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The Mississippi Series is a series of novels by German born American mystery thriller writer Greg Iles. The first of the mystery thrillers in the series was Mortal Fear, published in 1997. The novels do not have a single unifying character though common themes and characters link them together.
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Order of Mississippi Series
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mortal Fear | 1997 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | 24 Hours | 2000 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | Dead Sleep | 2001 | Description / Buy | |
| 4 | Sleep No More | 2002 | Description / Buy | |
| 5 | Blood Memory | 2005 | Description / Buy |
Given that the novels have no particular chronology and no unifying lead character, they could be read as freestanding novels in no particular order. The common thread in the novels is their setting in Mississippi, the place where the author spent most of his childhood.
The first novel in the Mississippi series, Mortal Fear tells the story of Harper Cole, a trader of commodities that operates his business from a remote farmhouse in the Mississippi Delta. By night, Harper works for E.R.O.S., a sexually explicit high society dating service that caters to the perverse needs of everyone from the literati of New York to the glitterati of Hollywood. Under the mask of absolute anonymity, the country’s high and mighty confesses their secrets on E.R.O.S, where only the system operators such as Harper have access.
Things are going well for Harper and E.R.O.S. when six women mysteriously disappear from the site. While Harper believes there may be some foul play involved, he keeps it to himself. But when another client goes missing he contacts the police against regulations. It soon comes to light that the previous six women had all been the victims of a set of grisly murders in different cities. While the killer has made sure to use a different weapon in each murder, he has taken the same bizarre trophy from each body. Finding himself the prime suspect in the murders, Harper is forced into the investigations in a secret manhunt he hopes will clear his name.
MISSISSIPPI BOOKS INTO TV/MOVIES
One book in the Mississippi series of novels, 24 Hours has been adapted for the silver screen. In 2002, Propaganda Films Production made the novel into a film by the name Trapped. The movie starred Dakota Fanning, Pruitt Taylor Prince, Kevin Bacon, Stuart Townsend, Courtney Love, and Charlize Theron.
BEST MISSISSIPPI BOOKS
Blood Memory: The fifth novel is deemed one of the best novels in the Mississippi series of novels. The lead character in the novel is Cat Ferry, a forensic expert with a stellar reputation, who suddenly goes numb at the scene of a grisly New Orleans murder. But when another victim is found mutilated in a way that suggested the same killer was involved, Cat can no longer take it. She leaves her job and goes back home to Natchez, Mississippi to clear her head. But her tranquil home in rural Mississippi does not offer the sanctuary she hoped it would. Soon after arriving home, she discovers bloody footprints on her bedroom floor after spilling some of her forensic chemicals. The discovery is a light bulb moment, as she now believes that the gruesome deaths she had witnessed on New Orleans could in some way be linked to the grisly murder of her father years back.
Dead Sleep: The third novel of the Mississippi series is one of the most popular of Greg Iles’s works. When Jordan Glass who is on a vacation stumbles into an art gallery in Hong Kong, she is puzzled by the strange looks she gets from her fellow patrons. She soon finds the answer in the gallery; her face is on one painting, in a series of paintings that are sold as female nudes in death. But the face is not actually her, it is that of her twin sister, who had been murdered not a year past. With the backing of her former boss at the FBI, she sets out on a quest to find a gifted murderer cum anonymous artist, who probably knew her family’s dark secrets that has haunted her for years.
24 Hours: Another excellent title in the Mississippi series of novels is the second novel, 24 Hours. A lunatic has been executing a perfect kidnap crime and getting away with. This time though he chose the Will and Karen Jennings youngest as his kidnap victim, the worst mistake he could ever make. Unlike other families the Jennings are not going to let him terrorize or hold their child as they watch.
OTHER BOOK SERIES YOU MAY LIKE
Many Mississippi fans also enjoy the “Frank Clevenger” series of novels by Keith Ablow. These novels are psychological thrillers that feature a forensic scientist, Frank Clevenger who is dedicated in searching for the truth even if it kills him. Many Mississippi fans also liked the “Tim Rackley” series of novels by Gregg Hurwitz. The thriller novels feature Tim Rackley a Deputy US Marshall driven by morality, honor, and a deep sense of justice, which leads him to the grey no man’s land between the law and justice.
What Is The Next Book in The Mississippi Series?
There doesn't seem to be an upcoming book in The Mississippi Series. The newest book is Blood Memory and was released on January, 1st 2005.