Thirteen: A Novel (Eddie Flynn, Book 3)

Trusted review media let me down (PW, I'm talking to you! - Starred Review -- really?). Pros: fast paced, did want to finish, plot twists surprised me, some clever concepts and procedural business; somewhat interesting sidekicks and minor characters. Cons: cartoonish, flat main characters I didn't care about; average writing quality (nothing offensive, but nothing to love stylistically either); two main characters feel like composites from every better book about lawyers and serial killers ever written; although this takes place in NYC there is no authentic flavor of NYC to it, and I say that as someone who actually lived on W 88th St, which is a location in the book; finally, it drove me crazy that one of the plot devices comes directly from Silence of the Lambs WHICH THE AUTHOR DOESN'T MENTION! Imagine making a movie with a sled named Rosebud but never mentioning Citizen Kane. This I find perplexing and distracting.

The premise for this novel is an exciting one. Joshua Kane has this evil desire to commit a serial killing but wants to make sure that he never gets caught. To do this, Kane hatches a scheme to land himself a seat on the jury of a coming murder trial. The defendant in this trial is a celebrity actor named Robert “Bobby” Solomon. Kane is successful and, once the trial gets underway, tries to influence the rest of the juror’s thinking so that Bobby will eventually be found guilty. Bobby’s attorney for his defense is Eddie Flynn, a fellow that I’ve seen before in other novels by Cavanagh. Flynn has a checkered history. He was once a professional con man before getting his life straightened out and winning a law degree. Flynn’s experience as a con man works to his advantage at times when dealing with the prosecution and witnesses who are not favorable to his client’s case. Flynn is also an old friend of the judge in this case and, in several incidents during the trial, I thought the judge’s actions crossed the line of judicial prudence. Bobby’s trial moves ahead slowly while other incidents make Flynn realize there is a person on the jury with an ulterior motive. Unfortunately, for at least this reader, I came to a different conclusion than what was revealed in the book’s ending. I’ll admit it was a surprise but I also felt that the most readers will feel tricked, not by an unreliable narrator but by an unreliable author. This book could have been much better and I’m disappointed in having to wade through the entire novel only to feel a huge letdown at the end.

I absolutely loved this book, having been drawn to it by its intriguing and compelling strapline: The serial killer isn't on trial. He's on the jury...I adored both main characters, the inimitable former con artist and now defence lawyer, Eddie Flynn, and the devious, clever and utterly evil serial killer Joshua Kane. I also enjoyed Cavanagh’s great writing style, the wit, the punchy dialogue and the roller coaster of a story.Thirteen is utterly compulsive reading and is a book I’ll recommend to friends again and again.

A decent read, certainly it's unputdownable. However, it's also rather unreal that someone can take someone else's identity so well, so quickly, and so relevant to the plot within the book. Very entertaining but with a rather wild and bloody ending. It's worth buying for lovers of courtroom drama, though.

I was enjoying this book until there was a comment about who the president was. Maybe remember all types of people read. I won’t read another one of this author’s books. I want to escape when I read. Not hear the same things we get everyday from media

Other reviewers have explained the basic premise and the plot - I'll just add that this is a well crafted story. The pacing is excellent and builds throughout the book, carve out some time to read the last 1/2 pretty much all in one chunk because you won't want to stop until you find out what happens. I think this will be a break-out book for Cavanagh - his earlier Eddie Flynn books are good, this one is really excellent.

I have never written a review like this, nor read a book like this. The first 90% of the book was terrific. Enthralling and interesting. And then it does not just fall off the rails, it jumps off the rails. The new thing in thrillers seems to be to make the ending as confusing and ridiculous as possible. It is not just Cavanagh. Others have fallen into this trap. Why? I have no idea and it makes for really bad writing. The ending does not have to come out of left field to be great. How Cavanagh's editors allowed this ending to exist is beyond me.Take a really great book and screw it up royally in the last 10%. Wow. That is hard to do but Cavanagh did it.

This is a great read. Well written too compared to some books I'veread recently. In many ways you know there is going to be a specific type of outcome but nevertheless its a real page turner to see how the villain gets his comeuppance!! Only disappointing thing was the conclusion, dont want to give away the ending but I felt that there was abetter one that could have been used.

Author’s fourth Eddie Flynn novel. Flynn, an ex-con artist turned lawyer, backs into becoming the lead lawyer in defending a young Hollywood star accused of killing his wife and his chief of security. The two murder victims were found lying nude together on a bed in the star’s New York apartment. Most of the evidence indicates that the star committed the crime.The author reveals early on that the actual perpetrator is a long-time serial killer whose MO is killing individuals, framing someone for their murders and then finding a way to insert himself on to the jury in the subsequent trial of the wrongly accused persons to help insure they receive a guilty verdict.As was the case with the earlier Flynn novels, Thirteen’s plot zips along, the dialogue is masterful, the court scenes are brilliant and Flynn continues to be an irresistible character. Cavanagh is a wonderful author. I hope that this series has a long run.

WOW!!! I absolutely loved this book, I read it in less than 24 hours and just couldn't put it down - I almost considered not sleeping so that I could finish it quicker!!So as the book suggests...… The serial killer isn't on trial - HE'S ON THE JURYThis was brilliantly written, the storyline just weaved and flowed easily with the picture of what had really happened building clue by clue. Kane is our criminal who has literally killed to get his seat on the jury, can he see the man convicted though?Once again the star of the book is Eddie Flynn who ends up getting involved despite him not wanting too, once he realises that the client is innocent he takes matters into his own hands to help try and prove his innocence.I don't want to give too much away about the rest of the storyline as I really think that everyone needs to read it themselves to find out. There were points when I was reading that I literally shouted out 'yes!, I'd forgotten about that' and 'oh my god' my friends who were with me told me that I couldn't tell them anymore as they wanted to read it!!

This is a beautifully crafted story. It has a clever premise and I am being careful not to give spoilers but I can say that it is about a serial killer on a mission who has a long history of manipulation in order to conceal his crimes. His work is understood by a lawyer who has his own (relevant) back story. What is really great about this story is the slow dripping of clues which the reader knows are relevant but cannot work out how until they come together throughout the story. It is genuinely gripping and very, very clever. I am a crime story veteran and love a good yarn but very rarely these days read until my eyes are sore just to get more pages read so I can see what is going to happen. I did with this book! The ending also had some clever twists and turns I did not see coming. I liked the key characters and enjoyed the devilish quality of the killer. Great story, well written and carefully plotted with good pace. Recommend.

TH1RT3EN by Steve CavanaghIt’s important to start all positive reviews with the phrase ‘I loved this book’ and it’s important for all aspiring writers to only write positive reviews. I don’t know whether that is true but I do know that I really did love TH1RT3EN by Steve Cavanagh.It manages to be both inventive and traditional at the same time, but more importantly it’s a wildly enjoyable read and it speeds along at a very satisfying pace. With the writing and the reading and the redrafting of my own work, it is rare pleasure at the moment for me to find a book that I struggle to put down.The first few chapters of TH1RT3EN have the feel of a Chandler or a John D MacDonald. The full noir atmosphere, damaged hero and troubled circumstances are evoked magnificently. After that the book settles into a more modern feeling thriller, but that is far from a criticism. The court room scenes dominate but don’t drown the book. There’s plenty of genuine peril to balance the theoretical.The main characters are well drawn and likeable, except where they are intended not to be, and the supporting cast are carefully sketched without the necessity of pages of flowery prose. In an age of slow moving thrillers with relatively few characters all painstakingly described in page after page of thoughtful detail, this is a serious point of recommendation in my view.The ending might be a little fussy for me. There are a few too many twists, a few too many ‘he’s not dead yet’ moments. That puts some pressure on the plot and pacing and I felt rendered some of the later violence slightly cartoonish, but all of that is a genuinely minor criticism and did not temper my enjoyment of the book.TH1RT3EN is a great thriller and a pleasure to read.

I read "Fifty Fifty" recently by this author. It didn't blow me away but was certainly good enough to encourage me to read another of his books. Then a friend recommended this book so I thought I would try it.The book is just over 350 pages, split into 73 chapters.The first person narrative is very immediate and seems to put the reader straight into the centre of the action. This narrative alternates with chapters where we can observe the killer.The story is very extreme and escapist (which is probably a good thing in the awful world we seem to live in at the moment) - it is exciting to read and gives a high level of fantasy along with some nightmarish scenarios.I know very little about criminal trials in the US and it is slightly horrifying to read some of the details in this novel. The author is a lawyer who practises in Ireland so I am guessing that he has done a significant amount of research.From the start, we follow the murderer and get to understand his methods, gradually coming to appreciate his intelligence levels as well as what sets him apart from the crowd.The alternating narratives show the perspectives of the hunter and the hunted, although the reader is often unsure who is playing which role. The urgent pace and the detail of the crimes give the book the feeling of a classic "crime noir" novel allowing the reader to abandon belief in reality and let themselves go with the plot.Eddie Flynn's personal life is an important part of his novels. I wish I had read the books in order as relationships with his ex and his daughter would fit more easily into place (Fifty Fifty is after this book).The "reveal" at the end happens very quickly and I found it difficult to slow down from the fast pace in which I had read the rest of the novel. It's a good ending though and I particularly like the contemplative last chapter