This is by far some of Greg Iles' best work. It was a monster of a book I won't lie, but I enjoyed nearly 95% of it. I liked the tone and the storyline for this far more than I did of the last two Penn Cage novels. 
 Once again however the 5% of the book that I did not like lies within the character of Caitlyn Masters. I don't know what it is about that broad, but I just plain can't stand her. She is self-serving, only cares about a story, and for the life of me I don't see why an educated man like Penn Cage would even want to spend the rest of his life with her. Her selfish motives are so blatantly exposed she doesn't even bother trying to hide them. She reminds me of a dog in heat, and she would do pretty much anything just to print a story and claim the fame. Even Penn Cage mentions something like that in an internal dialogue. He said something very close to what that aforementioned dog would do just for a story. Okay, rant over. 
 vv Slight Spoilers vv : 
 I enjoyed the flip flopping of story arcs. It was also interesting to see the world through Tom Cage's eyes. Although his stubbornness did irk me more often than not for not discussing things with Penn. For that reason alone Tom's reluctance to talk actually ended up causing a great many people to die. Ever heard the expression, "The greatest evil is when good men fail to act." In prior novels it would seem that Tom really was the pure kind of guy and that he would always do the right thing. In this novel though Tom has blunders in the past. So, you would think that might be the reason why he seemed like such a valiant person. But he ends up making more blunders in the present. Hence he didn't really learn from his mistakes. 
 ^^ Spoiler Concluded ^^ 
 A trilogy is apparently in the works and it is obvious that the story is not over as the final pages turn in this novel. This book was definitely a rejuvenation of my desire to read the next installment of Penn Cage novels. As I had said I thought the second novel struggled to gain footing in its premise and the third novel I became slightly bored with. However, Natchez Burning was an absolute masterpiece in my opinion. The dialogue was beautifully scripted, the town and its citizens both past and present were intricately detailed, and the plot was wonderfully told. 
 Finally, I will say again I'm not sure why Mr. Iles' seems to place Natchez at the center of scum and filth, but I will stick by my thoughts from my past reviews: The picture that Iles paints of his home town, is of a place I would never like to visit.