Book Review: Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh

Title: Thirteen
Author: Steve Cavanagh
Publisher: Orion
Release Date: 14th June 2018

Synopsis: Hollywood actor Robert Soloman stands accused of the brutal stabbings of his wife and her lover, but he is desperately pleading that he had nothing to do with it. This is the trial of the century, and the defence want Eddie Flynn on their team.

The biggest case Eddie has ever tried before, he decides to take it on despite the overwhelming evidence that Robert is guilty. As the trial starts, Eddie becomes sure of Robert's innocence, but there's something else he is even more sure of - that there is something sinister going on in the jury box.

Because of this, he is forced to ask: what if the killer isn't on the stand? What if he's on the jury?

Review: I love me a book with a twist...when the twist is in the tagline you already got me!

The serial Killer isn't on trial...He's on the Jury. 

Wait What! He's Where! Gimmie this book. 

I find that I go through phases of genre reading, dipping in an out over the years but having fixed periods where I really read a certain type. I started with thrillers, action packed adventure stories, pulling on my history strings and storming through jungles looking for an artefact that could change the course of history. Then five years ago I shifted more into Crime and its various strands. I developed a particular taste, a bunch of favourite authors and whilst I still dip in every now I do quite miss it ( I say that like it's a lover I'm never going to see again more than a conscious decision not to pick up a crime book). So when I find something that catches my eye I find the fingers itching wanting to go back to something familiar. I'd seen Thirteen floating around twitter (as I do with so many of my recommendations) and I loved the hook. 


I was immediately pulled into the story. The concept was the driver that keep things interesting, split between two narratives, the third person of the Killer and the first person of defence attorney Eddie Flynn with the 'what's going to happen'  tension always prickling round the edges as the trial got more intense. 

Though this Eddie Flynn's fourth outing you can enjoy it independently and I have since bought all the other books so I can immerse myself in these worlds. Though I really do feel for our main characters they can never seem to get an easy ride! And here you really like Eddie, he has a sense of honesty and integrity that you don't always get with lawyers, even if he was a con artist in a prior life.  

Kane was a fascinating 'villain' to read. I love going over to this dark side because it makes for an interesting perspective, there were some moments when I was grabbing my pearls and thinking damn. Where do people get these ideas from! The dual narrative gave the book pace and kept you hooked in the moment so you were invested but wanting more, leaving you end of chapter cliffhanger breadcrumbs that keep you pacing through! I've found this with all Steve's books that I've read. You get strapped in for a ride and you're not going anywhere until its over and you have to catch a breath. 

This book comes highly rerecorded...