At Issue with Th1rt3en by Steve Cavanagh

Authors twist reality for dramatic reasons. I get irritated, even frustrated, when fictional lawyers drift far from the reality of the practice of law and the conduct of trials. Steve Cavanagh in Th1rt3en turned a brilliant premise into a blood filled thriller. As my concerns will involve spoilers, proceed no further if spoilers are a concern.

I start with his lawyer, Eddie Flynn, being asked to be second chair on a huge murder trial a few days before the trial. Movie star, Bobby Solomon, is charged with murdering his wife and security head. The actual killer is a juror. Flynn accepts and then does no other legal work but the case until resolution of the trial.

A lawyer cannot be adequately prepared in less than a week. Reading a file is far different from preparing for a trial. It adds drama to be the last minute addition but not credibility.

I appreciate that George Levy, as set out in Tom & Lucky and George & Cokey Flo by C. Joseph Greaves, took on the lead role in the defence of Lucky Luciano in 1936 on 4 days notice. I thought Levy’s decision was ill advised.

Flynn is portrayed as a busy sole practitioner akin to Mickey Haller, the Lincoln Lawyer, in Michael Connelly books.

Haller, as with any litigator, is constantly juggling cases and court appearances. It is possible Flynn could have a week or longer available without a trial on short notice. What is completely unbelievable is that he would not have many cases requiring attention as well as the new case. There would be phone calls, emails and documents to be addressed. Flynn has nary a demand upon his time beyond the Solomon case.

I think of examples from real life and fiction to illustrate reality. 

Defense Lawyer by James Patterson and Benjamin Wallace is a biography of famed New York City defense lawyer Barry Slotnick. In the book Slotnick deals with multiple clients all the time. 

In a post on the book earlier this year I quoted:

On a mid-winter day in January of 1986 there was an eclectic mix of people in his reception area - a couple of Chinese gangsters, a Russian mobster, two Hasidic men, Bernhard Goetz (the subway vigilante) and John Gotti’s driver (his employer was in a conference at the office.

John Grisham has written several books about lawyers in fictional Ford County in Mississippi. Jake Brigance is the lead lawyer in several books. He is in an eternal struggle to make ends meet in his general practice. He pleads with the trial judge in a Time for Mercy not to appoint him because of the low fees from the state and the time impact on his practice.

Reality disappears when, on the morning of the trial, the lead counsel for Solomon and his team, Rudy Carp, quit the case because the movie studio is his client and has decided he is to no longer to represent Solomon and it will cease paying for Solomon’s representation.

While dramatic I could not see a judge permitting their withdrawal. Carp has to be representing Solomon, not the studio, to be his counsel. The studio can pay but Solomon is the client. If there is a fee issue for the work of the trial Carp will have to sort it out with the studio and Solomon. I would have been shocked if the lawyers did not have a contract with the studio requiring payment for the trial even if the studio was no longer interesting in paying for Solomon. Carp would still have to represent Solomon. Only if there is some major ethical issue could Carp back out. There was no such issue here. The prejudice to Solomon by the late application to withdraw is overwhelming. 

If Carp managed to withdraw I could see Flynn taking over representing Solomon but not going to trial the same day. It would be irresponsible not to get a continuance to allow proper representation of the accused.

I appreciate Solomon’s career is adversely affected by every delay but being convicted because your lawyer is inadequately prepared is worse.

Reinforcing the need for adjournment, Flynn is developing a new defence relating to an unidentified serial killer and identifying other lines of attack upon the prosecution’s case. It would be reckless to go to trial without sorting out the defence. Rescuing Solomon’s reputation will only happen with a not guilty verdict.

There could have been just as much drama in properly preparing the defence with the serial killer still on the jury. 

There was already lots of good courtroom drama in the plot. 

What was subtler was that the case was never as strong as Cavanagh puts forward.  The identification of the accused was suspect. The issues over the security camera amplified the identification problem. The hiding of the murder weapon was clumsy. The theory on how the murders were committed was wrong. Flynn exposes the problems. 

Would reasonable doubt have been created by these problems is less certain because, during the trial, the defence was proposing an unknown killer? Cavanagh did have right the challenge for the defence of providing a credible background for the argument that an unknown killer entered the home to murder. 

Ultimately the body count defies belief. I usually do not go into actual numbers but I have never read legal fiction with this many bodies. I can understand multiple murders committed by Kane before the time period covered by the book. He was a serial killer but he kills 12 people, including Bloom and Tozer, during the time covered in the book. Another 4 people are killed as part of the resolution of the story. 

Flynn is a good action hero and a good lawyer. I wish his legal skills had resolved the plot. A Hollywood movie awaits.

****

Cavanagh, Steve - (2022) - Th1rt3en

Th1rt3en by Steve Cavanagh

(32. - 1137.) Th1rt3en by Steve Cavanagh – Cavanagh challenged my reading preferences or prejudices depending on perspective. I am not fond of serial killers. Who is? Deaths are in abundance. Major violence is self-evident. They are abhorrent creatures. Yet they can be compelling. 

Joshua Kane is a brilliant man. Unfortunately, he is a wicked man. Killing is a game he has mastered. A master of disguise he is incredibly patient and well studied in the disposition of bodies. I was reminded of several villains created by Jeffery Deaver in the Lincoln Rhymes series.

 

New York City defence lawyer, Eddie Flynn, is clever in court and confident to the point of cockiness. He is asked by Rudy Carp to be second chair on the trial team for star actor Bobby Solomon in another Trial of the Century. Solomon has been charged with killing his wife, Ariella Bloom, and the head of their security, Carl Tozer.

 

Providing Flynn with the evidence and arguments no longer involves multiple binders of documents. Flynn is provided with all the material on a laptop. A member of Solomon’s security team accompanies the computer.

 

On the morning jury selection is to begin, Carp withdraws from the case as Solomon’s movie studio has decided not to pay Carp’s fees for a trial.

 

The prosecutor is Art Pryor. He is a roving prosecutor called in by D.A.’s to conduct high profile murder cases. He is talented with an ego that fills the courtroom.

 

Flynn takes up the challenge of representing Solomon on his own with the aid of jury consultant, Arnold Novoselic.

 

Kane killed Bloom and Tozer and is determined to be one of the jurors deciding Solomon’s case. He is inventive and ruthless. How he got a summons, answered the written questions and responded to the oral questioning of the lawyers reflect his twisted talents.

 

Flynn is still building his defence as the trial gets underway with Flynn’s good friend, Harry Ford, the presiding judge. While fond of Flynn he will not favour Flynn during the trial.

 

Tossed into the plot is a feud between Flynn and New York detectives. It was a distraction which detracted from the plot.

 

The trial was gripping. The evidence is laid out briskly. Flynn challenges the State’s witnesses seeking to create doubts in the mind of the jury. While mounting attacks on the prosecution evidence Flynn faces the challenge of not having an alternative to Solomon. Claiming there was an “unknown killer” is difficult in front of a jury. “Unknown” leaves juries with the impression there is no alternative.

 

Flynn has no idea there is a rogue juror out to sway the jury in favour of conviction.

 

Through the book Kane explains his actions. He is on a mission. Cavanagh’s venture into the mind of a serial killer is effective.

 

In the background, the FBI is searching for a serial killer they have named “Dollar Bill”.

 

There is a lot of action for a legal thriller. I would have appreciated less blood.

 

Cavanagh further reminded me of Deaver with an unnecessary twist at the end of the book.

 

While the plot strained credibility, as will be further discussed in my next post, Cavanagh drives the story and the pages turn easily. There is barely a pause. I read a good portion of the trip during a pair of 3 hour flights as Sharon and I made our way home from our November cruise.

The Searcher by Tana French

(30. - 1135.) The Searcher by Tana French - Life in western Ireland is not Chicago. Former Chicago police detective Cal Hooper is glad. Worn out from the turmoil of current policing in America he is seeking a new start. An old cottage needing lots of work occupies his body. His mind is less settled. A failed marriage lingers on. 

His neighbours live modest lives connected to the land. All of them have spent their lives there. Generations of relationships tie them together. Unexpectedly to Cal, he eases into the community comfortably. They appreciate his approach.

 

After a working life of constant awareness and dealing with people problems:

 

        It’s occurred to him that he might have an

unexpected talent for letting things be.

 

Yet Cal’s sensitivity to what is going on around him remains high. His innate curiosity drives him.

 

He carefully builds a relationship with a poor 13 year old, Trey Reddy, who has a personal reason for looking up the former detective. Cal searched for missing people in Chicago. Trey’s brother, Brendan, is missing. Trey wants Cal to search for Brendan. Cal refuses. The teenager is devastated and angry.

 

Cal spent years as a detective living with the dread that “something bad” was coming his way. The feeling had gone away when he arrived at the farm. Now it is back.

 

The investigative instinct cannot be denied and Cal changes his mind.

 

While a big man who was a successful city detective, Cal is also a subtle man. When trying to disarm those who consider themselves sophisticated he is adept at “rednecking up”. He finds in Ireland, as he did in Chicago, that:

 

Acting like a hick can be all kinds of useful.            

 

Still he is a “blow-in” and some wonder if he will last the winter.

 

Yet he is misguided in thinking he can discreetly ask questions about the missing boy. His “conversations” are recognized as interrogations.

 

In a poteen filled night at the local pub he is obliquely, yet clearly, warned against continuing his inquiries.

 

Cal’s intense commitment to investigations as a detective was a major cause of the breakup of his marriage. A warning, whether indirect or blunt, is not going to deter him.

 

French’s lyrical descriptions of the west Irish countryside, its people and their speech drew me into their world. From afar the image of Ireland is of a land of soft greens and misty landscapes. French equally evokes the Ireland of mountains and rocky fields.

 

She has an amazing feel for the nuances of conversation in a rural community where relationships are honed over decades and grudges can be eternal. The “blow-in” is repeatedly told life is “grand”. He learns the Irish are not a soft people.

 

I was reminded of the memorable characters of Three Pines in the books by Louise Penny. Most of them have spent decades in the village.

 

French writes brilliantly of good intentions gone astray.

 

****

 

The Searcher is the second book I have read in the last year in which the sleuth was an American detective who, after losing a wife, moved to rural Europe to start a new life. Murder in Chianti by Camilla Trinchieri was a good book. The Searcher is a great book.

Body Counts in Fictional Gang Wars (Ian Hamilton, John Grisham and Don Winslow)

I have been thinking about how inter-gang violence is portrayed by different authors in several locales. There are a few spoilers in this post.

Ian Hamilton, in his 4 books on “Uncle” Chow Tung, explores the triads of Hong Kong from the 1960’s through to the 1990’s. Because of his courage, intelligence and modesty Uncle is chosen leader of the Fanling Triads. He leads them to great financial success while meeting challenges from larger groups of Triads.

 For Uncle violence is a tool to be used sparingly and carefully. He will not shy away from violence. When a group of Triads tries to take over the Fanling Triads he makes known they will fight, no matter the cost. They might lose but the other group would suffer heavily. The opposition backs away.

 

He is also prepared to fight personally and stands shoulder to shoulder with his fighters.

 

He equally knows the British authorities will come down hard upon gang wars if bodies are falling through Hong Kong.

 

In the conflicts over the decades I do not believe there were ever more than 2-3 killings in an Uncle conflict. There were no wars.

 

Uncle attacks the sources of income of opposing gangs rather than their members.

 

In The Boys From Biloxi by John Grisham, he delves into vice in Biloxi, Mississippi from the 1950’s through the 1970’s. While the focus of the story is upon the efforts of crusading district attorney, Jesse Rudy, to clean up “The Strip” the story includes conflicts between the owners of the clubs providing girls and gambling.

 

In Biloxi there are no groups identified as gangs. As he has done in The Whistler Grisham refers to the Dixie Mafia. There were a loose collection of thugs who more or less control vice in the Deep South.

 

Lance Malco has the greatest share of the business of vice in Biloxi. He has a trusted sub-leader in Nevin Noll who is also an enforcer and an organization but they do not call themselves a gang.

 

Other individuals own multiple clubs. There is constant friction between the existing owners and newcomers anxious to get a piece of the lucrative Biloxi vice.

 

The conflicts occasionally lead to 1-2 deaths but there are no wars. The local Sheriff, Fats Bowman, is tolerant of the vice as long as he gets his share but makes it clear bodies are bad for business.

 

What is striking is an attack upon Rudy. The consequences are predictably dire for the bad guys. Law enforcement and courts deal harshly with attacks upon the judicial system.

 

In City on Fire the Irish, Italian and Black gangs of Providence, Rhode Island are less organized than the triads of Hong Kong but more organized than the Dixie Mafia of Biloxi.

 

The gangs are defined ethnically and racially. There are established territories within the city.

A generation of peace between the Irish and the Italians is fractured by a dispute over a beautiful woman. While she is the trigger the real issue is the Italians wanting to take over the share of the Irish.

 

There is an actual war with significant killings and injuries on both sides. The calculations in Hong Kong and Biloxi minimizing deaths fail in Providence. Neither side is able to compromise to avoid escalations.

 

The leaders jostling for territory and business in Hong Kong and Biloxi recognize war is unproductive and unpredictable. In Providence personal issues interfere with the business of crime. I could never see Uncle tolerating killing over a competition for a woman. Yet one of the most famous wars in history was fought over Helen of Troy.

 

In City on Fire there were some attacks on the businesses of the opposing gangs but they were effectively pinpricks which had little economic damage.

 

As a reader I prefer low body counts. While there are thrills in a bloody war, I find more interesting maneuvering with enough menace to be convincing.

The Boys from Biloxi by John Grisham

(29. - 1134.) The Boys From Biloxi by John Grisham - Grisham returns to Mississippi but not to Ford County. Biloxi was a wide open raucous city on the Gulf coast of Mississippi through most of the 20th Century. Booze, gambling and girls were readily available. Prohibition was ignored. 

While vice was important, the primary industry was canning the abundant seafood of the Gulf. Immigrants especially from Croatia poured into Biloxi. 

Grisham examines Biloxi through two families.

From humble beginnings the Marco family (most surnames were Anglcized) prospered with bars and a grocery. In the second generation, Lance embraced gambling and prostitution and became the dominant player on “The Strip”.

The Rudy family took a different direction. Jesse Rudy, using his G.I. Bill benefits, gained a university education after WW II. After struggling to get by as a teacher he enrolls in night school and becomes a lawyer.

In the third generation Hugh Marco and Keith Rudy become good friends through playing baseball. By the early 1960’s the boys are in high school.  

While interesting the story was plodding abit until Hurricane Camille devastates Biloxi in 1969. In the aftermath, Jesse takes on insurance companies denying coverage as they claim all damage was caused by water damage through storm surge which is excluded by policies rather than wind damage which is included risk. The trials display Jesse’s tenacity and skill in the courtroom.

In the early 1970’s Jesse is elected DA and sets out to clean up the Strip. Sheriff Fats Bowman and Lance lead the opposition. Fats is willfully blind to the illegal activities along the Strip. Lance is determined to protect lucrative businesses.

As they become adults Hugh and Keith join their fathers in the family businesses.

A major fight is inevitable and the book comes alive. Two generations of Biloxi boys face off.

I was startled by the confrontation. Many thriller authors would have shied from the twist. 

There is lots of courtroom action in the rest of the plot.

I found it hard to address in a review what happens in the balance of the book because there would be major spoilers. A further post, which includes spoilers, will address Grisham handling difficult issues.

I appreciate Grisham providing portraits of the heroes and the villains. Not enough writers address the personal lives of the wicked.

The Biloxi Boys is not one of Grisham’s best books. It took over 100 pages to really engage me but the story became more and more compelling. Unlike The Judge’s List  I thought the ending of The Biloxi Boys was powerful.

****

Grisham, John – (2000) - The Brethren; (2001) - A Painted House; (2002) - The Summons; (2003) - The King of Torts; (2004) - The Last Juror; (2005) - The Runaway Jury; (2005) - The Broker; (2008) - The Appeal; (2009) - The Associate; (2011) - The Confession; (2011) - The Litigators; (2012) - "G" is for John Grisham - Part I and Part II; (2013) - The Racketeer; (2013) - Grisham's Lawyers; (2013) - Analyzing Grisham's Lawyers; (2013) - Sycamore Row; (2014) - Gray Mountain and Gray Mountain and Real Life Legal Aid; (2015) - Rogue Lawyer and Sebastian Rudd; (2016) - The Whistler; (2017) - Camino Island; (2017) - The Rooster Bar and Law Students and Integrity; (2019) - The Reckoning; (2019) - Cullen Post in The Guardians and The Guardians; (2020) - A Time for Mercy and Practising Law in Rural Mississippi and Rural Saskatchewan and Writing a Credible Trial; (2021) - Camino Winds; (2022) - The Judge's List

City on Fire by Don Winslow

(31. - 1136.) City on Fire by Don Winslow – It is 1986. The Italians and the Irish have divided Providence, Rhode Island. The respective gangs have prospered for a generation.

Danny Ryan’s father was the leader of the Irish in Dogtown until he became consumed by drink. John Murphy took over. Danny’s wife Terri, is a Murphy. Only the Murphy’s are in the backroom of the Glocca Morra Bar making decisions.

 

Pasco Ferri is in charge of the Italians on Federal Hill with Jacky Moretti serving a life sentence for murder. Jacky's sons, Peter and Pauli, are anxious for Pasco to retire.

 

Danny is restless. He was happiest as a fisherman. Loving Terri he joined the family business. He is ill-suited to being a “collector” of unpaid debts to the gang. He would be glad to move but Terri is determined to stay with her large family and friends.

 

The Irish cling to past glories and connections with the Old Country. Funds are collected for the IRA. They are content with their share of the organized crime of Providence.

 

The Italians are ambitious. The Moretti’s have maximized their returns and want more.

 

Power sharing agreements between criminal gangs are fragile. It is striking that the Providence arrangements have lasted a generation.

 

The peace between the gangs is fractured when a beautiful woman is coveted by a Moretti and a Murphy. While the heads of the families seek a negotiated resolution the younger generation is more reckless, even eager to resolve matters by violence.

 

I was struck by each side being poorly trained for war. They are violent men but their violence has been against those unable to defend themselves or in individual fights. Each side brings in a “shooter” from the outside.

 

The war is vicious. Unlike many thrillers the impact of death on both sides is explored. Not for Winslow the casual killing of the bad guys with no thoughts upon their family and friends. The Irish and the Italians grieve hard.

 

An end to the war gets harder and harder. Winslow effectively explores the machinations and negotiations of the gangs.

 

Danny’s long estranged mother appears. The bright and beautiful Madeline McKay is a striking character. I wish she had arrived earlier in the book. Her effort to regain a relationship with Danny is fraught with emotion.

 

Other personal matters, uncommon for a thriller, are important to the story. As well, Winslow addresses the history of Providence and its anticipated future. Demographics deeply affect the gangs.

 

The end is classic American thriller. The body count extends into the double digits as usual for Winslow. It need not have been as high.

 

Winslow’s pages flow by as he drives the narrative. The first in a trilogy, City on Fire, is a good book.  

 

****

 

Winslow, Don – (2005) - The Power of the Dog (Tied for 3rd best fiction of 2005); (2016) - Cartel

Murder on the Red River by Marcie R. Rendon

(27. - 1132.) Murder on the Red River by Marcie R. Rendon - Cash drives for the farmers of the Red River Valley in eastern North Dakota and western Minnesota in 1970. She operates the big machinery and big trucks of grain farming. She spends evenings at the Casbah drinking Bud two at a time while winning at the pool table. She smokes Marlboros. Some evenings she takes Jim home. She is 19.

Cash’s heritage is with the White Earth Chippewa Tribe in Minnesota. She spent much of her youth in county foster homes. The emotional scars from the foster homes are deep.

The body of an Indian man is found in a field. Cash looks over the site with Sheriff Wheaton. 

The Sheriff has looked out for her for over 10 years. She appreciates what he has done for her. There is mutual respect.

There are an unlikely team. The middle aged white man and the teenage Indian. She is a keen observer. Informally, she is an investigator. She can and does ask questions from the men against whom she plays pool. 

The language of Murder on the Red River is spare. It is as crisp as a North Dakota or Saskatchewan morning. Nary a word is wasted. Cash and Sheriff Wheaton are laconic in the tradition of rural residents of the West. I grew up on a Saskatchewan farm. My father and our neighbours, especially the men, were shy with words. Working the fields, you do not need to speak.

While very conscious of her heritage Cash, probably unknowingly, has adopted the manners of speech of the white farmers.

Cash’s involvement with the family of the deceased man, Tony Day Dodge, from the Red Lake Reservation is heartbreaking.

Life is bleak for the indigenous people of 52 years ago. All the problems outlined in my last review of Winter Counts existed five decades ago. Life was actually harsher in 1970. Casual and overt racism was far more prevalent.

I need a little relief from the darkness of indigenous life. Not every aspect of indigenous life is grim. Cash gets the opportunity to attend university.

Murder on the Red River was well written but I felt Rendon grafted a mystery onto the story of how difficult life was for indigenous people 52 years ago especially with regard to taking children from their parents. I think she would have had a better book without inserting a mystery.