A deadly prosecutor
They call him the King of Death Row. Randal Korn has sent more men to their deaths than any district attorney in the history of the United States.
A twisted ritualistic killing
When a young woman, Skylar Edwards, is found murdered in Buckstown, Alabama, a corrupt sheriff arrests the last person to see her alive, Andy Dubois. It doesn’t seem to matter to anyone that Andy is innocent.
A small town boiling with rage
Everyone in Buckstown believes Andy is guilty. He has no hope of a fair trial. And the local defense attorney assigned to represent him has disappeared.
A former con-artist
Hot shot New York lawyer Eddie Flynn travels south to fight fire with fire. He plans to destroy the prosecutors case, find the real killer and save Andy from the electric chair.
But the murders are just beginning.
I was hugely excited to see there was a new Eddie Flynn book and even more so when I managed to snag myself an early e-copy from Netgalley.
This was everything I’ve come to expect from Cavanagh’s writing and an Eddie Flynn case – a case that seems impossible to win, some interesting (and not always legal) tactics, violence, determination and a lot of heart.
The case this time was perhaps the hardest Eddie has faced so far, facing off against a prosecutor who always fought for a death sentence and had a high conviction rate, Eddie is not only fighting for justice but also for his clients life. To make matters worse the prosecutor is corrupt and seems to have the entire local police force working for him.
As always the characterisation in this was strong, Eddie’s new business partner Kate, PI Bloch and the lovely Harry in a consulting role were just as wonderful as last time we saw them – I really like Bloch and I have a feeling there is a lot more of her to get to know.
In a link that a Cavanagh himself points out in the book this case has overtones of the one in Harper Lee’s classic To Kill a Mockingbird. Eddie’s client is a young black male accused of murdering the pretty young white girl he worked with, there is a thread of racism running through the case and that makes Eddies job even harder.
Yet again though Cavanagh manages to show some of the better sides of humanity even while the story is centred around some of its worst bits. I did actually work out who the real killer was before the reveal this time, but that didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the book.
Not sure the tag line is completely accurate on this one – but it gives a feel for what’s going on, still is a bit misleading though.
Another gripping, twisty, heart stopping case for Eddie and a great read.
With thanks to Orion and Netgalley for an e-copy in exchange for honest review.
The Devil’s Advocate will publish on 5th August 2021
Mug Full of Books 
Great review! Sometimes figuring it out can stop your enjoyment of the rest of it – glad to hear that this wasn’t the case this time and you still liked it. I love the sound of this one, sounds really intriguing. Thanks for the recommendation.
Thanks 🙂 I don’t often figure it out so I was quite surprised when I was right!