{"id":5521,"date":"2022-10-19T21:00:12","date_gmt":"2022-10-19T21:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maderatribustg.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=5521"},"modified":"2026-05-13T18:20:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T18:20:41","slug":"book-talk-steve-cavanagh-the-plea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/book-talk-steve-cavanagh-the-plea\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Talk: Steve Cavanagh, \u2018The Plea\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Like Steve Cavanagh\u2019s debut novel \u201cThe Defense,\u201d some reviewers have described his second Eddie Flynn book, \u201cThe Plea\u201d (2016, 376 pages) as a courtroom drama. It is, but it is so much more. In both books, Cavanagh provides a mix of brilliant courtroom strategy and taut action thrills. He\u2019s like John Grisham and David Baldacci rolled together. I loved both books.<\/p>

The opening line tells the reader that this is not a Perry- Mason-style story: \u201cI thought everyone was dead.\u201d A little further on, the protagonist, lawyer Eddie Flynn, says, \u201cI didn\u2019t hear the shot, didn\u2019t see the muzzle flash\u2026. I only felt the bullet ripping into my flesh.\u201d Then he takes us back two days to explain what led up to his current predicament.<\/p>

This story takes place several months after the events related in The Defense. Eddie is approached by a federal agent and coerced into representing David Child, the billionaire inventor of an algorithm that a prestigious law firm is using to launder money. However, David is not charged with embezzlement or some other white-collar crime. Eddie is assured that there is an open-and-shut case that David brutally murdered his girlfriend.<\/p>

However, the feds don\u2019t want Eddie to appear in court to fight the charge; they\u2019re offering a lenient plea. And, there\u2019s an added incentive for Eddie to grab the case from the elite law firm in question: his wife is an attorney who works for the firm, has signed a paper that is said to implicate her in the illegal operation, and she\u2019ll spend the rest of her life in prison unless Eddie is successful in obtaining the plea from David.<\/p>

When Eddie meets David, his gut tells him that David, who claims to be innocent, is telling the truth. But, as we\u2019re reminded, court cases are not about truth; they\u2019re about what can be proved and a jury believes. As Eddie begins to review the case, it is clear that there is a veritable mountain of evidence proving that David did it. Security cameras in his ridiculously expensive Manhattan apartment show him and Clara (his girlfriend) entering the apartment and only him leaving. Meanwhile, no one else could have possibly accessed his suite. As he leaves the apartment grounds, he\u2019s involved in a fender-bender, and the attending police officer finds a gun on the floor of his car. Ballistics show that the bullets that killed Clara came from that gun.<\/p>

Yet, Eddie maintains his claim of innocence, and a nearly maniacal District Attorney won\u2019t accept a plea bargain. Without that agreement, Eddie\u2019s wife will wind up in prison. And, as the plot begins to unfold, Eddie becomes convinced of David\u2019s innocence, is determined not to send an innocent man to prison, and has an impossible timetable to figure out how to save both his client and his wife.<\/p>

As if the dramatic tension weren\u2019t enough to keep one turning pages, Cavanagh manages to pour Clarence Darrow into My Cousin Vinny\u2019s shoes for the courtroom scenes. This is a great read, and I can barely wait for the next Cavanagh book to arrive on my doorstep.<\/p>

Enjoy.<\/p>

\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>

Jim Glynn may be contacted at j_glynn@att.net.<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Like Steve Cavanagh\u2019s debut novel \u201cThe Defense,\u201d some reviewers have described his second Eddie Flynn book, \u201cThe Plea\u201d (2016, 376 pages) as a courtroom drama. It is, but it is so much more. In both books, Cavanagh provides a mix of brilliant courtroom strategy and taut action thrills. He\u2019s like John Grisham and David Baldacci […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_angie_page":false,"page_builder":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[43],"class_list":["post-5521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","tag-law"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5521\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}