The Accomplice

It’s always a pleasure to receive a proof copy of a new thriller but when the author is Steve Cavanagh continuing the Eddie Flynn legal thriller saga - it’s like Christmas has come early.  

The FBI is hunting a serial killer called The Sandman. The body count is already fourteen, but they are coming up empty, even though they know that the killer is Daniel Miller, he’s vanished.

As the FBI and District Attorney come under increasing pressure from the media, they decide to prosecute The Sandman’s wife, Carrie, believing that she both assisted him in and covered up the murders.

Carrie claims that she knows nothing of the crimes or even her husband’s predatory nature. That she is completely innocent.

Enter Eddie Flynn. For those of us in the know, Eddie will only take on defendants who he feels are innocent. With the general public buying into the line being pushed by the media, Flynn knows that he’s going to be up against it to show that Carrie had nothing to do with her husband’s offences and turn the jury around from a media who have already convicted her, even before the trial.

Former federal agent, Gabriel Lake, has a long-held grudge against the Sandman and is convinced that the FBI Behavioural Unit’s assessment is way off base and joins Eddie’s team. Kate Brooks, Bloch and Harry Ford are well-featured too.

With Carrie now in the FBI’s sights, the Sandman returns demanding his wife’s release. No one, not the FBI, witnesses, or even Eddie is safe.

The story is told from multiple standpoints, including The Sandman. This creates a fast-paced, intriguing, complex and sometimes witty, sometimes dark narrative, which gathers pace and intensity as the story gathers all the story threads and moves towards its wonderfully constructed close.

This is the seventh in the Eddie Flynn series and Cavanagh just gets better and better. This is a tour de force from a writer at the top of his game. A must buy.