Evening Everyone,

Hope everyone is doing well and looking forward to the Christmas period. I know a lot of people are starting the festivities early this year and I can totally understand why. I think I’m a bit of a grinch, I can’t bring myself to put decorations up before December. Nearly there though so I’ll be snuggled in front of the tree reading very soon.

Book 📖

I feel like I waited a lifetime for this book to be released and then once I got my hands on it, I couldn’t bring myself to read it because I didn’t want it to be all over. Fifty Fifty by Steve Cavanagh has probably been my most anticipated book of the year and my goodness, I was not disappointed.

Description 🔖

The Avellino sisters both place a call to 911 reporting the murder of their father. Sofia says that she has found her father’s mutilated body and she believes he has been murdered by her sister; Alexandra. Alexandra says that she has found her father’s mutilated body and she believes he has been murdered by her sister; Sofia. Both sisters make the call from their father’s house. Both sisters are arrested and go on trial together. Who killed Frank Avellino?

General Thoughts 🤔

Eddie Flynn is back and boy did I miss him. This is the fifth book in the Eddie Flynn series and in my opinion it stacks up well against the previous four. I honestly feel like I just can’t get enough of the con man turned lawyer and the books don’t get released often enough to feed my need.

I was in conflict with myself the whole time reading this book. I had a gut instinct about which sister had committed the murder but then I thought it all felt to simple. Then I thought but maybe that is the point, it’s simple and there’s some twist to be expected. I can’t find the words to describe just how tense this book is. I spent what felt like entire chapters with my breath held, trying to anticipate what was going to happen next.

Characters 👫👭👬

If you couldn’t tell already, I think I have a small obsession with Eddie Flynn. I am so invested in this character, I honestly don’t think he could do much wrong in my eyes. I love his approach to cases, I love that he is not scared to take risks in the court room and what I especially loved in this book was the vulnerability in him that was shown.

Kate is a new character introduced in this book and I took to her straight away. She’s another lawyer working on the case; fresh to her career and eager to learn. I really enjoyed seeing Kate’s confidence grow through the story and it totally added an interesting dynamic adding another lawyer into the fold.

Sofia and Alexandra are so interesting and written into the story in such a clever way. I have so many thoughts about these characters but I don’t want to put any spoilers in my review. Straight after this, I’ll be scouring the internet looking for other people’s thoughts to compare with my own.

Writing Style ✍️

I have so much admiration for Steve Cavanagh. The guy knows how to build tension and make you question every small detail in a book. I honestly didn’t know which way this book was going to go. It could have gone either way and writing in such a way that gives the reader just enough to make them believe any option is possible fascinates me.

The book was written from multiple perspectives (mostly Eddie and Kate) but it was “She” that I think I loved most. She was the sister that was the murderer, but not named. The chapters written for She were done so that it could have been either Alexandra or Sofia and trust me, I tried to examine every little detail to try and work out which it was; to no avail.

Conclusion & Scoring 🏅

I can’t write enough positive things about this book. I was reading at every opportunity I could get between meetings and it just wasn’t fast enough for me. It’s clever and truly edge of your seat reading. If you haven’t read any of the Eddie Flynn series, you could definitely read this as a standalone and not miss a beat. I’m so happy I read it but devastated that it’s all over. I’ll just have to sit pretty until 2021 for more Steve Cavanagh.

😍😍😍😍😍