Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh Review

Spinning a Courtroom Thriller on its Head!

I am a huge fan of courtroom/legal dramas and thrillers. I love the drama, the intrigue, the twists and turns, and the ingenious way in which a lawyer can turn a jury. My bookshelves are littered with the likes of Lee Child and John Grisham, so to combine these genres is my idea of book heaven.

Steve Cavanagh, unbeknown to me, was doing just that! He is a master of this combination, and I was hooked from the very first chapter. Thirteen, is a legal / courtroom based thriller that will leave you looking at a jury from a completely different angle.

Part of a series centered around the lovable character Eddie Flynn, this is the fourth installment. But worry not, each of Steve Cavanaghs books can be read standalone.

So what drew me to this book in the first place? Easy. The synopsis – they say never judge a book by its cover, but I confess it was the cover that totally had me hooked! It dragged me in with the hook of a serial killer sitting on a jury. So when I was given the chance to take part in an epic #BlogTour for this book before publication, I jumped at the chance!

‘To your knowledge, is there anything that would preclude you from serving on this jury?’

Murder wasn’t the hard part. It was just the start of the game.
Joshua Kane has been preparing for this moment his whole life. He’s done it before. But this is the big one.
This is the murder trial of the century. And Kane has killed to get the best seat in the house.
But there’s someone on his tail. Someone who suspects that the killer isn’t the man on trial.
Kane knows time is running out – he just needs to get to the conviction without being discovered.

A synopsis like that would have anyone hooked right? A killer on the jury? How can that even happen? Can he really get away with murder and put an innocent man away for it too? Surely not!

The idea that a murderer could be sitting on the jury watching the trial of someone he set up for the crime is just genius.

The book switches effortlessly between Kanes (the real killer) point of view and Eddie Flynn (con man turned lawyer) who is convinced that Hollywood heartthrob Robert Solomon is innocent – but he just can’t put his finger on why.

Robert was one half of Hollywoods biggest power couple, but when his wife and their head of security are found brutally murdered, Roberts fingerprints are all over the murder – but something just doesn’t sit right with Eddie and he sets out to find the connection between this murder and “Dollar Bill” – a potential serial killer being hunted by the FBI.

The only problem is – no one believes him and the evidence is not helping.

The plot for this story is original, cleverly constructed and quite literally mind-twisting. The first person point of view of Eddie really draws you into the character – but despite this being the fourth of his books, Cavanagh has written him in a way that allows you to read this as a stand-alone, but quickly intrigues you enough to want to go back and read the others. My amazon order may be a little Cavanagh heavy this week! Oops!

Kane’s character is written in the third person, leaving you just detached enough to feel a little unsure about his intentions. As the story builds you are left feeling the pace really pick up and conclusion of the book leaves you shocked, exhausted and satisfied in equal measure.

It’s not very often that a book lives up to the hype – but I certainly concur with Lee Childs assessment of Steve Cavanagh’s book “Outstanding – an intriguing premise, a tense, gripping build-up, and a spectacular climax. This guy is the real deal.”
I completely agree.

Thirteen published by: Orion
ISBN: 978-140917-066-2