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Published May 2016
320 pages
Genre: Thrillers
Publication Information
Eddie Flynn used to be a con artist. Then he became a lawyer. Turns out the two aren't that different.
Former con artist turned lawyer Eddie Flynn gave up the law a year ago after a disastrous case, and he vowed never to step foot in a courtroom again. But now he doesn't have a choice. The head of the Russian mob in New York City, on trial for murder, has kidnapped Eddie's ten-year-old daughter: Eddie has to take this case whether he likes it or not.
Using his razor-sharp wit and every con, bluff, grift, and trick in the book, Eddie has only forty-eight hours to defend an impossible murder trial. And if he loses this case, he loses everything.
"Starred Review. Irish author Cavanagh's stellar debut provides everything a reader could ask for in a thriller - nail-biting suspense, a Russian nesting doll of a plot, and an original and compelling lead." - Publishers Weekly
"Part classic courtroom drama in the John Grisham tradition and part Bruce Willis-like action hero fiction straight out of the Die Hard franchise, this is a rip-roaring action-packed and highly entertaining debut." - Irish Independent
"Reads a lot like a courtroom drama that Lee Child might write about Jack Reacher's younger, hotter-headed brother." - Irish Times
"If you're a fan of John Grisham, Scott Turow, and Brad Meltzer, then you will be a fan of Steve Cavanagh's The Defense. Cavanagh's debut novel introduces a wonderfully flawed hero, Eddie Flynn, one-time con man, now turned lawyer, who will hold you spellbound. This is a hell of a genre-bending book. I hope Cavanagh's working on the sequel." - Nelson DeMille, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Radiant Angel
"Non-stop action, unexpected and totally cool plot twists, a sympathetic genius of a con-man/attorney, and a clock that never ever ever stops ticking - this isn't narrative drive, it's rocket-like narrative propulsion! Hop aboard and enjoy the ride!"- John Lescroart, New York Times bestselling author of The Fall and the Dismas Hardy series
"I started reading to see what would happen next, but couldn't put the book down because I needed to learn more about con man turned lawyer Eddie Flynn, the smartest man in the courthouse. I was hooked until the last satisfying page." - Alafair Burke, New York Times bestselling author of The Ex
This information about The Defense was first featured
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Donna-Lisa Healy
Steve Cavanagh is an Irish author from Belfast and at the age eighteen he studied law by mistake. He is now the international award-winning author of the Eddie Flynn novels. His debut novel, The Defense, was nominated for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for Thriller of the Year, and The Plea won the Prix Polar Award for Best International Novel. Steve is still a practicing lawyer (someday he'll get the hang of it) and co-host of the chart-topping podcast Two Crime Writers And A Microphone. He has been involved in several high-profile civil rights cases, his Eddie Flynn novels have been published in over twenty countries, he's married with two young children, and in his spare time he is mostly asleep.
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