Pages: 379
Published: 1st January 2015
Genre: Legal/Crime Thriller
Content warnings: Injury detail
When David Child, a major client of a corrupt New York law firm, is arrested for murder, the FBI ask con-artist-turned-lawyer Eddie Flynn to secure Child as his client and force him to testify against the firm.
Eddie’s not a man to be coerced into representing a guilty client, but the FBI have incriminating files on Eddie’s wife, and if Eddie won’t play ball, she’ll pay the price.
When Eddie meets Child he’s convinced the man is innocent, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. With the FBI putting pressure on him to secure the plea, Eddie must find a way to prove Child’s innocence while keeping his wife out of danger – not just from the FBI, but from the firm itself.
This is as tense and pulsating a legal thriller as you are likely to find. With a premise that instantly piques the interest and an opening that sets up a dramatic race against the clock, the way is paved for a story that cannot be described as anything other than ingenious as it carries you along on an edge-of-the-seat ride through what promises to be the fictional trial of the century.
It takes incredible skill to develop a plot with so many intricacies and factor in all the ins and outs of the courtroom, while at the same time moving things along at such tempo and with relentless suspense. Steve Cavanagh not only does that here, but he keeps you fixated on the case and all the major players, tying everything together with maximum efficiency and keeping us as the readers right in the very thick of the action.
The case itself is absolute dynamite, while the various characters with all their individual agendas add a huge amount to the narrative. Eddie Flynn, blackmailed into representing a globally famous client accused of what looks like the open and shut murder of his girlfriend to get a guilty plea so help save his estranged wife from prosecution or worse for unknowingly playing a part in a huge money laundering operation. It is a gripping start, and that is even after the prologue that tells us Eddie is only three days away from being shot.
We are frequently reminded of the horrific consequences that await Eddie and his wife if he does not carry out those demands, but Eddie is not the kind of man to ever let go of his principles and his attempts to both absolve his wife and prove the murder accused David Child was not guilty all along, creates fireworks. Every step of the way, the mystery of David’s case and all the scheming and strategising that Eddie does to ensure total justice across the board is wonderfully executed with loads and twists and turns along the way.
As the reader we are propelled right into the thick of the action, which is fairly non-stop. Eddie is a character who is so easy to root for and there are several times where he lands himself in some grave situations where he has to use all his legal ingenuity to wriggle out. Threats come his way; he makes enemies of the more crafty opposing lawyers; makes innovative arguments to the presiding judges, and is clearly superhuman because he never appears to sleep.
The details of Clara’s death are extremely well thought out, from the timelines to the panic room to the idea that nobody other than David could have been responsible. Eddie’s certainty from the start that David is innocent poses a lot of questions that are just dying to be answered and are such fun coming up with theories about. Is David putting on an act? If it was not him, then how did Clara get murdered? Who even was Clara?
David Child is an intriguing character who comes across as a bit of a gormless Mark Zuckerberg. He is obviously very tech smart having built a giant social media platform, but struggles to navigate the real world. Still, he has the resilience not to break under pressure and make a false confession, and there is something oddly likeable about his unsuspecting outlook.
Reading from Eddie’s point of view is also entertaining for the way it adds colour to the judges and lawyers he encounters at court. Although the writing style is very matter-of-fact, it raises a few laughs when Eddie gets one over on Zader and also when the judge has to cancel his afternoon off because of delaying tactics. And in a neat example of how everything in the story is wrapped up so well, it is immensely satisfying to see Zader get his comeuppance at the end.
Even during those lighter moments the air fizzes with tension, but that is at its most pronounced when Eddie goes against Tony’s demands or finds himself pursued by Gerry, mastermind of the money laundering scheme behind his guise as one of the city’s most prominent lawyers. Everything comes to its peak in the final chapters, where the safety of Eddie and his wife plus the fate of David, hangs on the line.
Overall, this is a book that never leaves you waiting for things to happen. It is unputdownable, so well plotted and carrying a permanent sense of urgency that consumes your mind. Eddie Flynn is a fantastic protagonist again and the author makes it engaging to follow without ever spoon-feeding information. This is crime fiction of the very highest order.
I read Thirteen back in 2020 and somehow it took me four and-a-half years to revisit Steve Cavanagh and the Eddie Flynn series. I am reading them out of order, but so far both have been amazing and have delivered on their irresistible premises.
This could well end up being my top book of the year. It was everything I could have wanted from a legal thriller.
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Stephen Reads Books 