Yes, the title of this book really is Th1rt3en, not Thirteen. It looks better in all-upper case as printed on the cover: TH1RT3EN. And, as you see in the image below, in case you’re missing the point, the digits 1 and 3 are actually in red: TH1RT3EN. But wait… there’s more! The icing on the cake is that I started writing this post on June 13 — not only that, but it was Friday the 13th!

OK, an exhausting opener. What is this novel about? Well, the subtitle right on the cover is apparently a spoiler: “The serial killer isn’t on trial; he’s on the jury!” I say apparently because it isn’t really a spoiler, as it’s announced early in the book. In standard thriller form — distinguishing it from a mystery — we think we know what’s going on from the beginning, and the fundamental question isn’t whodunit but howdunit, or else howishecaught. I’ve never read anything before by this author, Steve Cavanagh. But I see that Th1rt3en is the third (not the 13th) in a series of novels featuring defense attorney Eddie Flynn, the first-person viewpoint character in about half of the chapters, roughly alternating with the serial killer, who is the third-person viewpoint character in the remaining chapters. There is no need to have read the previous two novels before reading this one; at least I didn’t find any confusion that might have arisen from my starting with #3.

Being a practicing lawyer himself, the author writes with a sense of authority. Much of the book is a courtroom drama à la John Grisham or Scott Turow, as several reviewers have observed. I read it more slowly than usual, mostly because I wanted to ponder the trial procedures every page or so. I found those procedures absorbing and much more interesting than the investigation, but that’s just me, as YMMV.

Categories: Books