart-wrenching and unflinching, it is a terrific book that will both move you and excite you. Very well done.
  
  
• Many thriller authors are hacks compared to Iles
  By A18IZDWUIHLUC9 on 2005-03-16
  Greg Iles has written a layered totally enfulfing totally fascinating story that is emotionally gut wrenching. Iles conveys so much meaning and emotion in his prose, he is the master of getting a point or an emotion across without laying it out literally. Blood Memory is just so far beyond other conventional thrillers out there, I don't know how else to say it!
  
  
• Absolutely Stunning!
  By A3GKJU8ZY27TIK on 2005-03-26
  This book is perfect! I couldn't stop reading it the moment I started, and I am much too snobbish (I'd like to say I'm "discerning") to say that except in rare instances. Blood Memory is a mystery and a work of fiction carefully intertwined with glimpses of a South gone by and the most horrible crimes a human being can perpetrate against another.
  
  Catherine Ferry is a forensic odontologist (bite-mark expert) who suffers from alcoholism and other self-destructive behaviors--she has enough of a grip on reality to hold down her job as an expert in her field, but only just. When a series of execution-style murders swiftly plagues New Orleans, Cat can't seem to focus her skills on the bite-marked victims. Shadows of her past cloud her mind, and she must return to her childhood home in Natchez, Mississippi to recuperate and try to apprehend what is preventing her from functioning properly at a crime scene.
  
  What she finds at home is even more horrible than the killings in New Orleans. As she wanders back over a trail of sorrow and blood from her family's past, she finds the key to solving the murders taking place in Louisiana.
  
  The writing is excellent! It's clear Mr. Iles puts plenty of thought into each paragraph, and he doesn't just tell a story with pages and pages of terse dialogue (as do so many authors of the modern mystery novel)--he lets his characters breathe and develop as the story snakes its way to a shocking and satisfying conclusion.
  
  This novel by Mr. Iles certifies his place as the top writer from Mississippi--John Grisham can't hold a candle to the writing, depth, and humanity that permeate this novel. I would unhesitatingly recommend this to anyone. If she or he is not a mystery fan (or at least a police procedural fan), they will investigate the genre after finishing Blood Memory. Instead of donating this book to the library, I'm going to keep this one on the bookshelf to lend to others and re-read. Find this one any way you can and devour it--you won't regret it!
  
  
• Too much padding and shark jumping with this one.
  By ADHDJGOX9CVHI on 2005-06-17
  Cat Ferris was brought up a princess in a troubled household, one of those last great bastions of rich white gentility in the town of Natchez. She escaped it all as soon as she could to become a forensic odontologist and loses herself in the arms of many men. Her latest has had some impact as she is pregnant to him, but he's no different than all the others. Sean Regan is married and unlikely ever to leave his wife but he has a vested interest in Cat other than the illicit personal pleasure she gives him. The two of them are dynamite in solving cases with their relationship remaining firmly in the closet for reasons other than the need to protect their moral reputations. Sean is with the New Orleans police department and has Cat assist when a serial killer leaves a vicious calling card in the form of bite marks left on his hapless victims. What is the connection between all these men from different walks of life?
  
  Cat is losing the fight with depression, alcohol abuse, suicidal thoughts and the many other demons in her life. She returns to the family home and unexpectedly some new information comes forward about her father's death. Cat's father, a war veteran, was murdered on the family estate when she was just a little girl. Cat's autocratic grandfather always ruled that part of the world with an iron fist so it's to this day that she has never learnt the truth of what happened that night. When the prime suspect of the serial killings claims to know what it really is that haunts Cat, all roads to catch a killer lead back deep to the closed community in which she was unhappily raised.
  
  Greg Iles has written some great books, all of them written prior to 2003 which is when he wrote "Footprints of God". Unfortunately that novel and his latest may be the ones that jumped the shark as "Blood Memory" is another long winded novel with unlikable characters that labors onerously towards conclusion. This novel isn't incredibly long at around 500 pages but at least a hundred pages of that is unnecessary padding. We have featured here another flawed hero - which is fine, but they do have to have some redeeming features so that we have a measure of concern about their fate. "Blood Memory" would seem to have all the right stuff with deep dark family secrets, a serial killer and a young medical protagonist. Unfortunately the effort to merge the two storylines is clumsy and contrived with too much of the personal angst getting in the way of making a suspenseful plot work. Read Iles earlier novels first and get yourself hooked before attempting this one.
  
  
  
• spellbinding
  By ASY1QRJNBQPIO on 2005-08-30
  Captivating book; I didn't want to put it down or get anything else done all weeekend! Good plotline, compelling characters, addictive pace. I do like protagonists who are realistic, with their human flaws, needs and lessons. That being said, this protanogist will try your patience for sympathy like none ever before, but as you struggle through the hows and whys with her you will learn a lot and gain understanding and compassion. The protagonist is sincere, if greatly scarred, and we learn a lot by walking through her life for a few hours. Compelling mystery with some important lessons too.
  
  
• Suspenseful reading
  By A2RN09CHUFKP7V on 2005-08-31
  I couldn't put this book down. The story jumped right in and took you down many twists and turns. The vivid writing is not for weak of heart and the book is very graphic. And if you are like me and love CSI books, this is an excellent one.
  
  And if you are looking for a good summer read to lose yourself in, this is a great book. But if you are looking for something with more depth, I wouldn't recommend it. There are no real life lessons learned here.
  
  
• Finished it in the early morning hours
  By A1CYOHNGQ1WED1 on 2006-01-05
  I've read all of Greg Iles's books and though there are some I like better in the end than others, they all have one thing in common: they grab your attention from the first few pages and don't let go. Whatever you think of his writing style or the preposterousness of his plots at times, Iles has a way of pulling you in immediately and not letting go until you've read the last page.
  
  Blood Memory revolves around Cat Ferry, an odontologist working with the police in New Orleans to catch a serial killer. She is also an alcoholic who is sleeping with a married detective and has just found out she's pregnant. She goes back home to Natchez Mississippi to get away and clear her head. While there, she accidentally finds an old blood stain on the carpeting in her room. She begins investigating as she thinks it may lead to the truth of her father's death when she was a child. As the story unfolds, Cat finds out many things about all members of her family that horrify her, but help explain why she is so screwed up.
  
  The two mysteries intertwine at times and keep you guessing to a point. You will probably figure out one of them before it is revealed, but not the other. Blood Memory is an excellent thriller, albeit too long. You could pare 150-200 pages off of it and have the same book. However, the story will keep you reading and there will come a point where you have to continue no matter how late it is or how tired you are.
  
  
• Fun read, somewhat predictable
  By A2156XXTG6L3LA on 2006-05-24
  This was the first Greg Iles novel I've read. It was entertaining and did have me reading longer than my "normal allotted time." I felt it was somewhat predictable and felt that after the number pages of spent early the "wrap up" was rushed. I will consider reading another Greg Iles novel.
  
  
• A Quest to Retrieve the heroine's past.
  By A2SAY10W1U4J94 on 2005-03-05
  BLOOD MEMORY Greg Iles
  In BLOOD MEMORY, the latest novel from Greg Iles, elderly men who seem to have nothing in common are being tortured and murdered. The grizzly crimes are carried out by a gunshot to the spine, then mauling by human teeth, and finally a point blank shot to the head. The crime scenes are clean, except for the cryptic message written with the victim's blood: "My Work Is Never Done." The New Orleans Police Department asks Catherine "Cat" DeSalle Ferry, a forensic odontologist with a world-class reputation, to consult with them and the FBI. Five men die before law enforcement has any idea who could be behind the killings or why these particular seniors have been targeted. The murders take place in the sultry south between New Orleans, Natchez and the Mississippi delta.
  
  Cat is an heiress who has removed herself from her family and their money. She lives a successful and fulfilling life despite the gremlins that haunt her dreams and plague her recurring nightmares. Her personal history consists of suicide attempts, dangerous behavior, rebelliousness and substance abuse. She has been to doctor after doctor and therapist after therapist without finding the root of her perplexing personality disorder. As the book begins she is in therapy with a woman who allows her enormous freedom, which gives Cat time and energy to uncover the secrets buried in her psyche. She must find the strength to face her demons, which started to haunt her after her father's murder when she was a child. Her sleep is never restful, and while she can remember her nightmares, they stop at the strategic point where she can "see" what haunts her.
  
  The bitten corpses are piling up, and after fainting at two of the crime scenes, Cat is taken off the case. She is mortified and returns home to try to rest and to uncover the secrets she is sure her family has been keeping for years. She starts to have flashbacks and is very unnerved by seemingly random thoughts of places she has been but cannot remember. Her mother is no help. Her grandfather is a tyrant. The maid is too afraid to tell her anything. Thus, while still concerned about the murders in New Orleans, she decides to stay home. This decision becomes an obsession when a guest spills a chemical on the rug in her old room and two bloody footprints, those of a child and a man, are raised on the carpet. This is the final straw, and Cat is determined to find the truth with or without help.
  
  Sean Regan is "the fascinating, insightful detective [she's] been sleeping with for the last eighteen months." Cat is in way over her head with this guy, who is married and has three children. She has been a promiscuous woman and has always gravitated toward married men. They are safe and the commitment is fleeting. That is, until she meets Sean and convinces herself that she may have a future with this man --- if he will leave his wife and children. But he is a user. He is a spoiler who expects Cat to help him solve crimes that she should have no part of. He is obsessed about his clearing rate and will do anything to put a murder case to rest. He becomes very angry when Cat tells him she is not returning to New Orleans, and they have a disturbing argument that sends her to one of the only places she can find peace --- through the woods to the house next door where she knows she can use the swimming pool.
  
  Cat has been a champion swimmer for most of her life and is an expert free fall diver. When she was in school her grandfather refused to build a pool on the family property. This forced her to practice in the neighbor's pool, which she discovers is still there and seems to be waiting for her. "I find a flat, heavy rock about the size of a serving platter. This I carry down the steps into the shallow end. After a period of pre-immersion meditation, during which my heart slows to around sixty beats per minute I lie down on my back beneath the water and set the rock on my chest. Free divers train themselves to ignore [the] first 'physical scream' for oxygen ... which would send a normal person into a full-blown panic." As she moves through the different stages of acclimation she affirms that she feels "the steady descent to a state of relaxation [she] can find nowhere else in [her] life."
  
  The author uses this scene to allow us into Cat's mind and to bring Dr. Michael Wells, a young pediatrician, into the story. He now owns the house next door and finds Cat in her underwear, with a rock on her chest, underwater and immobile. He thinks she's dead and tries to rescue her. They discover that they knew each other in high school and begin a friendship that offers Cat unconditional trust and someone upon whom she can depend to get her out of trouble without having a sexual relationship. He becomes a steadying force in Cat's life; his support gives her the strength to finally unravel the twisted events of her violent childhood, and she also solves the case of the dead men and their bites.
  
  Greg Isles dedicates BLOOD MEMORY "to those women who realize in the dead of night that something is wrong, and has been for a long time. More than most, they know that Faulkner's words are true: 'There is no such thing as was --- only is. If was existed, there would be no grief or sorrow.' You are not alone." In his Acknowledgements he writes: "Accounts of sexual abuse are difficult to deal with, even on the written page. To recount personal experiences is nothing short of heroic. Few crime victims face the battles that those who as adults begin to recall childhood sexual abuse must fight. Far too often family members and the general public refuse to believe their claims, even in the face of corroborative evidence. None of us wants to think about the harrowing crimes that innocent children suffer in their own homes. But we owe everyone who has such memories a fair hearing. Please don't ignore any child or adult who claims that she --- or he --- has been sexually abused."
  
  Cat speaks the final lines of the book, to her unborn child: "It's going to be different for you ... Your mama knows what love is."
  --- Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum
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• Masterpiece, pure and simple, deep and true
  By AJ7B82HLGJ6L6 on 2005-03-13
  Greg Iles has done it again. He has created a masterpiece. This book is a pleasure to read. Another Iles book I could not put down!!!!! This book will keep you up late into the night. And, if you enjoy fantastic thrillers, I recommend reading Crimes of the Right, and The Big Brother, both by the queen of thrillers, author Hope Newman.
  
  
• Amazing Iles!
  By ASKE6M5JJI9F on 2005-04-11
  Greg Iles just continues to amaze me. His breadth of work is truly mind-boggling. This book is about Cat Ferry, a forensic odontologist, who finds that there are some suspicious findings around her Father's death years earlier. The more she investigates, the more she finds a tie in to serial killings happening in New Orleans. Fantastic character development set against a great story.
  
  
• A Lifetime of Pain
  By AKYVOE1ODD82F on 2005-04-13
  Greg Isles so realistically portrays the lifetime of pain represented by child abuse that it produces profound anxiety in the reader. One of the most disturbing aspects of such abuse is the fact that it recurs generation after generation. The crime is aided and abetted by the silence of the victims, criminally guilty and the enablers. The enablers may know or suspect the crime, but say nothing. A gifted native of Natchez, Mississippi, Isles lends his web site to provide more information about child abuse: http://www.gregiles.com. There you will also find his recent book The Quiet Game which is also set in Natchez. I can also recommend Black Cross and The Footprints of God.
  
  
• Greg Iles always writes a good book
  By A1UCPXUBSESD65 on 2005-04-25
  I've read them all - and this is no exception. He usually gets a 4 or 5 star rating from me. I think this particular book will appeal more to women than to men however. My husband (also the author's fan) gave it up after 15 chapters because it was too slow for him and because it was written from the perspective of an emotional female, which is not his reading preference. Not just an emotional female, a pregnant, bipolar, alcoholic female. She is Cat Ferry, a forensic odontologist, (specialist in teeth/bite-marks) brought in by the New Orleans Police Dept to help solve a crime. A serial killer is targeting older men leaving bite-marks on various parts of their bodies.
  
  The novel, has two story lines, the solving of the crimes against these men, and the story of Cat Ferry, who is being chased by demons of her own. She is having an affair with a married detective on the case, and having flashbacks of repressed memories. It centers around sexual child abuse, so if this is a subject that you are up to the ying-yang about, as many people today are, then this may not be the book for you. I thought it was researched well, written very well, and the characters crafted so well that the reader continues to think about them long after the novel is finished. I love his writing and he continues to be one of my favorites.
  
  Although it lacks the fast pace of some of his previous novels this does pick up in the second half and is brought to a satisfactory conclusion insofar as the main character's story is concerned which was the better part of the book.
  
  As far as the solving of the crime part of the story, it left some unanswered questions about the arrest and prosecution for the crime. I find that to be quite popular with authors today where they leave a bit to the imagination at the end instead of tying up the loose ends. You, dear reader, will have to read the book to find out what I mean.
  
  
  
• Whoa!
  By A302GTCSZSMEKJ on 2005-06-04
  I have read most of his books and enjoyed most of them.
  What I like about him is that his writing style is solid, he knows how to keep the suspense until the very end and he seems to have researched well about the subject of the book.
  I enjoyed Blood Memory very much and had a hard time putting it down even though I had a test the next day!
  I recommend this book, as well as other ones by this author.
  The reason I didn't give 5 stars is because there were things I didn't like:
  
  - I would have liked more character development for Pearlie ans Michael, the peditrician. Michael was too good to be true.
  
  - Too many (shocking) things happened in a short period of time. I kept repeating... "Oh my God!!!" "Oh" "Whoa!" pages after pages. It was too much to handle for me.
  
  Also, the ending didn't leave me completely satisfied. I guess there were so many twists and shocking events I had high expectations for the ending.
  
  So far, this had been the most entertaining novel I have read this year. Can't wait for his next book!
  
  
• Never fails
  By A39MN07P7JT09T on 2005-08-28
  Greg Iles books never fail to surprise. Always a fresh story, likeable characters. Not to be missed.
  
  

• Mortal Fear
• The Quiet Game
• 24 Hours
• Dead Sleep
• True Evil: A Novel