I received this from Netgalley.com for a review.

"It’s the murder trial of the century. And Joshua Kane has killed to get the best seat in the house – and to be sure the wrong man goes down for the crime. Because this time, the killer isn’t on trial. He’s on the jury."

A few interesting twists and turns in the plot, couldn't always tell who the good guys were.

3.25☆

Thirteen is the 4rth book in the Eddie Flynn series. I have not read any of his other books but I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything. This book can be read as a stand-alone but I am definitely going to read the previous books.

This book was well written with strong characters. It was a fast-paced, page-turner with a shocking ending that I did not see coming. I love a book that sucks you in at the start and doesn’t let you go ’til the very end. If you are looking for a gripping thriller, I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for a copy of Steve Cavanagh's "Thirteen" in exchange of an honest review.

My Thoughts
I don’t typically read legal thrillers or courtroom dramas; however, if there are other books out there like this one I may have to amend that immediately because this book was awesome! Here are my pros and cons for TH1RT3EN:

Pros

- This is the fourth book in the Eddie Flynn series by this author and I didn’t know that when I started reading it. That said, this could easily be a standalone. I don’t feel like I was missing anything in the story at all. This book definitely held its own.
- Page-turner alert!!! This was a hard book to put down. Very hard! This book grabs hold of you and doesn’t let go! It was an awesome ride!
- This is a great thriller with an intellectual plot. The situations were very creative and the courtroom drama was awesome! There were a few convenient circumstances that required a little bit of a suspension of belief, but the story was so awesome that I didn’t even mind it!
- The dialogue was realistic and easy to read.
- Kane was creepy and smart and just an awesome character. He gave me some serious heebie-jeebies!
- This was written in alternate POVs between Kane and the lawyer Flynn. The back and forth viewpoints were well-written and smoothly done.
- I loved the breakdown of the evidence and the presentation of different scenarios to explain what could have happened during the murder trial.
- Awesome twist at the end!!!
- Definitely one of my top 5 reads so far this year. It was simply that good.

Cons

- The book is full of violence and murder. This isn’t a con per se – this is a legal thriller about a serial killer after all! I included it here more as a warning for anyone that doesn’t like to read things like that since the violence is somewhat graphic.

Summary
I absolutely did not want to stop reading this book. I raced through it and now that I’ve read it I wish it wasn’t over. This is easily one of my favorite reads this year and I am going to read Cavanagh’s other books as soon as I can. I would recommend this book to anyone that loves a great thriller and a fantastic courtroom drama!

The book follows the story of a trial. A movie star is accused of murdering his wife. Of course, he says he didn't do it. Criminal defense attorney Eddie Flynn steps in to try to prove his innocence. But there's someone else following the case just as keenly as Eddie is...

My first impression of this book was that it was going to be a bit of a noir comedy. We've all read them before, with a PI firing witty one-liners at the bad guys. I was surprised at this because the blurb led me to believe it was a tense killer thriller.

In reality the book definitely leans more towards the tense side, and isn't funny at all. The protagonist, Eddie Flynn, however, isn't very far off the original idea I had of the witty renegade PI. The only difference is he is much more troubled than funny. He definitely has the cheesy name for a start. And he fits the standard profile down to a tee of the hero who is down on his luck. He's been a bad guy in the past, he has a drinking problem, his wife has left him because of his shenanigans, but he's turned over a new leaf and is determined to use his dodgy techniques for the greater good and to help those in need. Everyone has read a few detective novels all about a guy just like Eddie. The only slight difference in this book is that Eddie is a criminal defense lawyer, not a PI or rogue detective.

The story is told from two different points of view - Eddie's and the killer's. The chapters switch between the two and so the plot unfolds in two different perspectives on the same timeline. This allows the author to give the whole picture of what's' happening even though the characters themselves don't have the full story.

The book moves at a good pace, and there are many twists and revelations throughout. I was kept guessing for most of the time, which for me was great. It kept me interested in what was happening and although it wasn't really too complex, it was tense and the plot worked well overall. The writing style is quite simple - it's not flowery or descriptive and the speech is quite direct. There is no messing about, chatting or tangents to be seen. It works for the book and I found I settled into it quite quickly.

I loved the fact that this is essentially a courtroom drama combined with a serial killer thriller. The trial aspect was particularly well written. The author had obviously either done his homework or has experience of the US legal system.

The slightly negative aspect for me was the characters. They were not entirely formed, and the only aspects of the characters you really see are the ones integral to the plot only. They don't have much personality. They have thoughts, emotions and lives - they do things, but without feeling. I didn't have any love or hate for anyone in this book.

Also I can't help but feel that this was slightly cheesy, as I said before down the road of a TV courtroom drama. Although the plot worked well, it was pretty unrealistic on the whole. There is no way on earth that things would have played out how they did in real life. Which isn't really a problem for me, because I don't think fiction necessarily has to follow the rules of real life, but it is still less than my favourite book for this reason.

I'd recommend this book to crime, detective and law fiction lovers. It's been marketed as a thriller in my eyes, and although it was quite highly paced I wouldn't place it alongside the tense psychological thrillers I've read of late because of the setting and how the story plays out. It's not creepy or scary, it's all very sensibly played out on the whole. A very good book, but not a great one.

A fun, fast-paced, razor sharp, legal thriller...one of the best I've read in a very long time.

Fellow readers, if you're looking for intense, non-stop, action=packed novel--look no further. What a gem of a story. And because I know that this book being part of a series will turn many of you off...please, no worries. Thirteen reads beautifully as a standalone novel. In fact, Steve Cavanagh's newest fan girl (that would be me), plans to go back and read his earlier works now that I've fully immersed myself in his immense talent.

I admit, I'm a sucker for courtroom dramas...and man, oh man, does this book deliver. Eddie Flynn is an incredibly fun, over-the-top character, as is our antagonist, Joshua Kane. The idea of the killer being part of the jury...beyond clever. Now, is this story a little implausible? I'd say yes. As a reader, do you have to suspend belief at times? Again, I'd say yes. Does it matter at all? HELLZ NO!

This story is exactly what I needed right now, and I'm feeling pretty damn satiated. My only complaint, and it's a minor one...I felt the conclusion could have been more cutting and on point. It dragged and stuttered a bit, but I was pleasantly surprised to have been fooled by one of the twists! Do you know how rarely that happens these days? So infrequently, I often find myself being excessively gushy when it does. (Case in point-this review. Definitely gushy.)

Regardless, if you enjoy thrillers, suspense, legal dramas, unexpected twists, and miles of heart-pounding fun...this book is for you. Recommended to one and all.

**Many thanks to the publisher for providing my free copy.

What if a killer is able to get on the jury in the trial of the man wrongly accused for his crime in order to make sure that innocent man is convicted? This is the unusual premise of Steve Cavanagh’s new thriller “Thirteen,” the latest in his Eddie Flynn series. Told in alternating chapters from the perspectives of the killer, Joshua Kane, and Flynn, the lawyer representing the man Kane wants to ensure is convicted, “Thirteen” manages to keep ratcheting up the tension even though we know from the very first chapter who the real killer is. Having said that, this foreknowledge does make the moment in the book when Flynn figures out exactly who is on his jury a bit anticlimactic, and the graphic depictions of the crimes throughout made getting to this point a bit difficult for me, since I’m not really a fan of violent crime fiction. However, Flynn, a former petty criminal now working on the other side of the law, is an interesting protagonist with lots of room for development as this series continues, so readers who aren’t bothered by the graphic violence should enjoy “Thirteen” and future Eddie Flynn books.

Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for providing me with an ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review.

EXCERPT: At ten after five on a raw December afternoon, Joshua Kane lay on a cardboard bed outside the Criminal Courts Building in Manhattan and thought about killing a man. Not just any man. he was thinking about someone in particular. it was true that Kane had, at times, while on the subway or watching passers-by, occasionally thought about killing a nameless, random New Yorker who happened to fall into his line of vision. It could be the blonde secretary reading a romance novel on the K train, a Wall Street banker swinging an umbrella as he ignored Kane's please for change, or even a child holding its mother's hand on a crosswalk.

How would it feel to kill them? What would they say with their final breaths? Would their eyes change in that moment of passing from this world? Kane felt a ripple of pleasure feed heat into his body as he explored these thoughts.

He checked his watch.

Eleven after five.

ABOUT THIS BOOK: THE SERIAL KILLER ISN'T ON TRIAL.

HE'S ON THE JURY...

They were Hollywood's hottest power couple. They had the world at their feet. Now one of them is dead and Hollywood star Robert Solomon is charged with the brutal murder of his beautiful wife.

This is the celebrity murder trial of the century and the defence want one man on their team: con artist turned lawyer Eddie Flynn.

All the evidence points to Robert's guilt, but as the trial begins a series of sinister incidents in the court room start to raise doubts in Eddie's mind.

What if there's more than one actor in the courtroom?

What if the killer isn't on trial? What if the killer is on the jury?

MY THOUGHTS: Oh boy! I have never been a fan of the legal thriller, but Th1rt3en?.....this may have just converted me.

I was intrigued by the plot...a killer on the jury. and not just any killer, but the one they are seeking. And no, that's not a spoiler. It is clear from almost the very beginning.

The story is told from two points of view; that of the killer Joshua Kane, and lawyer Eddie Flynn.

There is plenty of action, and lots of twists and turns. I had a zillion questions bouncing around in my brain as I read...who? how? why? what? how? how? how? And they were all answered.

I like the character of Eddie. I like the way his mind works. Having been a conman prior to becoming a lawyer, his mind works a little differently to most lawyers. He thinks outside the box. And he does not use orthodox methods in the courtroom. And yet, he is fully believable.

And there was a twist at the end that I didn't see coming, hadn't even entertained the idea of....nice work Mr Cavanagh.

There is much to appeal to the readers of many genres in this one. Vibrant and exciting.

*****

THE AUTHOR: Steve Cavanagh was born and raised in Belfast before leaving for Dublin at the age of eighteen to study Law. He currently practices civil rights law and has been involved in several high profile cases. Selected for the Amazon Rising Stars programme 2015. ACES award winner 2015 from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. He is the award-winning, international-bestselling author of the Eddie Flynn series. His third novel, The Liar, won the CWA Gold Dagger for crime novel of the year 2018. He is also one half of the popular Two Crime Writers And A Microphone Podcast. Steve lives in Northern Ireland.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Flatiron Books via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of Th1rt3en by Steve Cavanagh for review. All opinions expressed in this review are my personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system, please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page, or the about page on my webpage sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This and other reviews are also published on Twitter, Amazon, Goodreads, and my webpage sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

Although this is book 4 in the Eddie Flynn series (he is the lawyer for the defense), this is easily readable as a standalone thriller/suspense book. Steve Cavanagh does a fantastic job of weaving several intricate plots together to an unexpected conclusion, even with all the hype and blurbs about this book out there. The initial storyline is straightforward in that Flynn is going through a rough patch in his private life due to his work and gets drafted into this case involving a Hollywood star that is accused of murdering his wife and a male friend. The trial is due to start and his defense is in need of an attorney like Flynn, someone who can be tough in the right places or take the fall if need be. He takes the job because he believes in the client's innocence and sets out to prove it. The remainder of the story is intricate weaving of the killer's moves and countermoves to continue his spree of murder and escape capture. Will he be caught? Will the correct guy be found guilty? How do you do that when the real killer is on the jury in his own trial? This is an interesting and thought-provoking story that is a thriller and legal drama simultaneously. Really well done and enjoyable.
Highly recommended.
#Thirteen #NetGalley #Flatiron

It’s the murder trial of the century. And Joshua Kane has killed to get the best seat in the house – and to be sure the wrong man goes down for the crime. Because this time, the killer isn’t on trial. He’s on the jury.

But there’s someone on his tail. Former-conman-turned-criminal-defense-attorney 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?

This was a wild ride of a read! Kane is serious about what he does, and he is willing to commit heinous acts in order to get a seat on the jury for the trial of celebrity Bobby Solomon. Eddie is just as serious about his work, so these two characters are evenly pitted as the story rocks along.

I need to go back and look at a few scenes, now that all has been revealed by the end of the book. Knowing what I know now, a few places seem to deliberately mislead the reader. I could be wrong, which is why I want to go back and check.

I would like to thank Net Galley and Flatiron Books for the ARC of Thirteen. The Eddie Flynn series is now on my "to read" list!

Some people are superstitious when it comes to the number 13.   It's considered bad luck and they'll go out of their way to avoid anything numbered or labelled thirteen.    I'll tell you what would be bad luck and that would be intentionally missing out on Steve Cavanaghs latest novel which goes by the title Thirteen.    This book is seriously addictive and is one of the best legal thrillers I've read (admittedly I haven't read that many).  The fact I was so into this book slightly repulses me because there was way too much violence and gore for my liking, yet I'd be lying if I pretended it put me off reading it even for one moment.   I could not put the blasted book down and felt a tinge of excitement as I read the last page, imagining the door might have been left open for a series.    Turns out my luck is in.   This is book three of an existing series.   It's entirely readable as a stand alone but now I can't wait to get my hands on the first two.

<blockquote><b>The serial killer isn't on trial he's on the jury <b></blockquote>

This was the one liner on the cover that lured me but the plot and the writing were the things that kept me on the hook.  And did I mention the ending.   There was a twist I simply had not anticipated.

Eddie Flynn, defence lawyer, has inherited a high profile client.    He's he's taken it upon himself to defend Hollywood A lister Bobby Solomon who's been charged with the double murder of his wife and security guard.  Bobby says he's innocent and Eddie believes him but he doesn't have long to prove it. 

Joshua Kane is the antagonist and he's one nasty piece of work.   Scrolling through my notes I variously called him a pyschopath, a freak, evil, and I noted he reminded me of Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs only scarier.   Yet he was intelligent.   He knew exactly  how to behave to get what he wanted and he had the patience to execute any plan he settled upon.    

The author did a fabulous job of creating suspense and with his legal background the courtroom drama not only felt authentic but it was riveting.  

My congratulations to the author, and thanks to Flat Iron Books and NetGalley for the opportunity of reading this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.   Highly recommended.

THIRTEEN continues the legal career of Eddie Flynn, although I admit I read the story as a stand alone. I found the book less of a standard legal thriller and more of a master-criminal tale. One in which our master criminal somehow eludes all manner of prosecution while wantonly conducting horrible crimes for many years. For added details, author Steve Cavanagh spends more time describing the work of the criminal than the past of our protagonist, a former con man. I had hoped to learn more about elaborate cons. Perhaps I would have done better with an earlier book in this series. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Thirteen is the 4th book in the Eddie Flynn series but it can definitely be read as a standalone.
We follow two perspectives: our hero,ex-con,who is now a lawyer, Eddie Flynn, and our villain, serial killer Joshua Kane,who is actually on the jury. The tagline of the book is"The serial killer isn't on trial. He's on the jury ". And I remember thinking that the synopsis gives away too much and there would be nothing left 5o surprise the reader with. But boy was I wrong! This book is filled with twists and turns. The narrative is so intense I just had to keep reading. And so I read it in just a couple of hours, i could not put it down. I haven't read the previous books in this series but i now i really want to check them out. Highly recommended this thriller, i think you won't be disappointed.
Thank you to netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked the premise of Thirteen - how crazy would it be if a murderer ended up on the jury for his own crime?? Thirteen is the fourth book in the Eddie Flynn series, however it was the first book in the series I read. While there were mentions of things that had happened in previous books, they were minor and were explained well enough to where I wasn't lost of confused. You can definitely pick this one up in the middle of the series without feeling like you're missing out on a ton of backstory. 

There were several supporting characters that popped up throughout the book, and I did have to flip back and forth a few times to keep them all straight. I know some of them also showed up in previous books, so it's possible that if I had read the first three books in the series, that I would have had an easier time keeping them straight. 

What I did love about this book was that it was told from two POVs. The reader gets to hear from both Eddie's POV, as well as the killer's, which gave the reader the information Eddie was looking for during the book! I felt like that worked well, and gave some great insight into the killer's thought process, which was both interesting and creepy!

This book was tricky for me to rate - on one hand, I was engaged with the story, but it did take me quite a while to finish. I felt like I enjoyed the story well enough, but that I had to suspend disbelief pretty regularly. Because of all of that, I ended up rating the book 3.5 stars. If you're someone who doesn't mind books that feel a little far fetched, you may enjoy this one more than I did (especially since the average rating on Goodreads is 4.28 stars, so I'm clearly in the minority here!). That said, I did enjoy the book overall, I just didn't *love* it. 

I'd like to thank Flatiron books for my copy of the book! It was my pleasure to provide an honest review.

I received this ebook as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I would absolutely read another novel by this author. The story was enjoyable. The twists and turns were interesting and I liked all of the characters. The only negative....and it’s not really a negative...was there were too many characters that sometimes it was hard to keep everyone straight, but it was unavoidable since this book involved a trial and jurors. All in all a solid read. I’d recommend it.

Eddie Flynn is a former con artist turned defense lawyer, who finds himself defending a well known Hollywood actor accused of murdering his young wife and security guard. But what Eddie finds out is things aren’t always as they seem, and he is soon on the trail of a serial killer who just might be on the very jury trying to convict his client.

When I started this book I didn’t realize there were books that had come before it with Eddie Flynn as the main character. However it wasn’t essential to reading this book, it was still able to be a good stand alone thriller. The writing was fast paced and there were some good trial scenes, with surprises thrown at the reader more often than not. When there seemed to be a slower part it was often picked up again by an action scene and it kept the book fast paced. I would recommend to anyone who appreciates whodunnits and trials!

This book was fabulous! I loved the premise of the killer being on the jury, but the execution of the storyline was great! The author did a great job of keeping me turning the pages. The characters were believable and real, and the story was different and I loved it!

This is the first book I’ve read by this author and I can’t wait to get my hands on more of his work.

"The serial killer isn't on trial; he's on the jury." That is the premise behind Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh, and what an interesting premise it is! I was eager to read the book just by reading that sentence alone! I didn't know anything else about it. I didn't realize it was book #4 in a series, but I think this book works as a standalone. But I'm sure reading the first three books would have given me more insight into Eddie Flynn's character.

This was a fun book to read. Is it okay to call reading a book about a serial killer fun? It was definitely entertaining, in a dark and disturbed way I guess. Kane, the villain in this story, was definitely dark and disturbing. To an extreme. His point of view was fascinating at first, reading about what a psychopath he was! Yikes! But then, his character grew tiresome and just over the top and unbelievable. Really, this guy is always going to have everything work out exactly according to his psychotic plans over and over again? Can one person really think through every single detail of every single situation and get it right every time?

As the story unfolded, it just became far-fetched. I am willing to suspend my disbelief for a story like this at times, but by the end, this one was just a bit too much! So many things had to line up just right for so many years in order for the events of the story to take place. I don't want to go into details and give away any spoilers, but I did start to grow frustrated with the way this story unfolded towards the end.

I would still recommend this book if you are looking for a quick thriller to read, especially if you are willing to just go with the unbelievable parts of the story. It is such an interesting concept and a mostly entertaining story, if you are okay with being entertained by psychotic serial killers, that is!

This was such a good read! I really enjoy a good legal thriller and this did not disappoint. All of the major characters were interesting and the book certainly holds your interest. The premise of a serial killer on a jury added such a unique facet to the whole storyline.

This was the first book I’ve read by this author but won’t be the last.

Thank you NetGalley for the reading opportunity.

This was such a fun thriller! I loved it from page one. I requested this as I saw it all over #bookstagram and it sounded like my kind of read. There is a complex plot, a terrifying villain and a well constructed protagonist. Kane, the serial killer, is particularly well-written and was properly creepy and kept me wanting to learn more.

This is my first Steve Cavanagh book and can't wait to read more!

Thank you to @netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review

4.5 stars

This is a great addition to the Eddie Flynn series and is full of the suspense and drama that make this an enjoyable series. I cannot wait to read more from this author.