“Fifty Fifty” is another triumph from Steve Cavanagh. Gritty, pacy and utterly absorbing, this may just be Eddie Flynn’s greatest case to date!

When former NYC mayor Frank Avellino is brutally murdered, both of his daughters call 911. Accusing each other of the murder, both are taken into custody. Former conman turned lawyer, Eddie Flynn, agrees to take on Sofia Avellino’s defence case. She’s the more disturbed of Frank’s daughters and the more obvious suspect. Kate Brooks is an associate at one of the city’s biggest firms. Involved in Alexandra Avellino’s defence case, she will make some major decisions that will impact both her’s and her client’s lives. Who is defending the innocent sister and who is defending a cold-blooded killer? Or are both lawyers defending a guilty party? This case is anything but straightforward and Flynn and Brooks may just need to work together to find out which sister committed the patricide...

Steve Cavanagh keeps going from strength to strength and the Eddie Flynn series is one of my favourite crime fiction series. There’s a distinct easiness to Cavanagh’s writing, which makes his books a joy to read. I love going deep into the legal process and this is always accessible and incredibly interesting in this series. “Fifty Fifty” is no different and the complexities of the various legal conundrums in this book make it an incredibly gripping read. There is plenty of action during the initial investigation into the crime, but it is during the trial sequences that Cavanagh comes into his own. Drawing on his own experiences of the legal profession, he captures the tension, atmosphere and drama of the trial effortlessly. I really felt like I was in the courtroom with yen characters and I was sucked right into the crime and the both the prosecution and defence of both sisters. Cavanagh is also fantastic at creating a cast of characters that you either love or hate. As much as I was cheering on Flynn, Ford, Brooks and Bloch, I was equally seething at the arrogance and contemptibility of Dreyer, Judge Stone and Levy. It’s always great to read a novel that you can feel so passionately about the characters.

What I find most exhilarating about “Fifty Fifty” though, is Cavanagh’s ability to keep you guessing about each sister’s guilt. Their father’s murder is disturbingly dark and brutally vicious (as are the other murders that are peppered throughout the narrative), but despite this, I felt compassion and sympathy for both sisters, even though I knew one of them was evil personified. I genuinely didn’t know whether Sofia or Alexandra was guilty throughout the novel. As soon as I felt certain I knew which one had committed the crime, Cavanagh threw another piece of evidence or a curveball in the plot to make me doubt myself. Cavanagh’s style worked really well here and I enjoyed reading the chapters from the culprit’s perspective. These were really enlightening into the killer’s psyche and so well written, as there are no huge reveals as to which sister it is. The writing from different perspectives also lends itself really well to creating a razor sharp atmosphere and edge of your seat tension. This is perfectly executed in the sequence where the killer strikes somebody in one of the legal teams - the chapters fly between the killer’s perspective and the potential victims and it is a genuinely breathtaking, taut and memorable part of the novel. In fact, it’s one of the most well written sequences in a thriller that I’ve ever read and the memory of the anxiety induced heart palpitations I felt during it will stay with me forever!

“Fifty Fifty” is an exceptionally excellent read that I highly recommend. Do not miss it!