35) The Liar by Steve Cavanagh
I’ve read a couple of books by Steve Cavanagh (The Defence and Thirteen) and I like the cut of his authorial jib. The main hero of his legal thrillers, Eddie Flynn, is a likeable ruffian with a Perry Mason-esque ability to make things happen in the courtroom, whilst having a fine line in con tricks and sleight of hand outside it. Thankfully, this book has more of the same.
Flynn is called out of nowhere by an acquaintance of his father’s, Lenny Howell, and before he knows it, he’s knee-deep in trying to get Lenny’s daughter back who’s been kidnapped – in a super-complicated double swap ransom payment insurance swindle thing. Suffice to say that doesn’t go to plan, and it becomes apparent there is much more going on behind the scenes…
This isn’t quite as dastardly as Thirteen (where the serial killer is on the jury) nor is Flynn wearing a bomb throughout, as he is in The Defence, but there’s still plenty of tense suspense, and some nice big reveals and twists (I got one, but I didn’t see the other coming). Cavanagh’s a talented writer, and this wrongfoots the reader nicely a few times, and takes it to a different place than certainly I was expecting. Despite those twists and turns, there is little let up and it rolls along beautifully.
And, as ever, I’m fully behind Eddie Flynn’s overall aim to right the wrongs of the world and, I hope, eventually have some sort of functioning relationship with his ex-wife and daughter. Although that would obviously make for a much duller novel in the series…..and therefore not one we’re likely to see!
Score: 7.5/10
BUY IT NOW: The Liar: It takes one to catch one. (Eddie Flynn)
Dog-eared Man: a book a week 