“911 what is your emergency?” is a great way to start off a book and lets you know it’s going to be a wild ride which this book definitely was! Sisters blaming each other for their father’s gruesome murder leads their lawyers on a wild goose chase to figure out which one is guilty and which one is innocent. I like how the chapters titled “she” didn’t let you know which sister the chapters were about so the reader was truly in the dark the entire time. If you like courtroom dramas, Steve Cavanagh is your guy!

I always enjoy reading Steve Cavanaghs reads & this one was no exception at all! This was filled with tons of twists and I didn’t know who to believe or trust. Such a fun quick read and I flew through this within a day. Highly recommend!

Former New York City mayor Frank Avellino has been killed, stabbed fifty-seven times in a clear crime of passion. To add to the spectacle of this high-profile murder, his two daughters each say the other is the killer. Fifty-Fifty by Steve Cavanaugh follows the attorneys as they work to exonerate their clients of this horrific crime.

Told in alternating perspectives between daughter Sofia's lawyer, an associate that works for her sister Alexandria, and 'she' which is one of the sisters themselves though it isn't immediately clear which one. Fifty-fifty unfolds as a suspense filled, edge of your seat legal drama. I enjoyed the action, the characters were interesting and the mystery narrator immediately drew me in. Four stars.

I received this advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review and feedback.

Book review 📖

📜Fifty Fifty
✍️Steve Cavanagh
📠Atria Books
📚Mystery/Thriller Fiction
🗓️Pub date: June 3, 2025

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

✨Thank you @NetGalley and @atriabooks for providing me with an Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

✨Two sisters. Both on trial for murder. Both accuse the other.

✨While Attorney Eddie Flynn takes on one sister, Sophia, as his client, and Attorney Kate Brooks takes on Alexandra as hers, they battle out the likelihood of a joint trial and the possibility of the two sisters being pitted against one another if it comes down to it.

✨As was with the first Eddie Flynn novel I read, he is very entertaining and his character is robust. This was a fun whodunit with snippets of darkness from a twisted mind. Any thriller lover will enjoy this!

#netgalley #fiftyfifty #stevecavanagh #atriabooks #advancedreadercopy #arc #bookreview #bookstagrammer #bookstagram #springreleases #thrillerfiction

Wow, Mr. Cavanagh sure can keep you at the edge of your seat feverishly reading until the very end. I had never read such twisty books until I hooked up with this author.

This book deals with sisters who hated their father. One day, the father turns up murdered horribly, and both sisters happen to be on the property calling 911 about it at the same time. Now, which sister committed the murder?

This author is so good that I never suspected anything like how this book ended.

This whole series is not yet out in re-print for the US, but little by little, it is being republished with at least one book free to borrow on Kindle Unlimited. You will have no problems (at least not too many) by reading these out of order. That's what happened to me. I read the last published first and then turned around and started at the beginning with what I could get.

This is a perfect book for book clubs that want to investigate the darker side of the law and lawyers.

*The ARC was supplied by the publisher Atria Books, the author, and NetGalley. This book should be hitting the stores on June 03, 2025, with the next book, "The Devil's Advocate," coming out on August 05, 2025.

Rounding up from 3.5 stars, I enjoyed this Eddie Flynn mystery thriller! Two sisters pointing fingers at each other for the brutal murder or their father. We know it was one of them, we even read from the killers point of view. But which one? And as more crimes unfold we see that the sister isn’t only responsible for the murder of her father, but a deranged serial killer taking out witnesses left and right. Eddie is such a fun character and someone you always want to root for. A defense attorney always on the right side did the law. I really enjoyed the trial portion of the book, you could always visualize the entire scenes. The ending had so many twists, which i knew to expect from this author! Thanks to Net Galley, the author, and Simon and Schuster for the ARC!

Well, this was a fun ride!

Frank Avellino, former Mayor of NYC, has been brutally murdered in his home. His two daughters are both in the home at the time of the murder and have each called 911 and accused the other of being the murderer. One or both of them have to be guilty, right?

Each sister secures their own legal counsel, but the DA pushes for a double murder trial and now we have a tale of two suspects in court, who are not only trying to prove their own innocence, but also adamant that the other is guilty.

This was a juicy story, told in alternating POV’s between Eddie Flynn, Kate Brooks and the mysterious “She”. She is a cold, calculating, manipulative killer and although she’s laying her story out for us all along, it’s hard to be sure which one of the sisters she actually is. Every time she tells us something that seems to implicate one sister, suddenly we learn something new and our suspicions move to the other sister. I actually think I may have gotten a little whiplash on this one, not because of shocking twists, but because my mind just kept whipping back and forth between which sister I thought was guilty.

I do love a good jaw-dropping twist, and although this book did give plenty of twists and turns, most lacked shock value because this was one of those stories where you are absolutely expecting some real neck-breakers. You know, the kind of book that you go into knowing better than to accept anything you read at face value, because there’s no way things will be laid out that plainly and simply. And that is exactly what this book was. Most of it is a slow buildup of juicy secrets and damning evidence that is all a big tease, because you know the author is just dragging you along until the very end. That is exactly what Steve Cavanagh does here and in doing so, proves his skills as a master suspenseful storyteller.

Because I was always anticipating the twists, I never got completely blown away by anything that was revealed and that inched this one down just below the full five star mark for me. My technical rating is more like 4.5, but I’m rounding up because it was an addictive read with an ending that didn’t disappoint!

I received an ARC of this ebook by Atria Books Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This was an unfortunate DNF for me. I went into it with very high hopes. After trudging through 30% of the book and not really knowing the plot or connecting to any characters I decided it was not for me. Still grateful for the opportunity to ARC read from the publisher and NetGalley.

Fifty Fifty by Steve Cavanagh was suspenseful and a very gripping read. Following two sisters who are accusing each other of murdering their father but which one is telling the truth?

Following three perspectives in the story Eddie, Kate and She (She is the murderer), we see the story from all angles and are given many clues but not enough for you to be certain with which sister is the killer. I was bouncing back and forth the entire time trying to figure out who it was, and the ending clue was in my opinion very well done. I also guessed wrong which I was kicking myself after for.

However, after reading the book and sitting on it for a few days I realized I was already starting to forget parts of the book. It was super fun while I was reading it, but it didn’t stick with me. I would say this is going to be a great book to recommend to anyone who wants a book that is fast paced and keeps you on the edge.

My rating is a 3.75 rounded up to a 4 star.

You’ll enjoy this book if
-You like a fast-paced book
-You enjoy family drama
-You like multiple POVs
-You like twists

I do want to give this author other books a read!

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the early eArc!

This book was wayyy too long for the small amount of “twist” and thrill it had to it. I feel like we should have gotten more out of the ending than just what it currently is. There is a large amount of character movement throughout the book so readers need to be on their A game while reading this book to know exactly who is coming into the scene or leaving the scene. Side note: I would leave the political remarks out of the book. It’s like the author wants to take his frustration from the current world we live in, out in the book and you can see that.

Thank you to the author and publisher for an ARC copy

On the edge of my seat the entire book. Truly had no idea whodunnit. Eddie is a badass lawyer and I love this series.

Crime thrillers are not typically my preferred genre but I have become OBSESSED with this series. Two sisters call 911 to report the murder of their father. The catch? They both blame each other for the murder. Now they are both on trial with one jury to decide their fate. Who does the jury believe? How does a defense attorney continue when they start to believe that their client may not be as innocent as she claims?

I kept going back and forth trying to figure out who the killer was. I got it wrong but I enjoyed the twists and the ending was perfectly done. Highly recommend!

4 STARS!

Fifty Fifty was a fun ride from the very first page! Steve Cavanagh has a knack for creating engaging, well liked characters that you want to root for the whole way and Fifty Fifty was no different. I had a hard time deciding which sister committed the murder and argued with myself the whole way through and felt like I was constantly changing my answer. The only reasons I deducted a star was because I felt that sometimes the legal details were a bit hard to understand and process unless you have that particular background. I think Cavanagh does a decent job at explaining what he can but his books are intricate enough, that these tiny details have to be understood fully. I also felt towards the end of the book things became a little unhinged and less believable but still very suspenseful.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Atria for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Honestly, this book was heading for 3 stars for the vast majority of it. I thought it had some good twists in here and thought it all wrapped up nicely. Truly felt like an unhinged SVU episode

I have never read Steve Cavanagh before but loved this book through and through and it kept me going with its fast pace and interesting legal maneuvers and courtroom scenes. Will definitely go back and read some of his others and any more to come in the future. Another sure fire summer beach read.

Two sisters, two 911 calls , one murdered father? But which sister is the murderer? Wow, what a twisted tale this was. This entire legal thriller takes you on one wild turn one after another. But not surprising when reading a Steve Cavanaugh book. You just never know what twists and turns lie head. His court room dramas are completely intriguing and have you, yourself questioning everything you believe. The more you read, the more you question, right up to the very last closing argument.

Another fantastic installment in the Eddie Flynn series. Can be read as a stand-alone.

I've loved all the previous Eddie Flynn books and this was another great installment in the series. The premise was unique and I loved the character development throughout. I genuinely had no idea which way it'd go for most of the story, and that's what makes a great procedural thriller for me.

5 stars 🌟 This was a great read!! It was captivating and I felt like I was watching a moving in my mind.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book! This was a first for me by this author and I appreciated the fact that the book can be read as a stand alone.

One of my first books by this author and wont be the last. I really enjoyed this one. Face paced and action packed