Book review: Murder most foul but innocent man named as guilty party by sociopath

Steve Cavanagh's 'Witness 8' is a  psychological thriller, a gripping page-turner with many twists and turns

Steve Cavanagh: This psychological thriller is a good place to start for new readers. Picture: Moya Nolan

• Witness 8 
• Steve Cavanagh 
• Headline, £15.99 

Fans of ex-conman turned lawyer Eddie Flynn are in for a treat in this latest novel in which the tough-talking but likeable character uses his astute wit and every trick going to ensure his client gets justice. 

If you’re new to Steve Cavanagh, then this psychological thriller is a good place to start. 

Eddie is a criminal defence attorney based in New York. He firmly believes in the innocence of John Jackson, a respected surgeon, who is married to Alison. 

With their young son, Tomas, they live in Manhattan’s affluent West 74th Street. However, Eddie and his team have their work cut out for them in this case with its many twists and turns.

The Jacksons employ a young woman called Ruby as a nanny and a maid called Althea. 

One night, on her way home from work, Ruby witnesses the murder of her employer’s neighbour, Margaret Blackmore. Ruby knew the victim and also the killer. 

She makes an anonymous call to the police and names the murderer. 

But Ruby lied about the identity of the murderer, pinning the crime on John. (This is not a spoiler; the narrative is driven by Ruby’s motivation.) 

It was an opportunistic move on Ruby’s part, all boiling down to money, which she badly needs. 

Add to that something strange about Ruby and you’re dealing with a sociopath who will stop at nothing to get what she wants.

Eddie, who knows of every scam going in New York, including the dishonesty of some cops, has a price on his head. 

But that doesn’t stop him from doing his utmost for John, including getting a bunch of newly graduated lawyers to dress down as slobs as part of a strategy to deflect from the coverage of his client at a press conference. 

The star of this gripping story is undoubtedly Ruby, an enigma. Her grandmother had guessed that she “was not built to grieve”.

Something isn’t quite right about her. She knew and liked Margaret who had confided in her. But Ruby feels nothing when this woman is shot to death. 

Margaret was considered a loose woman in the neighbourhood because of her affairs with married men. 

She told Ruby about her relationships with Brett Bale and Todd Ellis. Brett was suspected of Margaret’s death because he was already under a cloud over the death of his last wife. 

And if Todd’s wife found out he had been seeing Margaret, it would cost him at least half of his fortune. So these guys have motives.

Ruby, who can come across as all sweetness and light, is however, seen by some as the dark troubled young woman that she really is. 

One character in the novel, a sinister man known as Mr Christmas, is someone that Ruby had never seen before.

“But he knew Ruby. That is to say, he could see the true Ruby. This man, with his pale eyes, could see a black soul beneath a pretty pink sweater.”

Ruby is on a mission to accumulate as much money as possible so she can place her impoverished terminally-ill mother in a nursing home. 

She and her mother used to have a good life in material terms. But Ruby’s father, a drunk and a gambler, used to beat his wife and eventually left, leaving mother and daughter with nothing but millions in debts.

Ruby wants her mother looked after so she can fulfil her own fantasy of taking off, moving from city to city, changing her identity. She appears to have voices in her head, directing her to kill certain people.

Why is Ruby so obsessed with a painting in the Jacksons’ home of a priest in red garb? It’s a crucial part of the mystery in this gripping page-turner.

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