Th1rt3en (Eddie Flynn)

Product Information

The serial killer isn’t on trial. He’s on the jury. It’s the murder trial of the century. And Joshua Kane has killed to get the best seat in the house – and to be sure the wrong man goes down for the crime. Because this time, the killer isn’t on trial. He’s on the jury. But there’s someone on his tail. Former-conman-turned-criminal-defense-attorney Eddie Flynn doesn’t believe that his movie-star client killed two people. He suspects that the real killer is closer than they think – but who would guess just how close? Thirteen: The Serial Killer Isn’t on Trial. He’s on the Jury. (Eddie Flynn Book 3) by Steve Cavanagh – eBook Details a b c Thorsen, Leah. "Festus High doesn't shy away from controversial book". STLtoday.com . Retrieved 2020-12-09.

Thirteen is the fourth book in the Eddie Flynn series but it can be read as standalone. This is my first book of the series and I surely regret not reading the first 3 books of the series. As a part legal and a part psychological thriller, the author has combined the best of both genres to create a mystery thriller par excellence. Eddie's close friend, Judge Harry Ford, takes over the trial after the health issues of the previous judge. The colourful Southern PR savvy prosecuter for hire, Art Pryor, has never lost a case, and with the support of his formidable expertise, confidently believes that Solomon will be convicted. Eddie knows that he has been recruited as the fall guy should he fail to prove that the NYPD has tampered with critical evidence, a dollar bill with the DNA of a convicted killer from the past, Richard Pena, and the DNA of Solomon. Eddie hires ex-FBI Harper to be his investigator, and this leads to an FBI agent, Delaney, who believes there is a serial killer whose MO includes leaving behind a specially marked dollar bill on the victim, but has escaped detection because he ensures someone else is always convicted for the murders. Could this provide a viable route to save Solomon by introducing another suspect? However, Delaney is refusing to testify and Eddie has a problem he could not have imagined, the killer is on the jury, ideally placed to ensure that a guilty verdict prevails. As I've come to expect from Richard K. Morgan, non-white, non-male and non-straight characters are very well represented in this story. It is positively refreshing to see capital-s Speculative Fiction finally write stories that actually featrure the people who are likely to populate the world of the future. As these characters deal with their relationship to Carl, each other and themselves they each explore the difference between how they believe they should relate to Carl, the world and themselves, and ultimately have to discover for themselves where the line between limbic imperative and imprinted behavior lies. Carl has postcoital conversation with a colleague who inherited a geneset called "bonobo", designed to make women more overtly sexual:You’ll need to suspend your believability! If you can....then I think you’ll walk away loving the new favorite summer thriller!

I very much believe that this book is a top contender for book of the year 2018. A subtle underlying tone of a tale of the American dream, combined with the very cold matter of a fate worse than death. The book included clever court room politics, and a spine tingling point of view from the perpetrator. Alongside classic, thought provoking and original story telling. As a crime fiction lover, I am more than pleasantly pleased that Steve Cavanagh has more novels out there, and that I will get to meet Eddie Flynn again. a b c Czyzon, Sydney. " 'Thirteen Reasons Why' author speaks about controversy, rejection". Marquette Wire . Retrieved 2020-12-09.

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Kudos, Mr. Cavanagh, as you push the limits and do so well at challenging all I thought I knew about legal thrillers. It’s the murder trial of the century. And Joshua Kane has killed to get the best seat in the house – and to be sure the wrong man goes down for the crime. Because this time, the killer isn’t on trial. He’s on the jury. Publisher’s Synopsis

a b Kettley, Sebastian (2017-04-26). "13 Reasons Why Netflix series VS book: What are the differences?". Express.co.uk . Retrieved 2020-12-09. EXCERPT: At ten after five on a raw December afternoon, Joshua Kane lay on a cardboard bed outside the Criminal Courts Building in Manhattan and thought about killing a man. Not just any man. he was thinking about someone in particular. it was true that Kane had, at times, while on the subway or watching passers-by, occasionally thought about killing a nameless, random New Yorker who happened to fall into his line of vision. It could be the blonde secretary reading a romance novel on the K train, a Wall Street banker swinging an umbrella as he ignored Kane's please for change, or even a child holding its mother's hand on a crosswalk. Thank you to NetGalley, Flatiron Books and Steve Cavanaugh for an arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review. a b Schnaars, Christopher; McClurg, Jocelyn (January 4, 2018). "USA TODAY's Top 100 Books". USA Today. Mclean, Virginia: Gannett Company . Retrieved April 29, 2018.

Thirteen

If you prefer your SCI-FI in the vein of Blade Runner then you'll dig Thirteen. It's dark, gritty, and brutal, with insights of society and mankind that ring all too true. This is the fourth book in the Eddie Flynn series, but the first for me. It can definitely be read as standalone. With that being said, I want to know more about Eddie and plan on reading the earlier books in the series to fill in some gaps. Thirteen started off very promising, with tight writing and genuinely tense moments, but was ultimately short on delivery. In it, I very much wanted affirmation of Morgan’s story-writing potential having read his popular Altered Carbon, which I enjoyed but still left wanting. Thirteen was set in a precursor world 100 years before Altered Carbon, so expect the technology to be less thrilling. Unfortunately, the technology in Thirteencontributed to conveniences but was not quite integral to story development. We are also seeing the story from the point of view of a very, very evil person. A person who seems to be so smart and who can disguise his identity so well that no one really sees him. It's hard to see why, at first, but this guy has his eyes on this actor's trial and he's going to jam up the works in a way that no one will ever suspect. He's a pro at this and no one can hurt him for a lot of reasons. Things get wild, crazy, and violent as usual and, as with all of Eddie's stories, there is no way I could figure out what is going on. American Library Association (2020-09-09). "Top 100 Most Banned and Challenged Books: 2010-2019". Advocacy, Legislation & Issues . Retrieved 2021-03-06.

Carl Marsalis, genetically modified (I'd say enhanced) and trained in soldiering since birth, did not inspire that sort of dissonance with me. I get this guy. I understand his mental processes. He has to explain himself over and over to the "normal" humans around him why he does the things he does, and each time I feel his frustration. The premise of the character is that he's a "variant 13", the result of manipulating the genome to express neural structures and personality traits advantageous to a hunter/gather society, but subsequently bred out in the intervening 20000 years of agricultural domestication and raised in an off-the-record creche remniscent of the movie Soldier. Thirteen is an outstanding legal thriller, so original, clever and accomplished that it should not be missed. It marks out Cavanagh as the heir apparent to John Grisham." - Express (UK)MY THOUGHTS: Oh boy! I have never been a fan of the legal thriller, but Th1rt3en?.....this may have just converted me. The narrative is shared between Eddie and Kane’s PoVs and Cavanagh has done a brilliant job in creating the character of Joshua Kane who is one of the most interesting villains I’ve come across lately. With its sharp writing and well-developed plot, gripping narrative, twists and red herrings and a cast of interesting characters, Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh is truly an absorbing legal thriller that is hard to put down. Though this is the fourth book in Steve Cavanagh's Eddie Flynn series it can be read as a standalone, but I would definitely recommend this series to those who enjoy legal thrillers. SF thrillers or just regular kind its hard to find someone who writes as good,hardcore noirish thrillers as Morgan. He stands out, his action scenes are better than most authors in the same fields. He writes about main characters like Carl Marslais who you could never in a million years call a hero and who is a violent, amoral noir protagonist. Still he makes seem him more human than you would expect. He doesnt write simple thriller stories where the good and bad guys are clear. Carl lifted fingertips to his face, brushed at his cheekbones. “You see this? When you’re a variant, people don’t look at this. They go right through the skin, and all they see is what’s written into your double helix.” Eddie and the killer were both compelling characters. Both intelligent and calculating, setting up chess moves to counter each other, one after another, in a battle of wits. Even the other characters from Art Pryor to Harper are well crafted and memorable. Some of the killer’s actions seemed inexplicable. The jury never really came into play in the story which was disappointing for someone who enjoys jury battles. Having said that, it does not take away the fact that this is a well-crafted story.