Thirteen: The Serial Killer Isn't on Trial. He's on the Jury. (Eddie Flynn, 3)

In Thirteen, the third novel in international bestselling author Steve Cavanagh's Eddie Flynn series, a juror sows reasonable doubt to ensure an innocent man is found guilty.

If you can't beat the system, be the system.

"A knockout."--Booklist (starred review)

It's the murder trial of the century--and Joshua Kane has killed to get the best seat in the house. He has done everything in his power to make sure the wrong man goes down for the crime. Because this time, the killer isn't on trial. He's on the jury.

"A terrific hook...more twists than a tornado... A genuine, read-in-one-sitting page-turner." --The Guardian

But there's someone on his tail. Defense lawyer and former conman 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?

"BOOKS THESE INGENIOUS DON'T COME ALONG VERY OFTEN."--Michael Connelly

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496 pages

Average rating: 7.71

84 RATINGS

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CharleyB
Jul 24, 2024
8/10 stars
Another Eddie Flynn cracker novel. Fast paced courtroom drama at its finest. 8/10
Jmaybay
Mar 08, 2024
10/10 stars
"𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 π’Šπ’ˆπ’π’π’“π’† 𝒕𝒉𝒆 π’˜π’“π’†π’„π’Œπ’‚π’ˆπ’† 𝒂𝒏𝒅 π’π’π’π’Œ π’ƒπ’†π’šπ’π’π’… π’Šπ’• 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 π’Žπ’π’π’”π’•π’†π’“." π•‹π•™π•šπ•£π•₯π•–π•–π•Ÿ- Sᴛᴇᴠᴇ Cα΄€α΄ α΄€Ι΄α΄€Ι’Κœ @sscav ⭐ ( 10 / 10 ) This was great! Took me a little longer to read because of all the moving last week but it was phenomenal. I love procedural shows, just about all of them, and this felt like Suits meets The Departed meets Sneaky Pete. I knew I was going to be hooked on this one with this quote: I wondered how small Levy’s dick had to be for him to get this kind of enjoyment from degrading a female employee. Pretty damn small, I concluded. Mr. Eddie Flynn had me from the beginning of the book but I definitely swooned at the mental slap over mysogeny. Anyway the book was fantastic. There was nothing slow, even for being a court room drama Flynn always kept you trying to guess what his next move was. I love being an audience member when you can know something that the characters in the book don't. It was well WELL done here. To ME while Mr. cavanagh threw i. Red herrings they were necessarily something I was buying because of the way that they were executed. I see how to the main characters they'd think that was the case but for reasons youll find out when you read I wasn't going for it. I will say! That while I didnt bite the herring. I DID NOT GUESS THE ACTUAL CULPRIT and thats how we got just a half a star missing. I really did love this. Im more than likely going to get the rest of the Eddie Flynn books because hes just so entertaining! Go read it! π”Ύπ•¦π•šπ•π•₯π•ͺ β„π•–π•’π••π•šπ•Ÿπ•˜! π˜‘π˜’π˜Ί π˜”π˜’π˜Ί π˜–π˜Άπ˜΅
JHSiess
Feb 03, 2024
8/10 stars
Th1rt3en is the fourth installment in author Steve Cavanagh's Eddie Flynn series but each book may be read and enjoyed as a stand-alone volume.

Th1rt3en kicks off with an exploration of Joshua Kane's inner thoughts. On a cold December afternoon, he's on a cardboard bed outside the Criminal Courts Building in Manhattan, thinking about killing a man. Not just any man -- although he has killed "a nameless, random New Yorker who happened to fall into his line of vision" in the past. But on this particular day, he has a target in mind. And a plan. An elaborate, detailed plan.

Joshua Kane's background, rationale, and the details of his scheme are revealed in detail through chapters drafted in the third person that alternate with Flynn's first-person description of the state of his life. He is separated from the wife he loves, Christine, who is also a lawyer, and unable to see their twelve-year-old daughter, Amy, as often as he'd like. His drinking, the complicated emotions he feels as a criminal defense attorney, and a series of cases that put the family's safety in jeopardy caused the marriage to falter. Eddie wants to be with his wife and child, but not until he is "finished with the law." He thinks about doing something other than practice law, but just can't bring himself to walk away. He carries the guilt of knowing that he helped ensure that a guilty client was exonerated. And that client "went on to hurt somebody real bad." Eddie feels that he must help people in order to atone for his role in that tragedy.

Eddie is not just a troubled attorney. He's a skilled one with a strong sense of right and wrong, and the innate ability to discern "when someone is telling the truth and when someone is lying. The liars don't have the look." ]Eddie is convinced to defend Bobby Solomon -- even though he knows he is being set up for potentially catastrophic failure by Bobby's lead defense counsel, whose fees are being paid by the studio that wants to salvage the big-budget blockbuster movie it is about to release starring Bobby and his late wife. Eddie has seen "that look before" and it is impossible to forget. "It's rare to see that look." And after meeting with Bobby Solomon, Eddie he has to help him. Because "Bobby Solomon wore that look."

But Eddie has no idea what kind of formidable foe Joshua Kane will prove to be. Or why. Kane has set an elaborate, intricately-planned series of killings into motion but law enforcement investigators have not yet discovered the connections, much less the motive. Kane overlooks no details and his methodology is unique and unmistakable. He is highly intelligent and was born with congenital analgesia, a condition which causes the pain receptors in his brain to malfunction. Thus, in addition to being in top physical form, he can withstand pain that no normal person could possible tolerate. As the book progresses, he is shown by Cavanagh to be driven, ruthless, and a sociopath who will stop at nothing and spare no one in order to fulfill his goal and send his message.

Cavanagh is a former attorney putting his knowledge of the law to good use. His descriptions of the procedural aspects of criminal law and police procedure, as well as his characters' thought processes and dialogue are technically correct and believable. Eddie Flynn is a compelling, sympathetic character despite his flaws. He is committed to the law and wants to be a family man. But he is self-aware enough to realize that his passion for the law and justice cannot be subjugated to his passion for his family, and the the two cannot successfully coexist. His story is a heartbreaking one. Is is marriage to Christine really over? Hopefully, Cavanagh will explore their relationship further in the next installment.

Th1rt3en is a nonstop adventure that alternates, without pause, between the mind of a determined killer and a driven attorney who, with the help of some savvy and dedicated associates, is committed to discovering the killer's motive and saving his next targets. The nuances of the ways in which Kane is able to maneuver and function strain credulity at times, but Cavanagh's story is so original, clever, and meticulously plotted that those issues never detract from the enjoyment of how skillfully Cavanagh reveals critical information at expertly-timed junctions. The story is a masterfully constructed puzzle, full of unexpected, jaw-dropping twists and surprising plot developments. Th1rte3n includes violence, but it is neither needlessly gory nor gratuitous. Rather, it is an inherent part of the story. Cavanagh can also be forgiven for taking some liberties with the ethical duties and responsibilities implicated when a judge has a close friendship with one of the criminal defense attorneys who tries a case in his courtroom because the relationship he portrays is touching and feels otherwise genuine.

Th1rt3en is sure to end up on multiple lists of 2019's best thrillers.

Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.

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