The Defence - Steve Cavanagh

Reading Challenge Category: Back catalogue book wanted to read

Official Blurb:

Eddie Flynn used to be a con artist. Then he became a lawyer. Turned out the two weren't that different.
It's been over a year since Eddie vowed never to set foot in a courtroom again. But now he doesn't have a choice. Olek Volchek, the infamous head of the Russian mafia in New York, has strapped a bomb to Eddie's back and kidnapped his ten-year-old daughter, Amy. Eddie only has forty-eight hours to defend Volchek in an impossible murder trial - and win - if he wants to save his daughter.
Under the scrutiny of the media and the FBI, Eddie must use his razor-sharp wit and every con-artist trick in the book to defend his 'client' and ensure Amy's safety. With the timer on his back ticking away, can Eddie convince the jury of the impossible?

My Thoughts:

I have been meaning to read the beginning of this series for ages now (well over a year!), but I’ve just not had the time. I finally found time!
This certainly felt like the first book in a series and didn’t feel quite as sophisticated as the later ones I have read. However, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t just as thrilling, gripping and brilliant!
I have obviously met Eddie in future books, but I didn’t know much about him and his history. We start to get the full picture in this book. His whole past, how and why he became a lawyer and his relationships.
His daughter’s safety is threatened as part of this story. He hasn’t just taken on a legal case; he has been forced into defending the head of the Russian mafia. The characters were so unpredictable you honestly didn’t know who would come out alive or what would happen.
I was surprised by how weak Eddie started off; as in the later books, nothing seems to faze him, or maybe I’m remembering that wrong? He seemed quite passive, but I was quite happy that as the book progressed, he became clever with his plans, and this kept me gripped to the story.
I’m glad I found the time to go back to the beginning of this series, and I’m going to go straight onto book two!