I saw this laughable image/tweet in the time I was reading the book and since it’s close to the plot summary, I figured I’d bless y’all with it.
There’s a certain condescension amongst book readers as to how seriously they should take page-turning novels. I often hear the phrase “Turn off your brain for this one!” While there may be some truth to it, most fiction requires elaborations and expansions of the truth. You could read something like The Defense and grouse about how something like that could never happen on every other page. Or you can just try and have fun.
I usually don’t go for these thrill-a-minute type books, and again, that’s not to yuck anyone’s yum. I like something I can really sink my teeth into. But sometimes, I fall into a page turner and I can enjoy it from start to finish.
Yes, Steve Cavanagh resorts a little too much to the tried and true formula of cliffhangers at the end of every chapter. But he tells the story with verve. While Eddie Flynn is a walking cliche (lawyer, heavy drinker, ex-husband, Girl Dad), I liked how Cavanagh weaved cleverness into Flynn’s repertoire. He’s a hustler and he uses his skills to hustle the courts and his client, who has put him in an awkward situation. Frequently, Flynn gets into a jam and I’d wonder how Cavanagh would write him out and almost always, he did it well. Even if large parts of this were predictable, I was excited to see how it ended.
So yeah, I guess you can “Turn your brain off” for this but really, it’s a step above most airport fare and if you’re willing to cast pretensions aside, you might find yourself enjoying it.
