Thirteen : The serial killer isn't on trial. He's on the jury

An oh so clever hook for an oh so clever, gripping book. THIRTEEN is courtroom drama at its finest, blended with page-turning twists and characters you can't get enough of. Steve Cavanagh is the John Grisham for a new generation. Slick, thrilling and unique, THIRTEEN is my favourite read of the year. Sarah Pinborough
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An oh so clever hook for an oh so clever, gripping book. THIRTEEN is courtroom drama at its finest, blended with page-turning twists and characters you can't get enough of. Steve Cavanagh is the John Grisham for a new generation. Slick, thrilling and unique, THIRTEEN is my favourite read of the year. * Sarah Pinborough * Outstanding - an intriguing premise, a tense, gripping build-up, and a spectacular climax. This guy is the real deal. Trust me. * Lee Child * Smart and original. This is a belter of a book. * Clare Mackintosh * I've been tracking Steve Cavanagh for a few years now and Thirteen is his best, a dead bang beast of a book that expertly combining his authority on the law with an absolutely great thrill ride. Books this ingenious don't come along very often. * Michael Connelly * A brilliant, twisty, ingeniously constructed puzzle of a book. Steve Cavanagh pulls off an enviable premise with panache. * Ruth Ware * Great hook. Great plot. Great book. Thirteen is a real page turner and one you won't want to put down. * Simon Kernick * Great hook and the book lives up to it! * Ian Rankin * An absolute rollercoaster of a read. Thrilling. * Cass Green * Quite simply deserves to be HUGE. If you read a thriller as good this year, it's only because you've read this one twice. * Mark Billingham * Tore through this between dusk and dawn. Absolute 5-star cracker from Steve Cavanagh, who's gotta be among top legal thriller writers out there nowadays. A powerhouse of a book that's much more than its high-concept hook. * Craig Sisterson * Wow! This book is friggin' awesome! Utterly immersive. * Emma Kavanagh * Fantastically gripping? Guilty as charged! * Angela Clarke * Guilty of thrills, twists, and expertly manipulating the reader. * Mason Cross * A superbly intriguing, hooky, grippy, twisty, clever thriller that kept me up all night. * Liz Nugent * Superb, fast-paced legal thriller. So well-plotted (I LOVED the court/jury details). Hints of Lee Child. BRILLIANT. * Will Dean, author of Dark Pines * Twisty, clever and beautifully written, a book this good deserves the highest praise possible. That's why I'm giving it 13/10. * Simon Toyne * What a book! I loved it so much. * Fiona Cummins, author of Rattle and The Collector * Believe the hype, folks. This is one of the most mercilessly compelling thrillers you will read this decade. * Chris Brookmyre * Smells like a best seller to me. I read it in 2 sittings ... LOVED it. * Adrian McKinty * This incredibly skilful novel deserves nothing less than five stars. It would be a crime to miss it. * The Sun * Cavanagh sets a cracking pace ... a genuine, read-in-one-sitting page-turner. * Guardian * This dazzling serial killer thriller set in Manhattan is written by a Dublin-based civil rights lawyer. One of the most accomplished legal dramas I have read this year, it reminds me of Scott Turow's stunning Presumed Innocent. The trial itself reveals Cavanagh's astonishingly sure touch for character and the skill of his serpentine plotting. * Daily Mail * That central hook along with Cavanagh's breakneck prose pace and expert plotting make for a white-knuckle ride of a story. It's something of a high-wire act, blending the machinations of a courtroom drama with the high-octane cat and mouse of a serial killer plotline, but Cavanagh delivers on both counts in spades, expertly cranking up the tension towards an explosive finale that will take thereader's breath away. Cracking stuff. * Big Issue * An adrenaline-fuelled thrill ride. Thirteen is courtroom drama at its finest. An outstanding legal thriller, so original, clever and accomplished that it should not be missed. It marks out Cavanagh as the heir apparent to John Grisham. * Daily Express * Witty and clever ... irresistible. * Daily Telegraph * Fans of John Grisham and Lee Child will enjoy this book. * Independent * Grisham-on-steroids. * Irish Independent * This is a heart-racing novel with vertiginous twists and turns. A winning mix of glamour and gruesomeness. * The Lady * A blisteringly exciting thriller, with a chilling killer. * Sunday Express * A fast-paced and absorbing thriller. Prepare to buckle up as a smattering of seemingly isolated events spiral into a twist-laden read. * The Herald * A cracking premise. * Sunday Independent * A truly first-class US courtroom drama. * The Times * A twisty clever read. * Woman's Way * It's hard to resist Cavanagh's mix of high-wire plotting and higher octane action. * Mail on Sunday *
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Steve Cavanagh was born and raised in Belfast before leaving for Dublin at the age of eighteen to study Law. He practiced civil rights law and was involved in several high-profile cases; in 2010 he represented a factory worker who suffered racial abuse in the workplace and won the largest award of damages for race discrimination in Northern Ireland legal history.

He holds a certificate in Advanced Advocacy and lectures on various legal subjects (but really he just likes to tell jokes). His novel The Liar won the CWA Gold Dagger award while his follow-up novel Thirteen won the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award in 2019. Twisted was a Sunday Times Top 10 Bestseller. He is married with two young children.


Follow Steve on Facebook at facebook.com/SSCav1 and Twitter @SSCav
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