Iles suffered a near fatal car crash while writing this trilogy. Do you think the experience noticeably affected or changed his writing?

While Iles was writing this trilogy — Natchez Burning was nearly finished — he suffered a near fatal car crash. Do you think the experience noticeably affected or changed his writing, style, perspective, etc., in any way.? Is it possible that such an experience would not affect an author’s writing?

I had no inkling from his writing that he had been in a near fatal crash.

Reading this trilogy was my first experience reading Iles work, and having said this, I now plan to go back and look at his earlier pieces. Because I don't know how Penn appeared in previous works, I can not know if he is presented much differently in these three volumes. I can not know if Iles values are exaggerated. Having said that, however, I must believe that experiencing a near death situation is bound to change one's perception of life and that perception, if one is a write, will most likely become evident in one's work/ As such, I would think that probably the writing here is changed somewhat and possibly Penn's character and his father's as well. What I did notice, and what made me less fond of these pieces than I wanted to be, is that I felt Iles overwrote: Penn's father, Penn himself, and a few other characters seemed overdeveloped; they became almost too good, too perfect, and their foils, the evil that men did and the evil men themselves seemed to become more evil than was needed to make this trilogy complete and honest and true and real. I will not be popular for saying this, but I believe it, and perhaps it was coming to death's door that made Iles feel some urgency in expressing his ideas and developing his characters and themes as he did. I felt as the trilogy progressed, his ideas became almost unreal, to some degree impossible, and his protagonists almost too good to be true.

These three books are the only works of Iles that I have read, but I can't help but believe having any near death experience has to change a person and their perspective. The books were intense and I'm sure Iles had many intense moments during his recovery period from a near fatal car accident.

The accident had to have caused an emotional change in Greg IIles but to a reader it doesn’t appear to have changed his goal to bring about the trilogy as he had planned from the start. I don’t believe we’ll ever know if it did and to what extent, positively or negatively. Does he even know if the magnitude of his writing is more developed or not?

I agree with Suzanne above - an accident that is nearly fatal must have impacted his emotional and mental well being. If that had happened to me, I would have been consumed by my recovery, thankful to be alive, and would forever after be grateful for good health. So I think yes, it must have affected his writing and outlook, but I certainly couldn’t tell. It would be an interesting question to ask Iles.

I don't think I can say one way or the other since I've not read any other works by Iles. I must say, however, that such a brush with death must have some impact on an individual.

I’ve been reading Greg Iles since ‘Black Cross’ was published in 1995 and have always looked forward to reading every book he’s written. We even accidentally bought ‘The Devil’s Punch Bowl’ twice??. It is because of Iles’ books that I became fascinated by Natchez. I loved ‘Natchez Burning’, the first book in the trilogy. ‘The Bone Tree’ & Mississippi Blood’ were written post accident and they felt overblown, less focused, with almost gratuitous evil & violence. Unrelentingly negative.

As I have never read any of Isles' previous works, this is difficult to answer. It seems logical to assume that a horrific accident would make one much more aware of his mortality and therefore more concerned with the legacy to remain should something even worse happen. I believe that his work would have taken on a greater sense of urgency and a desire to leave his readers with a feeling of having been part of a very important era in the history of the South

I agree with Vivianh that it seemed as though the violence in The Bone Tree was far more graphic and there was more of it. I had read only a couple of Iles’ books before this series and didn’t know anything about his auto accident. But in hindsight it does seem like something might have occurred that precipitated writing a much more graphically violent book. Whether that explains it, or he had planned it all along I suppose we’ll never know.

Such an accident would have to change everything about you. I had not read any of Iles books before this. I believe he must have felt that he had to tell this story now that he had a second chance in life. I was spellbound thru all 3 books and read until my eyes ached. To say his works are page turners is a gross understatement.

In the early stages of Natchez Burning Greg Iles's father, who was the inspiration for Dr.Tom Cage, passed
away. Less than a year later Iles was in a near fatal car accident. He lost part of his right leg. During his long recovery he found comfort and motivation by reentering the world of his characters, the town and the secrets his readers loved most. The road through these 3 novels proved to be his road back to life. Bravo!! A

I had not heard about Iles' car crash and certainly did not notice any change in style between the three books.
I am sure, however, that the event must have precipitated a change in all areas of his life.

What Vivianh said really resonated with me. There are actually six books with Penn Cage as the main character, this trilogy being books 4-6. Now I'm wondering if Natchez Burning is a different book than it started out to be. I can only imagine what it would be like to have gone through all of that pain and sorrow while writing. I think it would almost *have* to make its way into the writing in one way or another.