A BarksBeachesBooks Review

This book was incredible. It was so good in fact that I was sneaking reading in during any possible breaks in work that I could. Shhh, don’t tell on me.

A couple of things about this book:

1) I was about 75% done with the book when I found out that it was the fourth book in the Eddie Flynn series by Steve Cavanaugh.

2) You do not need to read the others to pick this up and know what’s going on. I was immediately sucked in and had a very hard time putting this book down until I was finished reading it.

3) TH1Rt3EN was so good that I immediately called a local book store and had them hold all the other books in the series they had available and am having my sister pick them up as I type this.

4) Mr. Cavanaugh’s writing style reminds me a lot of The Collector Series by Dot Hutchison. They should collaborate and/or create a serial killer writing prodigy child together.

TH1RT3EN alternates between the point of view of the serial killer Joshua Kane and the up-and-coming lawyer and ex-con man Eddie Flynn. Both characters have very different and very entrancing styles of narrative which was a huge plus for me. Kane’s narrative is that of the highly intelligent, narcissistic, and even entitled and cocky serial killer that he is. On the other hand, Flynn is not your typical lawyer. While he is educated and has a law degree, he speaks like a New Yorker. You know the type – that Brooklyn accent? That was how I automatically read Eddie. The dialogue is even written that way. He is a gritty ex-con, now on the good side of the law and using his old tricks to his advantage.

While reading this book I kept thinking it would be so easy to tell who Kane was on the jury since that part is explicitly on the cover. However, Cavanaugh did an excellent job directing you toward the “culprit” and the doing a complete 180. I did not see that reveal coming, and then on top of that there is another twist that I really enjoyed. Without giving away too much, it had to do with the identity of one of the officers. This may or may not be me intentionally leading you in one direction so as not to give it away much in the same way Cavanaugh did to me. (I am.)

This was easily one of my favorite books of the year, and I cannot wait to get the others in the series and race through those as well. That’s another thing about Cavanaugh’s style: the writing is so well done that I flew through the pages trying to figure out Kane’s game and how it would end. Now that it’s over I wish I wish it hadn’t ended. Isn’t that how it always goes?