The premise is simple: a man is murdered. His two daughters are in the house with him. Each woman makes a 911 call accusing the other of killing him. Which one of them is lying? Which one of them is the killer?
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Having read and loved Steve Cavanagh's Thirteen, I looked forward to reading Fifty Fifty with a great deal of anticipation. Unfortunately, it fell a bit flat. Not necessarily because it was badly written-- it wasn't. It fell flat because it didn't meet my expectations.
What did I expect? I expected to have to work hard to deduce which one of the sisters was the killer. I knew which sister "done it" almost from the beginning, and that burst my bubble. Granted, I did enjoy watching the main character, defense lawyer and former conman Eddie Flynn, putting the pieces together, but it just wasn't as much fun as playing Sherlock Holmes for myself.
Sometimes these twisty legal thrillers work, and sometimes they don't. While this one didn't quite hit the mark for me, it was still a good read, and I look forward to reading more of Cavanagh's books featuring Eddie Flynn.
Fifty Fifty by Steve Cavanagh
ISBN: 9781409185864
Orion Books © 2020
Paperback, 368 pages
Legal Thriller, #5 Eddie Flynn mystery
Rating: B
Source: Purchased from Amazon UK
I liked Thirteen and another Eddie Flynn book and enjoyed them. I planned to pass on Fifty-Fifty as it just didn't appeal to me. I want to read The Devil's Advocate, but my library doesn't have it and my Kindle isn't set up yet. I just finished Val McDermid's latest Karen Pirie's latest case in Past Lying. It was excellent. This series just gets better and wittier. And the Scottish expressions for people acting ridiculously are hilarious.
ReplyDeleteI love Scottish colloquialisms.
DeleteYou make a good point, Cathy. If the book is a twisty sort of mystery, then it should be a challenge to work out the truth. That said, though, I'm glad there were things you liked about this one.
ReplyDeleteEddie Flynn is such a good character.
DeleteSounds intriguing
ReplyDeleteIt was... up to a point.
DeleteI think it would have been better if the author had kept you guessing about which sister it was until the end. Because it's a great premise.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is. The premise was the major reason why I got the book.
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