The Plea

December 1, 2017
You can beat him up, arrest his wife, try to acid bomb him, but you can't hustle a hustler.When federal agents threaten his wife, Christine, with jail time, Eddie Flynn, retired con man and present-day defense lawyer, gets involved in a complicated conspiracy. The feds want to take down Christine's white shoe law firm, Harland and Sinton, which has been covertly laundering money for various criminal enterprises, making Christine vulnerable to charges. To keep his wife out of prison, Flynn is pressured to coerce a plea deal from David Child, social media billionaire and the designer of the security algorithm at the heart of the money-laundering scheme, who is charged with the murder of his girlfriend and who would normally be defended by Harland and Sinton. For reduced jail time Child will provide the feds with the key to the algorithm. The murder charge appears bullet-proof, and a plea deal should be attractive, but Flynn first has to convince Child to fire Harland and Sinton and retain him, which he manages through somewhat devious means. Then Flynn becomes convinced that Child is innocent, and he has to face an impossible choice: if he successfully defends Child, he will fail the feds, who will vindictively imprison his wife; or he can try to con Child into taking the plea, effectively engineering the conviction of an innocent man, and thus free his wife. Flynn thinks he sees a third path and will have to disentangle many threads. Is Child innocent? If so, who framed him? If he has been framed, can Flynn prove it in court? Can Flynn protect Child from Harland and Sinton and the dark forces behind them, who would like Child dead to protect their scheme? Will an ambitious DA ruin any deal Flynn might manage to make with the feds? Will Flynn drink again, and if he does, will it matter? Good courtroom sequences, engaging minor characters, an ornately twisted plot, a repentant but hopeful hero--what could go wrong? And though Cavanagh doesn't go wrong, his novel falls short of the best of Elmore Leonard or Ross Thomas.A worthwhile caper, if a little overweight.

COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from December 11, 2017
The Feds make Manhattan con-artist–turned-attorney Eddie Flynn, the hardboiled hero of Cavanagh’s criminally entertaining sequel to 2016’s The Defense, an offer he can’t refuse: unless Eddie hustles just-arrested young tech billionaire David Child (who isn’t even his client yet) into pleading guilty to murdering his girlfriend as part of their plan to flip him against the respected but corrupt firm currently representing him, they will arrest Eddie’s estranged wife, Christine White, a lawyer there, for participating (unwittingly) in a vast money-laundering conspiracy. Eddie quickly hits a huge problem: despite the superficially slam-dunk evidence against David, he’s not convinced the terrified 22-year-old did it. Especially after a hit attempt nearly takes out the techie while he’s still in a holding cell. From there the action turns fast and furious as, with the preliminary hearing and Feds’ deadline looming, Eddie employs his very particular set of skills to try to keep David, Christine, and himself alive long enough to figure out who the real killer is—and how he’s going to prove it. This is perfect for anyone who likes a locked-room mystery wrapped inside a legal thriller on steroids. Agent: George Lucas, Inkwell Management.

Starred review from November 15, 2017

In the game of cons, you win or you die. Cavanagh's (The Defense) latest Eddie Flynn novel begins with the con artist-turned-attorney having an unexpected and unwelcome visitor in CIA agent Lester Dell. Wealthy New Yorker David Child has just been arrested for brutally murdering his girlfriend. Dell wants Flynn to con his way into becoming Child's lawyer in order to get Child to plead guilty. The incentive is a reduced prison sentence for Child if he provides evidence of money laundering by one of his clients, a prestigious law firm. If Flynn accomplishes this, Dell will protect Flynn's wife, who also works at that law firm, from prosecution. However, Flynn quickly begins to believe that Child is innocent. Can Flynn prove Child's innocence and protect his wife, too? He has to figure out this twisty game quickly before dangerous adversaries decide one murder is just not enough. VERDICT Cavanagh's fast-paced, action-packed legal thriller is bound to grip John Grisham and Michael Connelly fans with its unexpected turns.--Susan Moritz, Silver Spring, MD

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.