The Plea

Critics Review

• A gripping, twisty thriller

  Ian Rankin

• Lively, clever and enjoyable . . . Cavanagh writes vividly about American injustice . . . The constant action is interrupted only by absorbing courtroom scenes

  THE TIMES

• The Plea reads like an idiosyncratic cross between Elmore Leonard and John Grisham, but bursts with its own individual flavour.

  FINANCIAL TIMES

• ‘Fast-moving, low-punching, street-hustling adventure… Seriously superior airport read.’

  TIMES CRIME BOOK CLUB

• Legal thrillers are my blind spot, but I’ll always make an exception for Steve Cavanagh. Quite simply, THE PLEA is one of the most purely entertaining books you’ll read this year. It’s a blast

  John Connolly

• ‘In the crowded field of legal thrillers, Steve Cavanagh stands head and shoulders above the competition, with his skilfully plotted, action-packed and big-hearted Eddie Flynn novels . . . highly intelligent, twist-laden and absolutely unputdownable’

  Eva Dolan

• A cleverly constructed legal thriller combined with a classic locked-room mystery. Eddie Flynn is fast becoming one of my favourite fictional heroes and Cavanagh one of my favourite thriller writers

  S.J.I. Holliday

• Raymond Chandler could have created Eddie Flynn. THE PLEA is Phillip Marlowe and Michael Connolly’s Mickey Haller combined, with a bit of Jim Thompson’s THE GRIFTERS thrown in. A superb read with a main character destined to be one of the most talked about in crime fiction

  Howard Linskey

• One of the most breathtakingly exciting crime novels I’ve read this year, a gripping combination of courtroom drama, locked-room mystery and conspiracy theory.

  MORNING STAR

• The Plea is explosive, nail-bitingly tense and hilarious by turns; once I started, I just kept reading, and could hardly bear to put it down. Eddie Flynn has the potential to become one of the stars of courtroom drama, and I for one can’t wait to see what he will get up to next.

  LIZZIE HAYES

• Every so often, a book comes along that makes me giddy! …Deception, fraud, murder. THE PLEA has it all, and as usual, Steve Cavanagh has written an absolute ripper of a novel!

  BIBLIOPHILE BOOK CLUB

• If you don’t normally read court room dramas, you must make an exception. These books are just full of intelligent wheeling and dealing. Top notch storytelling… Superb, in a ‘I must not move a muscle til I have finished this book’ way. Eddie Flynn, you beauty!

  NORTHERN CRIME

• The jacket blurb describes The Plea as this year’s must-read thriller. Based on what’s between the covers there’s little reason to argue with this statement. This is a well-written and pacy page-turner… This is a thoroughly enjoyable thriller and it would be a surprise if, in a few years’ time, Steve Cavanagh wasn’t a huge name in the industry.

  CRIME FICTION LOVER

• Pretty perfect really, a story you can enjoy on many levels.Overall a WHOLE load of fun. Head clutching, breathless, edge of the seat fun. More please. Highly Recommended.

  LIZ LOVES BOOKS

• So Hollywood, punchy and cool and pacy as hell.

  Eva Dolan