Review: The Liar

The Liar by Steve Cavanagh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Steve Cavanagh's third Eddie Flynn novel is his best yet. Obviously inspired by Grisham and Connelly, with 'The Liar' Cavanagh comes very close to matching him. The story follows the same basic pattern of the previous two novels - an unusual case, lots of action, a courtroom battle in which more is at stake than meets the eye, short, fast moving chapters which, like Saturday morning Flash Gordon serials, end on cliffhangers which make you want to keep reading. Cavanagh is becoming a master of these WTF moments and there are many fewer instances in 'The Liar' where I felt the narrator, Eddie Flynn, was withholding information from me. In other words, the surprises and twists arise naturally from the plot. And, of course, Eddie Flynn, street-smart, ex-conman turned defence lawyer, is an engaging character.

The time around Eddie is acting for the father of a kidnapped daughter, a security specialist who believes he knows better than the FBI how to get his daughter back and is probably going to break the law to do so. Eddie gets more involved in the action than a lawyer would be expected to, gets to punch people, gets to cross-examine people, all the while trying to work out, as the reader is, exactly what is going on. And it is great fun. The pace is frenetic. It's not perfect but it is very very entertaining and I look forward to what Steve Cavanagh and Eddie Flynn do next.

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