The Liar by Steve Cavanagh

The one thing you can be certain of when reading a Steve Cavanagh, Eddie Flynn novel, is great plotting. Always cleverly twisted with plenty of red herrings, mis-directs, and side-bars to make you wonder where the plot’s heading next. And so it is with THE LIAR the third in the Eddie Flynn series of legal thrillers.

Throw in a great, well delineated set of characters with their own idiosyncratic tics, and you have the perfect delivery vehicles for said twisted plot.

Eddie Flynn is one of those wonderfully nuanced characters with plenty of chinks in his battered armour. But even when he’s employing somewhat dubious methods you know he’s doing it for all the right reasons.

“Doing something illegal, so long as I believed it was right, normally didn’t bother me. This bothered me. If I came out of this in the next ten minutes without being arrested I promised myself I would take a step back for my own good.”

Eddie has heart, Eddie is a shades of grey hero with an iffy past. One that helps him outsmart, and sometimes, out manoeuvre the bad guys. And with a Cavanagh novel, you’re never quite sure just who the bad guys might turn out to be.

The secondary characters are just as well-fleshed out as Eddie. And I have come to really enjoy Eddie’s meet ups with both Agent Harper, a feisty firecracker of a personality with a great gut instinct, and Judge Harry Ford, a man with a perchance for wisdom, who enjoys a good nightcap, or three.

It’s also the secondary plot lines—something Cavanagh pays great attention to—that adds such depth to this series. There is always, but always, something else going on, not quite in the background, that usually ties-in, in some way, with the main plot; usually with consequences. This time around, it’s an old case of murder that Judge Harry Ford lost when still a defence lawyer. A case that still haunts him and for good reason.

Set at a blistering pace, with plenty of twists and turns, THE LIAR is as much a page turner as earlier books in this series. An addictive, fast, fun and thrilling read, you won’t be disappointed with THE LIAR.