If you prefer your SCI-FI in the vein of Blade Runner then you'll dig Thirteen. It's dark, gritty, and brutal, with insights of society and mankind that ring all too true. I’m not going to lie, I pre-judged this. I made an ass out of myself to myself, because I assumed... certain things. Out of honesty, I’ll admit I was expecting this to be somewhat juvenile. Sexual selection isn't considered at all. Variant Thirteens are apparently catnip to all women, who cannot resist their programming:

The character Fliss, goes on a journey throughout the book, I feel that her strength was always there, from the beginning, but her confidence in herself needed to come out. As the story progressed, we definitely saw her actions show us as a reader, that she was getting confident, but as a character she seemed to need a bit more convincing. The other characters were very stereo typical of the time, but the reader did see them actually not be who they were seen as in society. The characters interacted well, an convincing the reader was not hard, but we didn't get to see a lot of depth to them. I’ve been hearing how amazeballs Thirteen is since it was first published in 2018. Someone posts in a book forum seeking recs for mind-blowing legal thrillers… then someone inevitably replies that this is the Must Read solution. The only problem is that there are three books that lead up to it. Are they also Must Reads?

Thirteen

In the interest of making 2022 “The Year that Regina Reads What She Wants to Read When She Feels Like Reading It,” I decided I wasn’t going to force myself to get through the beginning of the series first. You can look at me as your dive-right-in guinea pig, if you will. Eddie and the killer were both compelling characters. Both intelligent and calculating, setting up chess moves to counter each other, one after another, in a battle of wits. Even the other characters from Art Pryor to Harper are well crafted and memorable. Some of the killer’s actions seemed inexplicable. The jury never really came into play in the story which was disappointing for someone who enjoys jury battles. Having said that, it does not take away the fact that this is a well-crafted story.

This is the murder trial of the century. As the trial begins a series of sinister incidents in the courtroom starts to raise doubts in Flynn's mind. The story is told in two points of view, Eddie's and Kane's. Outstanding – an intriguing premise, a tense, gripping build-up, and a spectacular climax. This guy is the real deal. Trust me.’ Let’s repeat what most people say about thrillers - or other stories, in general - and that it’s best to go in not knowing much at all. The buzzwords (courtroom drama, psychopath, serial killer etc) drew me in and that was good enough for me.

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I love Steve Cavanagh’s writing style with its fast pace and twists and turns to keep you engrossed. An author who puts the thrill into thrillers. Evan Rachel Wood plays Tracy, a normal American 13-year-old schoolgirl, reasonably content with her life until she becomes in awe of the way-cool, ultra-popular Evie (Reed), whose clothes and style make Tracy look pathetic - and she feels her inferiority like a paper-cut. So she blanks all her old friends and does whatever it takes to impress Evie and hang out with her. We are also seeing the story from the point of view of a very, very evil person. A person who seems to be so smart and who can disguise his identity so well that no one really sees him. It's hard to see why, at first, but this guy has his eyes on this actor's trial and he's going to jam up the works in a way that no one will ever suspect. He's a pro at this and no one can hurt him for a lot of reasons. Things get wild, crazy, and violent as usual and, as with all of Eddie's stories, there is no way I could figure out what is going on. Kudos, Mr. Cavanagh, as you push the limits and do so well at challenging all I thought I knew about legal thrillers.

How would it feel to kill them? What would they say with their final breaths? Would their eyes change in that moment of passing from this world? Kane felt a ripple of pleasure feed heat into his body as he explored these thoughts. Celebrity Movie Star Robert Soloman has been convicted of murdering his wife Ariella Bloom and her lover, though he swears he’s innocent. I really enjoy reading about twisted characters. Hell, I enjoy a good thriller/mystery any day, so the idea of having a cult killing boys born on the start of the new millennium, well, I don't know about you, but that almost sounds like it could be believable, and while areas of this novel did take a beating in terms of believability, I mean, come on, Adam is thirteen, he's a year older than my brother, and I seriously could not see my brother doing anything close to what Adam did, he'd more than likely be one of the twelve already well and truly dead, not to mention, who would like their children stay at a music festival, at the age of thirteen, with no supervision, that and the fact that Megans parents instantly believed everything the police said over the words of a boy they've known their whole lives, I'm sorry, but what? Yet, these are things that quite possibly only bothered me, there's were the features in the novel that I could tell this was Hoyle's début, that this was aimed at people a lot younger than I am, yet I do have to admit, the childish features and age of the protagonists, in some areas, made this book highly enjoyable. There's something really quite fantastic about children at the ages of fourteen and so on being able to do and take on what these characters did, what Adam and Megan were capable of during Thirteen were things even I know I wouldn't be able to take on, so the fact that Hoyle managed to make me not only appreciate what they were doing, but how they were doing it, was fantastic. Eddie Flynn, a former con artist turned lawyer, is put in the spotlight when he takes on the case of a Hollywood actor accused of murdering his wife and bodyguard. The evidence is damning, but Eddie believes in his client's innocence and will do what it takes to win the case.

I'm not sure that I bought the 'gender and genetics' theme. The eponymous Variant Thirteens are human men, genetically modified to be as violent and selfish as our pre-civilisation ancestors, and are consequently feared by all and tightly regulated: living on reservations or registered. The hero, Carl, is a Variant Thirteen who has bought himself a little more freedom by taking a job hunting down other variants. MY THOUGHTS: Oh boy! I have never been a fan of the legal thriller, but Th1rt3en?.....this may have just converted me.