Review: THE PLEA by Steve Cavanagh

Publisher Orion
Length 400 pages
Format paperback
Published 2016
Series Eddie Flynn #2
My Copy arc provided by the publisher

My Review 

I’ve read reviews which compare The Plea’s style to a mash-up of the fast paced action packed books by adventure/action author Matthew Reilly with the tense thrills and courtroom twists of John Grisham’s legal thrillers and can’t think of anything more fitting to describe the Eddie Flynn books by Steve Cavanagh.

The Plea hits hard and fast. The opening pages see the former conman turned lawyer Eddie Flynn dodging bullets and fighting for his life before the story takes a breath and moves back in time in the lead up to the present day gunfight to document a blow by blow account of how Eddie found himself in such a dire situation.

There is always something happening in The Plea, be it Eddie’s courtroom tactics boarding on the brink of genius or the constant threat of his families safety. The balance between reality and absurd fiction doesn’t quite mesh at times but if you suspend your belief enough, The Plea is all the better for it – I mean, the guy hardly catches a breath, sleeps, or eats for nearly two days while fronting up in court, dealing with the FBI, dodging Mexican cartels, and protecting a billionaire potentially framed for large scale money laundering. It can be exhaustive reading – yet it’s addictive.

Despite being book 2 in the Eddie Flynn series, The Plea reads well as a standalone (I’ve not read The Defense, book 1 in the series) but I’m sure references made to Eddie’s earlier escapades throughout the novel will have more meaning for those familiar with The Plea’s predecessor.

I’d rate this book 3/5 – lengthening the time frame of the story to a week from the couple days in the book would've made The Plea read more plausible, but hey, it’s fiction and it’s entertaining; legal thriller junk food for the mind.