THIRTEEN BY STEVE CAVANAGH

Steve Cavavanagh’s crime novel, Thirteen, is on the short list for Theakestons Old Peculier Crime Writers Festival and competition at the Swan Hotel, Harrogate, Yorkshire.  For me, it's the winner.

Before I read any book I want to know as little about it as possible, but it is easy to be swayed by comment, authors names and publicity.  For this book, knowing it was on a short list was enough.   I never read reviews as I want to form my own opinion and if the writing does not gel or I don't like it, then I put the book down. Not this one. I was hooked straight away. Not only are there page-turners there are chapter-turners as well.   

The front cover gives away two facts.  “The serial killer isn't on trial. He's on the jury.”  There is nothing I can do about that as I suppose they want to sell books!

Innocently, I thought this was a ‘stand-alone’, but it isn't. Eddie Flynn is our hero with a history.  He cannot leave the court room and he just has to defend the impossible-to-defend cases. That's another give away as it is set in and around an American court room.  Don't be put off by that as there is so much more to this book than being stuck in a stuffy court.  

Remember there is a killer out there and maybe more than one.  

A celebrity is on trial for the murder of his wife and a man found in the same bed. Nothing obvious there then! The truth eventually emerges though. We know the serial killer is clever as we are told he is on the jury.  But how clever and who the bloody hell is he, this renegade juror? 

Throw into the mix corrupt cops, (well it is Manhattan) clever people from the FBI and a few diligent hard workers who help Eddie Flynn through it all and keep him alive. There is action too especially in the final chapters.  I often wonder how much injury the characters can endure and still come back fighting hard. I know what sleep depravation feels like, but they go on for hours and hours.  I suppose that's what helps them to become heroes!

There are more twists in this book than I thought could be included in one story. Praise for the writer should be delivered in lorry loads?

It is one of the best crime novels that I have ever read.