The Devil’s Advocate

Good bit not his best

This story gets brutal at times. Lots of people are killed. However, the drama, twists and turns are strong in this book, as always with Steve Cavanagh. Eddie Flynn, the protagonist, continues to shine. His supporting characters continue to be brilliant. There is an element of truth in the subject matter of this story, which makes it more scary. Great read, but be warned, it gets brutal.

Author
Irish civil rights lawyer. This is the latest in a series of legal thrillers involving a New York conman turned criminal defence lawyer.

In brief
In search of new plot ideas, Mr C gets our boy Eddie out of town for this one. Specifically, to Asscrack, Alabama (Not the actual name of the town, but an apposite metaphorical one) on a pro bono case. A poor black lad is set up for a crime he didn’t commit by a Stephen Kingish DA with a penchant for mortifying his own flesh and frying as many other people’s flesh as he can manage (he has the highest rate of death penalty convictions in the country). It’s the South, so there’s also white supremacists (Knights of the Camelia rather than KKK), plots to overthrow the government, corrupt police (ho hum), corrupt politicians (ho even more hum), and a whole mess o’ grits. Eddie gets a helping hand from his homeboys (and gals) from NYC: his law partner, who was his opponent in the previous book; the retired African American judge who mentored him as a lawyer; a monosyllabic and monolithic female investigator (LGBT Jack Reacher) with a VBG (very big gun), a shady dude from the government (deep State anyone), yada, yada, it’s really hot (not in a good way), court case, conman sleight of hand by Fast Eddie, death and destruction, happy ending for those left standing.

Writing
Pace, twists and wise cracks as I have come to expect from Mr C, but they are drowned in the well worn tropes that liberal northerners (Northern Ireland in Mr C’s case) routinely ascribe to the old Jim Crow South (My Cousin Vinnie with a much harder edge), and a drizzle of Dan Brown thrown in for good measure. I’ll give Mr C the benefit of the doubt and assume he was taking the p*ss when he identifies a juror as a good guy because he reads To Kill A Mockingbird every year.

Bottom line
Professional but highly derivative. Mr Flynn is a creature of the Big Apple. If Mr C is planning any more road trips, he should invent a new protagonist.