(AUDIO) BOOK REVIEW
Sentenced To Die In The Electric Chair
Book review of The Devil’s Advocate by Steve Cavanagh
One of my favorite authors is John Grisham for his book about lawyers and court cases and everything surrounding that. In a previous review, I mentioned how much I enjoy books dealing with crime, no matter from what angle they approach it.
Therefore, a book with a blurb reeking of corruption within the ranks which should keep law and order will always draw me in.
Steve Cavanagh, author of Eddie Flynn books
The author was born in 1976 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where he also grew up. When he was eighteen, he went to Dublin to study. They had accepted him for two choices: Marketing and Business, and Law. After a night of drinking, he found himself in the ‘law line’ and had paid before he could change his mind.
He studied his Masters in Cardiff, where he also dabbled in writing screenplays, something that made him no money. He returned to Belfast, where he worked for a reputable law firm, working on all kinds of catastrophic incidents. Gaining his solicitor qualifications, he soon became one of the best young lawyers in the country and later was involved in several high-profile cases, such as when he represented a factory worker in a racial abuse case 2010, which resulted in a huge damage ruling.
Reading Silence of the Lambs and Red Dragon as a child hooked the author on thriller and crime novels, and later legal novels in the likes of John Grisham (see, my kind of author!).
The main influence in his writing came from reading authors like Lee Child, Michael Connelly, and John Connolly, who wrote some of the most exhilarating thrillers he ever read.
Once Steve Cavanagh started writing, he realized his future was in writing US based crime novels, even though he had a better understanding of the UK law.
When the author’s mother passed in 2011, he decided life was too short. After a hiatus of 15 years, he returned to writing, determined to become a published author. Many rejections followed, but finally four of the largest publishing houses became interested in his book.
Many of the stories Steve Cavanagh has written come from his own experience as a lawyer, but he bases none of his books on real cases.
The creation of Eddie Flynn
One day, while doing a cross-examination in a trial and tricking the witness into telling the truth, Cavanagh realized that just like con artists, good trial lawyers depend on distraction, manipulation, misdirection, and persuasion.
And hence, there was Eddie Flynn, something of a cross of Mitch McDeere in The Firm and Frank Galvin in The Verdict.
Eddie Flynn lives in two worlds — a con artist turned lawyer — and Steve takes the reader by the hand to show those two worlds are not so different from each other.
Randal Korn, Andy Dubois and Eddie Flynn
An ambitious district attorney who lives to watch prisoners to be executed… an easy target… a slick and street-smart New York defense lawyer… a corrupt small-town system… a group of religious, ‘true American’ fanatics.
Those are the elements that make for a stunning thriller, a book which is slow-paced when necessary, and moves with lightning speed when the plot requires it.
Randal Korn loves watching those he sends to prison die, and he intends to send Andy Dubois to the electric chair, hoping to watch him suffer immensely before he finally blows out his last breath. He hasn’t counted on Eddie Flynn arriving in town to defend Andy, and Korn doesn’t get Eddie to turn around despite terrorizing him and his team.
The sheriff of the small town, his wife terminally ill, facilitates Randal Korn as much as the district attorney manipulates the sheriff into dancing to his music. That’s why he also changes evidence and leaves out details to have an open and shut case against the young Andy.
But Eddie will not allow Andy to go down and die for a crime he hasn’t committed.
Then there’s the group who wants to make America pure again, lead by the ‘ pastor’. Who is he? How has he gotten so many people into his power? Will he be able to stop Eddie, and will Eddie manage to prove Andy’s innocence?
Holding my breath while listening
I am a sucker for stories like these, especially when the story is good, and the narrator has a pleasant voice. In this book, everything fell into place. I almost squealed while listening to the twist and turns when Eddie and his team were in the courtroom, and cringed at the violence of ‘the pastor’ and the devious nature of Randal Korn.
The book starts out with a scene in the electric chair, and this was enough to have me hooked long before the real story actually started.
I’m so enthused by this story about Eddie Flynn that I want to listen to more. As mentioned in the introduction, I love John Grisham’s books, but I believe after reading only one book by Steve Cavanagh, I am adding him to my list of favorite authors.
Too high praise?
No, I don’t believe it is!
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