First Lines Friday – 07/10/22
Happy Friday, and welcome to today’s First Lines Friday post!
In today’s post, I feature a book I bought on a whim, not realising it was part of a wider series. The synopsis grasped my attention right away, and when I’ve talked about it on my blog, it caught my mum’s too…
Without further preamble, shall we dive into today’s First Lines Friday intro: –
At ten after five on a raw December afternoon, Joshua Kane lay on a cardboard bed outside the criminal courts building in Manhattan and thought about killing a man. Not just any man. He was thinking about someone in particular. It was true that Kane had, at times, while on the subway or watching passers-by, occasionally thought about killing a nameless, random New Yorker who happened to fall into his line of vision. It could be the blond a secretary reading a romance novel on the K train, a Wall Street banker swinging an umbrella as they ignored his pleas for change or even a child holding their mothers hand on a crosswalk.
How would it feel to kill them? What would they say with their final breath? Would their eyes change in that moment of passing from this world? Kane felt a ripple of pleasure feed heat into his body as he explored those thoughts.
He checked his watch.
11 after five.
Th1rt3en – Steve Cavanagh
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 356
Audience: Adult
Publisher: Orion
Publication Date: 30 Jan 2018
The serial killer isn’t on trial.
He’s on the jury…
They were Hollywood’s hottest power couple. They had the world at their feet. Now one of them is dead and Hollywood star Robert Solomon is charged with the brutal murder of his beautiful wife.
This is the celebrity murder trial of the century and the defence want one man on their team: con artist turned lawyer Eddie Flynn.
All the evidence points to Robert’s guilt, but as the trial begins a series of sinister incidents in the court room start to raise doubts in Eddie’s mind.
What if there’s more than one actor in the courtroom?
What if the killer isn’t on trial? What if the killer is on the jury?
My Thoughts…
Th1rt3en is the first Steve Cavanagh book that caught my eye. I purchased a copy of it straight away, but later found out it is the fourth in his Eddie Flynn series.
Through my blog I introduced mum to his books. Whilst I am still yet to pick one up, mum is ahead of me and has made a start on them. As far as I know, she has enjoyed them so far. I cannot wait to give it a try for myself!
I’m looking forward to a legal thriller. The idea of the murderer being on the jury and knowing that from the outset is a real hook to draw us in as a reader. If we can set out from that revelation without giving much away, then what other twists and turns do we have in this narrative? I don’t know, but want to find out!
What also appeals is that whilst the book is part of a series, they are separate stories. So, they don’t strictly have to be read in order. The books themselves aren’t too long either. My mum read the first book and started the second on a week’s holiday earlier this year. There is enough to entice us in, but the books aren’t too long either. This will appeal to a lot of people – I can only hope I feel the same way when I finally get to this read for myself!
Have you read Th1rt3en, or any other Steve Cavanagh books? Let me know in the comments below, or let’s have a chat on social media!
