The Liar by Steve Cavanaugh - Eddie Flynn Book 3

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I have been a fan of legal thrillers since reading Scott Turow’s Presumed Innocent many years ago. I can still remember where I was sitting, in a 70's era rental house in Indianapolis, when I got to the end of that book, with its  big, twisty ending. In fact, that is probably when I became a fan of big, twisty endings in books! Steve Cavanaugh has taken Turow’s knack for such an end and put it to good use in The Liar, another book with an ending I did not see coming.

The Liar is the third book in the Eddy Flynn series, after The Defense and The Plea, but only the latter two titles are available in the U.S. right now. When I found out that the author had written more books in this series, but couldn’t get them here yet, I ordered The Liar and TH1RT3EN from the UK, and waited impatiently for them to arrive.  There is also a novella, The Cross, you can only get it as an ebook in the UK right now.

Eddie Flynn is a former con-man and hustler turned lawyer who retired from courtroom work after a disastrous case. In the first book, The Defense, he gets pulled back into trial work after his daughter is kidnapped by the mob, who expect Eddie to defend them in order to get his daughter back. It all works out, of course, after lots of misdirection and twists by the author.

In this third book, The Liar, Eddie is contacted by an old family friend named Leonard Howell whose own daughter has been kidnapped. Lenny is about to take an action for which he will need legal representation, and Eddie is drawn in over the memories of his own situation in the past. The kidnappers have contacted Lenny for a ransom, and he’s planning to go around the FBI to make a secret ransom drop in order to save his daughter’s life. Eddie uses his old con-man skills to switch the ransom cases, and after that all hell breaks loose.

There is so much that happens in this book that you almost get whiplash reading it. I stayed up until 2:30 in the morning, ON A WORK NIGHT, to finish it because I had to see what happened at the end! I can’t give away too many details of this expertly plotted legal thriller, but there are several courtroom scenes that have jaw-dropping surprises for everyone, even Eddie.

The book has a non-linear aspect, in that several chapters are written in italics discussing events that have happened in the past to characters who seem to have no bearing on the current case. But gradually the author reveals the connections, and it all comes together with an explosive ending.

There are a few, very few, plot holes, and a bit of suspension of belief is required at the end, but it was such a fun ride that I happily overlooked those minor hitches. I just wish that I knew when The Liar would be published in the U.S. so that I could purchase copies for my library. I'm so ready to begin recommending The Liar to my customers who love legal thrillers and intriguing mysteries.

Happy Reading!