Thirteen By Steve Cavanagh

I have read quite a lot of legal thrillers in the years gone by and in my opinion, legal thrillers don’t get much better than Steve Cavanagh’s Thirteen! It is the legal thriller Lee Child, Michael Connelly, and Ruth Ware are raving about. The premise for this book is absolutely ingenious! Just think about it: The serial killer is not on trial. He is on the jury!

Robert Solomon and Ariella Bloom are Hollywood’s hottest power couple with the world at their feet. When Ariella is found dead together with Robert’s Chief of Security Carl Tozer in Robert’s house, all evidence points to Robert’s guilt and he is charged with the two murders.

Con artist turned lawyer Eddie Flynn seeks to protect the innocent. When he is approached by Robert’s high profile defence attorney Rudy Carp to join the defence team, Eddie is far from convinced that Robert is innocent. But after meeting the accused,  Eddie takes the case up despite overwhelming evidence against the accused as he feels the accused may be innocent.

Eddie is estranged from his wife and daughter after a series of previous court cases had endangered their lives, and he is considering making a change so they can reconcile. But by accepting the offer to be part of Robert’s defence team, he knows his plan has been jeopardised.

So begins the trial of the century with high-octane courtroom drama. The tension builds exponentially right to the end, with more murders along the way as the prolific serial killer Joshua Kane goes on a killing spree.

Shrewd cross-examination and detective work from Eddie and his team of investigators starts to cast reasonable doubt on the guilt of Robert. Eddie is confident that the real killer is out there – he just has to convince the jury of that.

But as Kane starts killing off jurors he has determined are leaning toward an acquittal  and as more details of the past killings emerge, Eddie finally comes to the conclusion that the serial killer is a member of the sequestered jury.

The pace is ferocious towards the end and the shocking twist will make you gasp. Steve Cavanagh tops John Grisham at his best.