Thirteen – Steve Cavanagh
THE SERIAL KILLER ISN’T ON TRIAL.
HE’S ON THE JURY..
‘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.
My thanks to Lauren at Orion for my review copy and the chance to join the blog tour.
I love a serial killer story. I love a courtroom drama. Thirteen was love squared, it was outstanding – the page turner you hope that every book will be but few actually achieve.
Thirteen is Eddie Flynn book 4. For me it was Eddie Flynn book 1 (though books 1, 2, 3 and the 0.5 novella are all on my Kindle screaming at me to read them). I can categorically state that you do not have to have read the earlier books to enjoy Thirteen.
Eddie Flynn is a former conman turned lawyer – he is headhunted by a large law firm to join the team defending a high profile Hollywood star who stands accused of murdering his wife and her lover. The actor maintains his innocence but the evidence seems beyond dispute.
The reader knows that the real killer is not on trial, he is devising a way to get onto the jury. From this position of power the killer believes he can influence how the other jurors will view the evidence and that he can ensure an innocent man is found guilty of a crime he committed. The twist is delicious and Steve Cavanagh has worked some serious magic to make this story astonishingly good.
To give away too much of the plot of Thirteen would be criminal – readers should discover the joy of this book for themselves. Eddie Flynn is a hugely likeable character and I loved the principled drive he brought to this case. The killer made for fascinating reading too – we spend quite a lot of time in their company and the lengths with are gone to for him to secure his position of control are astonishing (and kept me turning pages).
I can also add a little extra detail to my reading experience of Thirteen as before I knew I was joining the blog tour I had already started to listen to the audiobook. The book is narrated by Adam Sims who has the perfect voice for this story – a slightly gravelly American accent which I could listen to for hours (and did as it happens). As an audiobook can live or die by the skill of the narrator I was very happy to hear this wonderful tale enhanced by a skilled storyteller.
I tend not to score the books I read but Thirteen is a guaranteed five star read – one of the reading highs of the year.
Thirteen is published by Orion and can be ordered here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thirteen-serial-killer-isnt-trial-ebook/dp/B076PKVQJV/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527806735&sr=8-1&keywords=thirteen+steve+cavanagh
