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David Cavanaugh #6
The 3rd Victim: A David Cavanaugh Novel 6
A blood-soaked nursery. A missing baby. A traumatised mother.When David Cavanaugh hears of this heinous crime, he knows immediately he doesn't want to touch it. The mother's guilt appears obvious, and David and his colleagues expect to be bystanders only to Detective Joe Mannix's disturbing investigation.So when David is corralled on to the case against his will and appointed Sienna Walker's attorney, he faces the prospect of taking on a challenge he has always refused – defending someone who is guilty.But there is more to Sienna's story than meets the eye – and David soon realises that she may not just be innocent of killing her daughter, but also the victim of a crime so vast and so clever that securing a 'not guilty' verdict will be close to impossible.And so he fights on, slowly getting nearer to the real killer and the reason baby Eliza was murdered. But what he does not know is how close danger is creeping to his own front door – and that in the end there will not be two victims – but three.
- GenresCrime
704 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2011
3 people are currently reading
68 people want to read
About the author
Sydney Bauer
13 books31 followersSydney Bauer (Kimberly Scott) is the author of the crime series featuring Boston based criminal attorney David Cavanagh. Her debut novel Undertow, also the first novel in the series, was published in 2006 and won the Sisters in Crime Davitt Award for the best crime novel by an Australian Woman.
Sydney's background is in journalism and television. While studying for a Communications degree in the 1980s she worked as a copy girl at a major Australian newspaper and then secured a cadetship that led to a position as a crime, legal and courts reporter. She eventually moved on to become a features editor for an young women's magazine before finally changing direction completely and moving to television.
Sydney's background is in journalism and television. While studying for a Communications degree in the 1980s she worked as a copy girl at a major Australian newspaper and then secured a cadetship that led to a position as a crime, legal and courts reporter. She eventually moved on to become a features editor for an young women's magazine before finally changing direction completely and moving to television.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 21, 2018
Beautiful! Great writing. More please....
August 2, 2013
Sydney Bauer’s writing is like sitting down to a full roast dinner; appetizing to begin with and gets better the longer you sit to enjoy. Her latest novel is anything but superficial fluff, delving into the backwaters of IVF (in-vitro fertilization) and the murder of an infant. While many authors could sew up a short book on this and create high drama, but never really get to the root of things, Bauer makes a point of looking at the case from all angles: the forensics, the back stories of key characters, the mother’s perspective and the trial itself. The reader is treated to this thorough understanding without too much drivel. That being said, it is deep and does take a modicum of concentration, James Patterson beach chair fans need not apply. The murder shakes the reader to the core, a slain child in her crib, and that only begins the emotional rollercoaster that leads to layers of the story peeling away to leave the bare truth, raw with its own emotion, at the centre. It is not pretty and surely not for the weak. But, it’s Bauer at her finest. With little time for character personal growth (said grother comes in the context of the case at hand) and much time for witness interviews, an evil back story, and the root of the murder, Bauer puts forth a classic thriller with all the gusto the reader expects. Beware, by the end the floor opens from under you and leaves your jaw slack!
Bauer, a non-lawyer, does a tremendous job of writing a book that is easily read, yet has more to offer than a superficial story. She defies the "write what you know" mantra by setting her novels in Boston and that only adds to her talent. Easily transposed to an Australian setting, Bauer could have kept the niche closer to home, but might (and I speculate only, here) want to cast a net to engage a North American audience by setting things in a legal setting with which they are familiar. A potential chink in the armour, worth noting, if only to show I am paying attention: the lexicon used in America differs in certain regards to that used in Australia or even the UK. In North America (for I can paint Canada in this portrait as well), one rarely says that "someone rang" or that there was a "queue" at the store. A "grocer’s" is not the lexicon for where one purchases food items and a surgery is a procedure, not where a doctor practices. I say this not to criticize, but to add to the ‘truthfulness’ of the narration or dialogue. Hell, New Englanders have their own language at times.
Kudos seems like such an understatement for this, Madam Bauer. You amaze and stun the reader with such wonderful pieces of fiction, yet keep them from being too dry or verbose.
Bauer, a non-lawyer, does a tremendous job of writing a book that is easily read, yet has more to offer than a superficial story. She defies the "write what you know" mantra by setting her novels in Boston and that only adds to her talent. Easily transposed to an Australian setting, Bauer could have kept the niche closer to home, but might (and I speculate only, here) want to cast a net to engage a North American audience by setting things in a legal setting with which they are familiar. A potential chink in the armour, worth noting, if only to show I am paying attention: the lexicon used in America differs in certain regards to that used in Australia or even the UK. In North America (for I can paint Canada in this portrait as well), one rarely says that "someone rang" or that there was a "queue" at the store. A "grocer’s" is not the lexicon for where one purchases food items and a surgery is a procedure, not where a doctor practices. I say this not to criticize, but to add to the ‘truthfulness’ of the narration or dialogue. Hell, New Englanders have their own language at times.
Kudos seems like such an understatement for this, Madam Bauer. You amaze and stun the reader with such wonderful pieces of fiction, yet keep them from being too dry or verbose.
March 22, 2012
ok. I like the D.C. novels. They have a huge plot with twists and turns at every corner. Bauer builds his characters well and they are all unique in their way. One wants to hate the "bad guys" and love and protect the "good people". I only gave three stars to this one because the twists at the end were just too unbelievable and some were very hard to follow. There were also several factual errors in the book which were easy to pick up and sometimes the choice of words felt like it had been for grandness and wordy effect rather than the right word for that sentence.
August 16, 2012
This is quite a long read and it kept me engaged right up until the last chapter where it seemed to lose the plot, seemingly to finish before the page count ran out. It was somewhat believable throughout, but the end it wasn't. I didn't finish it as the last chapter was rushed, confusing & outrageous.
February 5, 2024
3.5* ...almost 600 pages; far too long!
Two-thirds was quite realistic and readable, ensuring enough suspense but the last third, post-court room, totally ruined it for the plot and for this reader. Ironically, it lost momentum in its Hollywood movie theatrics from the airport drama onwards. As if, suddenly, another author was writing; I all but gave up.
Initially the plot, with its insidious murder of a baby girl in her cot, propels you forward through short scenes and chapters, various characters, their relationships and interactions with clues to the ‘baby-designing’ puzzle, as well as the murder. Hence sub-plots are on the go!
The baby’s murder was a catalyst that gets any reader in…an unspeakable crime. The room, like CSI, with blood everywhere, is a gripping read but followed by the baby’s-body-in-the-pipe scene, it serves to extract further emotion and horror. Is this a terrorist or psychopath at work we ask? We read on through a myriad of characters and leads…but it’s murky waters indeed.
We are introduced to the characters; the grieving mother, a recent widower, her new lawyer, our protagonist, his wife, also an assistant lawyer in the small firm where they work together, their little baby daughter and their babysitter. We meet a doctor who is, most conveniently, the lawyer's sister, and we learn that she has issues with keeping boyfriends. But she happens to be in the right place at the right time...a lot, we later discover. Coincidences become too far-fetched yet some personable stories make it more relatable.
However, our lawyer-protagonist has other friends, more lawyers, police and journalists who, of course, are in-the-know, re resources and contacts, thus providing him with much needed back-up, information and support along the way. This network is the scaffolding for the plot. Also, there is the faithful cafe-owner-come-babysitter who seems to be aware of confidential information being discussed we assume?! Is he trustworthy? There are, after-all, several get-togethers in his cafe .
Indeed there is the protgonist-lawyer’s nemesis throughout the main plot, who happened to flirt with his lawyer-wife earlier on at some fancy black-tie function (the same night of the murder). This up’s the lawyer’s suspicion of course, and ours too, as he becomes the supposed antagonist...he’s an upstart, pain-in-the-neck CEO executive as well….a high-and-mighty type....with dubious connections.
His friend, who rather coincidentally, was the doctor of the murdered baby’s, mother. And on top of that, both are ‘friends’ of hers!? and were present, all over her, the evening of the murder, and later. That is enough to be highly suspicious. And it certainly provides a motive of sorts and keeps the suspense alive. We read on with intrigue.
We soon learn that this doctor, works in an-upmarket suburb and only has very wealthy clients but also happens to see very poor girls. Eventually it is confirmed that he is a gynaecologist-come-baby-designer. His new receptionist, the nail-painting-at-work-girl-Friday, gives much away. Her character adds humour to amuse us...it was needed. She replaces the old spinster who, we learn, in the opening pages, flew the surgery to a far away, rather isolated spot in the UK.
This former receptionist seems to be with a stranger, an older man...or is she seeking someone out for a specific reason? Who is he? We have to wait. What is the piece we aren’t seeing in this confusing puzzle? Lots of pieces aren't quite fitting but there's something else which will, no doubt, be sprung in a twist later, the reader sumises. This character definitely will reappear back in America...but is she a positive or a negative...is she part of the gyny’s million-dollar business or escaping from it? And why?
Lot’s of to’ing and fro’ing re plot, characters, behaviour and motives gets you in but seems to dip and dive and just hang you there at times…waiting for it to be wrapped up…expecting a torrid announcement or finale in the courtroom trial. I was awaiting the dead husband to resurface!
There's a chase by the lawyer’s policeman friend, to find out more about this deceased husband’s supposed car accident, some months earlier; it appeared that he was, in fact, possibly alive and had faked his own death. That the brother of the truck driver who the husband hit, drove it that night but is nowhere to be found, adds to the suspense and complexity. He knows something and is being hounded by someone it is assumed and confirmed later. They find him in the nick-of-time to add further proof near the end, all coincidentally, in parallel to other unfolding events.
Back to the lawyer’s sister, the doctor. She conveniently has a good friend, a medical-pathologist-researcher-type, a male, who later becomes a coffee companion, as he comes to her lawyer-brother’s rescue…looking into the blood-type and DNA of the murdered baby. It takes a few days of course, adding to the suspense and outcome, but the two medico’s race to the courtroom at the end of its scene, just in time as the accused mother collapses.
The riveting news on the DNA/father of the dead baby is revealed by the medico…it's the high-and-mighty antagonist would you believe? It turns the plot in an entirely new direction and this is what ruined it; a more realistic and believable outcome was needed. It just turned into the ridiculous!
Thus the engrossing court scenes ended as abruptly as the accused falling down, worn out from the lengthy days and emotional drain...and the reader is feeling drained too. We feel sympathy for her but she’s hiding something; is it the DNA that we find out about afterwards? Did she know?
But the twists and turns in the courtroom really fed the plot aptly, especially with the Prosecutor, a character who grates on many people in the legal, police and journalistic world. The lawyer, our protagonist, and this Prosecutor, are verbally out-doing each other with the Judge trying hard to control them. When the lawyer tells him to "fuck off" up at the Judge's desk, we know this is becoming a personal battle too...it's entertaining. That tension gets the chop too by the author. Pity.
Thus when the court scenes suddenly cease, we don’t see the Judge again nor hear much of the Prosecutor except when he accepts that the case is thrown out at the end, and the Jury out to pasture.
That it happened when the DNA evidence came through via the sister’s medico-friend, added more weight to the relationship between the accused and the high-and-mighty-supposed antagonist, a friend of the baby-designer gyny, a bad character indeed. The pair, we assume, are bad apples together at work.
This bad doc is acutely aware that his time is running out…as is the plot…and my patience…but there’s a final baby about to be born via a young girl, a surrogate, and things are pretty tense for the doctor. Why is this baby so crucial?
We find out much information from his ditzy-but-important-character, the receptionist, who was befriended by the handsome lawyer, his wife and policeman friend earlier. They didn’t have to encourage her much; she dreamed of a life in assisting with legal mysteries and solving problems.
And she really liked the poor accused mother, particularly as the gyny-doctor came out of his room and yelled at her…that just did it! She opens secret files, sends emails, text messages etc and watches his moves like a hawk thereafter…without her, the plot would not get far.
The timing now is explicit and coincidental…all erupts when the courtroom scene ends but also because the lawyer’s sister, the doctor, was about to run out of the Hospital Emergency door (not a side staff door) with the DNA news but, alas, notices her brother’s babysitter being wheeled in, all-bloodied and gashed.
Sis immediately goes to his place en-route to court and of course her baby niece is missing. The 3rd victim we assume. Kidnapped. It’s a race against time and the plot has to wind up…but it gets out of hand. Thrills and spills but oh, so over-the-top!
She tells her brother about his missing daughter, and assuming that it’s the high-and-mighty suspect, he and lawyer-wife, race with their policemen friends and join in the chase at the airport. Because there was to be a ‘hand-over’ of a new baby to a wealthy couple…who, wouldn’t you know, were at the black-tie dinner in the opening pages sitting next to our protagonist. They think their daughter will be on a flight out also.
Angst and distress as a parent, for the lawyer and his wife, is felt like fire-works as they join the hot pursuit at the airport. It's an action scene for sure...we've viewed many on TV dramas. Police eventually find the couple and it’s the lawyer’s baby girl but he doesn’t know. He's taken off.
He runs onwards with a gun that he's grabbed from his police mate’s side holster, and pursues the high-and-mighty suspect who he believes has his baby. At the baggage corral there is a stand-off, police everywhere as he’s about to shoot…then bang! Confusion…what, who, where?
Another man, standing by the exit is shot, as is the lawyer in the shoulder so he drops his borrowed gun in pain. He’s alive and shocked…as the high-and-mighty suspect is coming towards him speaking…what?
Both reader and lawyer and police are stunned. It culminates that this supposed suspect, was not a baddie but part of a team, the FBI. Other FBI agents are all around the place.
Thus this ‘other’ man they’ve just shot happens to be the ‘dead’ husband…yes, I knew it, he’s most definitely alive, and he was their target all along, as well as the gyny-doctor. The accused was married to a baddie?
All is explained when they all sit in confidence in the FBI rooms, some days later, as our lawyer-protagonist nurses that wounded shoulder, caused by the FBI…and puts the final pieces of the puzzle together…deemed an International Situation far above just the death of the baby, which he’d realised anyway…but not just the specifics.
The former receptionist who was lingering in the UK, has returned...she's an FBI heavy too. We soon discover she had been coveting the accused’s father, an English Lord, who not only lives an isolated existence but holds the gene pool as evidence.
It became rather silly, an unbelievable action movie-style. I felt the courtroom was by far the climatic aspect of the plot which gave more strength to the characters and depth to the plot. From then on it fell away, was flawed and superficial. For an Aussie writer this was disappointing indeed…too Americanised as my bookclub agreed.
And how did the once-accused mother, a skillful FBI agent, get caught up in it with obvious expertise? Seems it was love at first then suspicion that he wanted her genes…so the now-dead-again-husband, used her for his business empire with the gyny-doctor; partners-in-crime having fled the UK to set up business in the US.
They were doing well, very well, as up-market criminals, designing expensive, intelligently gifted babies from a select gene pool, and including his wife and her unique gene pool via her father. That the designer-baby doctor was the culprit, having murdered, in his eyes, not a human being, but ‘evidence’ because it could be tracked to their business, is surely one of the worst psychopathic cases of inhumanity known?
He creates, and feels like God, but he also taketh away, like the Devil. He is hell incarnated with the greed and identity of Judas, the nemesis of Jesus. A sickening thought that this frightening process could occur.
Ostensibly, this plot’s twists are entertaining and though over-the-top at the end specifically, it has a happier ending when we learn that another baby is born, a boy. But oh gosh, it turns out that this boy is, in fact, the biological child of the mother, who was formerly accused of murdering her 2 month old daughter. How?
It seems she had twins! Realised after an FBI arranged scan and thus had a midwife, not the doctor, FBI arranged no doubt. Now this is when it gets confusing...I could be wrong...I don't have the book to refer to but she must have been impregnated at the same time as conceiving naturally. But the doc had said she was unable to... he was a liar in order to get what he wanted.
But genius technology and this clever-but-sadistic-antagonist doctor had plans to create more babies from her genepool, I assume, as more than one of her eggs was frozen and implanted…not long after she herself was impregnated, but of course she could become pregnant…and did, resulting in the baby girl.
Indeed this baby boy turns out to be the doctor’s own child but it still does not worry her or her partner, the prior-suspect-but-really-FBI-agent. He had become emotionally entangled with her whilst working on the case and her suspicions raised about her husband.
Thereby they naturally produced their own baby girl; the DNA news would have been devastating as both were unaware. That she was tragically murdered, mistakenly thought to be the doctor’s baby, adds to the weight of the tragic circumstances. Lies and deceit caused so much pain.
Hence, a new baby signals a new life, a new start and in the finale scene, a year later, all characters are together at the lawyer’s new house in the suburbs, even our investigative-receptionist who helped with many a lead. This tops off a successful investigation, where friends and former foes are united with children around, the focus of the future.
The plot developed to a far-fetched and even more confusing ending from the airport chase onwards, but it solved the identity of many unknowns. Now, at a BBQ, the happy cast, minus the Prosecutor of course, confirms and resolves the who’s who, what’s what and where they were going and with whom….children in tow.
The humanitarian theme in this book is how babies are produced and where does the line get murky? And that’s an ethical issue as well, in our contemporary world. But the overriding issue when a gene pool is accessed and eggs are manipulated to create designer babies, is but one more level of going into an inhumane zone. Like Hitler’s vision of a blonde army of children, a pure race, this book takes that a step further by trading and selling etc. and it’s a good discussion starter if anything. Human Rights specifically.
Thus, when babies are sold for money to people who can afford luxury ‘items’ it becomes a criminal offence. There are plenty of surrogate stories where money is exchanged but it is a frightening thought, with this intelligent-gene pool DNA being used, and no doubt the author has given this topic, with its criminal intent, a contemporary prominence. For that it gains points.
Overall, the 3rd victim hits the mark but falls short in the end despite it being well written and researched. The reader was involved with the intrigue and mystery of this complex crime which was far more than that of a murdered baby. 3.5*
Two-thirds was quite realistic and readable, ensuring enough suspense but the last third, post-court room, totally ruined it for the plot and for this reader. Ironically, it lost momentum in its Hollywood movie theatrics from the airport drama onwards. As if, suddenly, another author was writing; I all but gave up.
Initially the plot, with its insidious murder of a baby girl in her cot, propels you forward through short scenes and chapters, various characters, their relationships and interactions with clues to the ‘baby-designing’ puzzle, as well as the murder. Hence sub-plots are on the go!
The baby’s murder was a catalyst that gets any reader in…an unspeakable crime. The room, like CSI, with blood everywhere, is a gripping read but followed by the baby’s-body-in-the-pipe scene, it serves to extract further emotion and horror. Is this a terrorist or psychopath at work we ask? We read on through a myriad of characters and leads…but it’s murky waters indeed.
We are introduced to the characters; the grieving mother, a recent widower, her new lawyer, our protagonist, his wife, also an assistant lawyer in the small firm where they work together, their little baby daughter and their babysitter. We meet a doctor who is, most conveniently, the lawyer's sister, and we learn that she has issues with keeping boyfriends. But she happens to be in the right place at the right time...a lot, we later discover. Coincidences become too far-fetched yet some personable stories make it more relatable.
However, our lawyer-protagonist has other friends, more lawyers, police and journalists who, of course, are in-the-know, re resources and contacts, thus providing him with much needed back-up, information and support along the way. This network is the scaffolding for the plot. Also, there is the faithful cafe-owner-come-babysitter who seems to be aware of confidential information being discussed we assume?! Is he trustworthy? There are, after-all, several get-togethers in his cafe .
Indeed there is the protgonist-lawyer’s nemesis throughout the main plot, who happened to flirt with his lawyer-wife earlier on at some fancy black-tie function (the same night of the murder). This up’s the lawyer’s suspicion of course, and ours too, as he becomes the supposed antagonist...he’s an upstart, pain-in-the-neck CEO executive as well….a high-and-mighty type....with dubious connections.
His friend, who rather coincidentally, was the doctor of the murdered baby’s, mother. And on top of that, both are ‘friends’ of hers!? and were present, all over her, the evening of the murder, and later. That is enough to be highly suspicious. And it certainly provides a motive of sorts and keeps the suspense alive. We read on with intrigue.
We soon learn that this doctor, works in an-upmarket suburb and only has very wealthy clients but also happens to see very poor girls. Eventually it is confirmed that he is a gynaecologist-come-baby-designer. His new receptionist, the nail-painting-at-work-girl-Friday, gives much away. Her character adds humour to amuse us...it was needed. She replaces the old spinster who, we learn, in the opening pages, flew the surgery to a far away, rather isolated spot in the UK.
This former receptionist seems to be with a stranger, an older man...or is she seeking someone out for a specific reason? Who is he? We have to wait. What is the piece we aren’t seeing in this confusing puzzle? Lots of pieces aren't quite fitting but there's something else which will, no doubt, be sprung in a twist later, the reader sumises. This character definitely will reappear back in America...but is she a positive or a negative...is she part of the gyny’s million-dollar business or escaping from it? And why?
Lot’s of to’ing and fro’ing re plot, characters, behaviour and motives gets you in but seems to dip and dive and just hang you there at times…waiting for it to be wrapped up…expecting a torrid announcement or finale in the courtroom trial. I was awaiting the dead husband to resurface!
There's a chase by the lawyer’s policeman friend, to find out more about this deceased husband’s supposed car accident, some months earlier; it appeared that he was, in fact, possibly alive and had faked his own death. That the brother of the truck driver who the husband hit, drove it that night but is nowhere to be found, adds to the suspense and complexity. He knows something and is being hounded by someone it is assumed and confirmed later. They find him in the nick-of-time to add further proof near the end, all coincidentally, in parallel to other unfolding events.
Back to the lawyer’s sister, the doctor. She conveniently has a good friend, a medical-pathologist-researcher-type, a male, who later becomes a coffee companion, as he comes to her lawyer-brother’s rescue…looking into the blood-type and DNA of the murdered baby. It takes a few days of course, adding to the suspense and outcome, but the two medico’s race to the courtroom at the end of its scene, just in time as the accused mother collapses.
The riveting news on the DNA/father of the dead baby is revealed by the medico…it's the high-and-mighty antagonist would you believe? It turns the plot in an entirely new direction and this is what ruined it; a more realistic and believable outcome was needed. It just turned into the ridiculous!
Thus the engrossing court scenes ended as abruptly as the accused falling down, worn out from the lengthy days and emotional drain...and the reader is feeling drained too. We feel sympathy for her but she’s hiding something; is it the DNA that we find out about afterwards? Did she know?
But the twists and turns in the courtroom really fed the plot aptly, especially with the Prosecutor, a character who grates on many people in the legal, police and journalistic world. The lawyer, our protagonist, and this Prosecutor, are verbally out-doing each other with the Judge trying hard to control them. When the lawyer tells him to "fuck off" up at the Judge's desk, we know this is becoming a personal battle too...it's entertaining. That tension gets the chop too by the author. Pity.
Thus when the court scenes suddenly cease, we don’t see the Judge again nor hear much of the Prosecutor except when he accepts that the case is thrown out at the end, and the Jury out to pasture.
That it happened when the DNA evidence came through via the sister’s medico-friend, added more weight to the relationship between the accused and the high-and-mighty-supposed antagonist, a friend of the baby-designer gyny, a bad character indeed. The pair, we assume, are bad apples together at work.
This bad doc is acutely aware that his time is running out…as is the plot…and my patience…but there’s a final baby about to be born via a young girl, a surrogate, and things are pretty tense for the doctor. Why is this baby so crucial?
We find out much information from his ditzy-but-important-character, the receptionist, who was befriended by the handsome lawyer, his wife and policeman friend earlier. They didn’t have to encourage her much; she dreamed of a life in assisting with legal mysteries and solving problems.
And she really liked the poor accused mother, particularly as the gyny-doctor came out of his room and yelled at her…that just did it! She opens secret files, sends emails, text messages etc and watches his moves like a hawk thereafter…without her, the plot would not get far.
The timing now is explicit and coincidental…all erupts when the courtroom scene ends but also because the lawyer’s sister, the doctor, was about to run out of the Hospital Emergency door (not a side staff door) with the DNA news but, alas, notices her brother’s babysitter being wheeled in, all-bloodied and gashed.
Sis immediately goes to his place en-route to court and of course her baby niece is missing. The 3rd victim we assume. Kidnapped. It’s a race against time and the plot has to wind up…but it gets out of hand. Thrills and spills but oh, so over-the-top!
She tells her brother about his missing daughter, and assuming that it’s the high-and-mighty suspect, he and lawyer-wife, race with their policemen friends and join in the chase at the airport. Because there was to be a ‘hand-over’ of a new baby to a wealthy couple…who, wouldn’t you know, were at the black-tie dinner in the opening pages sitting next to our protagonist. They think their daughter will be on a flight out also.
Angst and distress as a parent, for the lawyer and his wife, is felt like fire-works as they join the hot pursuit at the airport. It's an action scene for sure...we've viewed many on TV dramas. Police eventually find the couple and it’s the lawyer’s baby girl but he doesn’t know. He's taken off.
He runs onwards with a gun that he's grabbed from his police mate’s side holster, and pursues the high-and-mighty suspect who he believes has his baby. At the baggage corral there is a stand-off, police everywhere as he’s about to shoot…then bang! Confusion…what, who, where?
Another man, standing by the exit is shot, as is the lawyer in the shoulder so he drops his borrowed gun in pain. He’s alive and shocked…as the high-and-mighty suspect is coming towards him speaking…what?
Both reader and lawyer and police are stunned. It culminates that this supposed suspect, was not a baddie but part of a team, the FBI. Other FBI agents are all around the place.
Thus this ‘other’ man they’ve just shot happens to be the ‘dead’ husband…yes, I knew it, he’s most definitely alive, and he was their target all along, as well as the gyny-doctor. The accused was married to a baddie?
All is explained when they all sit in confidence in the FBI rooms, some days later, as our lawyer-protagonist nurses that wounded shoulder, caused by the FBI…and puts the final pieces of the puzzle together…deemed an International Situation far above just the death of the baby, which he’d realised anyway…but not just the specifics.
The former receptionist who was lingering in the UK, has returned...she's an FBI heavy too. We soon discover she had been coveting the accused’s father, an English Lord, who not only lives an isolated existence but holds the gene pool as evidence.
It became rather silly, an unbelievable action movie-style. I felt the courtroom was by far the climatic aspect of the plot which gave more strength to the characters and depth to the plot. From then on it fell away, was flawed and superficial. For an Aussie writer this was disappointing indeed…too Americanised as my bookclub agreed.
And how did the once-accused mother, a skillful FBI agent, get caught up in it with obvious expertise? Seems it was love at first then suspicion that he wanted her genes…so the now-dead-again-husband, used her for his business empire with the gyny-doctor; partners-in-crime having fled the UK to set up business in the US.
They were doing well, very well, as up-market criminals, designing expensive, intelligently gifted babies from a select gene pool, and including his wife and her unique gene pool via her father. That the designer-baby doctor was the culprit, having murdered, in his eyes, not a human being, but ‘evidence’ because it could be tracked to their business, is surely one of the worst psychopathic cases of inhumanity known?
He creates, and feels like God, but he also taketh away, like the Devil. He is hell incarnated with the greed and identity of Judas, the nemesis of Jesus. A sickening thought that this frightening process could occur.
Ostensibly, this plot’s twists are entertaining and though over-the-top at the end specifically, it has a happier ending when we learn that another baby is born, a boy. But oh gosh, it turns out that this boy is, in fact, the biological child of the mother, who was formerly accused of murdering her 2 month old daughter. How?
It seems she had twins! Realised after an FBI arranged scan and thus had a midwife, not the doctor, FBI arranged no doubt. Now this is when it gets confusing...I could be wrong...I don't have the book to refer to but she must have been impregnated at the same time as conceiving naturally. But the doc had said she was unable to... he was a liar in order to get what he wanted.
But genius technology and this clever-but-sadistic-antagonist doctor had plans to create more babies from her genepool, I assume, as more than one of her eggs was frozen and implanted…not long after she herself was impregnated, but of course she could become pregnant…and did, resulting in the baby girl.
Indeed this baby boy turns out to be the doctor’s own child but it still does not worry her or her partner, the prior-suspect-but-really-FBI-agent. He had become emotionally entangled with her whilst working on the case and her suspicions raised about her husband.
Thereby they naturally produced their own baby girl; the DNA news would have been devastating as both were unaware. That she was tragically murdered, mistakenly thought to be the doctor’s baby, adds to the weight of the tragic circumstances. Lies and deceit caused so much pain.
Hence, a new baby signals a new life, a new start and in the finale scene, a year later, all characters are together at the lawyer’s new house in the suburbs, even our investigative-receptionist who helped with many a lead. This tops off a successful investigation, where friends and former foes are united with children around, the focus of the future.
The plot developed to a far-fetched and even more confusing ending from the airport chase onwards, but it solved the identity of many unknowns. Now, at a BBQ, the happy cast, minus the Prosecutor of course, confirms and resolves the who’s who, what’s what and where they were going and with whom….children in tow.
The humanitarian theme in this book is how babies are produced and where does the line get murky? And that’s an ethical issue as well, in our contemporary world. But the overriding issue when a gene pool is accessed and eggs are manipulated to create designer babies, is but one more level of going into an inhumane zone. Like Hitler’s vision of a blonde army of children, a pure race, this book takes that a step further by trading and selling etc. and it’s a good discussion starter if anything. Human Rights specifically.
Thus, when babies are sold for money to people who can afford luxury ‘items’ it becomes a criminal offence. There are plenty of surrogate stories where money is exchanged but it is a frightening thought, with this intelligent-gene pool DNA being used, and no doubt the author has given this topic, with its criminal intent, a contemporary prominence. For that it gains points.
Overall, the 3rd victim hits the mark but falls short in the end despite it being well written and researched. The reader was involved with the intrigue and mystery of this complex crime which was far more than that of a murdered baby. 3.5*
December 19, 2024
Maybe 4, maybe 3.5 due to the ending. I enjoyed this book, although it was quite a dark subject matter at first. I'm not usually a huge fan of crime TV shows and this felt like a script, but it had me intrigued from the start. The author introduced new people and evidence at a flow that was simple enough to keep up with.
I wish that it had ended in the courtroom with Dr Cole and Joe's final evidences. I kept up with the twists for the whole book until the last post courtroom reveal and for me that was too much. Almost like an "and then she woke up and it was all a dream" kind of reveal.
I wish that it had ended in the courtroom with Dr Cole and Joe's final evidences. I kept up with the twists for the whole book until the last post courtroom reveal and for me that was too much. Almost like an "and then she woke up and it was all a dream" kind of reveal.
March 7, 2019
An intriguing legal thriller with many twists and turns.
October 3, 2011
Australian author Sydney Bauer has been labelled the 'new Grisham' and this is her 6th legal thriller featuring Boston-based criminal attorney, David Cavanaugh.
David Cavanaugh has a reputation for only representing clients he believes to be innocent, so when he gets coerced into taking the case of Sienna Walker against his will, he initially believes that he is facing a new challenge in his legal career. But there is more to Sienna Walker than meets the eye.
Sienna is accused of murdering her infant child. All the evidence is against her and the mother's guilt appears incriminating, beyond any reasonable doubt. But David soon learns that Sienna has been set-up and the murder of the young child is just the thin edge of a very dark and sinister wedge.
Knowing his client is innocent and proving it are two very separate issues for David Cavanaugh, particularly against a clever and ambitious DA, who seems to care more for his career, than discovering the truth. And so the courtroom battle begins in the quest to reveal the true chilling motives behind the crime.
At 520 pages and with a very extensive plot, and a cast of many, this book is not for the faint-hearted. At times concentration was required to keep track of the main players and plot developments, but for the most part, I found the pace of the novel to be fine. Sure, there was the occasional legal-speak or discussions of DNA analysis that became a tad laborious, however another twist in the plot, quickly piqued my interest, the suspense built, and the pages kept turning towards the surprising solution.
And the ending itself was completely unexpected. I certainly didn't see it coming. Whether it was plausible or provided a fitting solution to a very cleverly written and absorbing plot is debatable. In my opinion, once the initial surprise had subsided, I found it a little disappointing and perhaps not up to the standard of the rest of the book.
For the most part a brilliantly written legal thriller. A multilayered, intricate and extensive plot that twists and turns all the way to a surprising, albeit incongruous ending.
David Cavanaugh has a reputation for only representing clients he believes to be innocent, so when he gets coerced into taking the case of Sienna Walker against his will, he initially believes that he is facing a new challenge in his legal career. But there is more to Sienna Walker than meets the eye.
Sienna is accused of murdering her infant child. All the evidence is against her and the mother's guilt appears incriminating, beyond any reasonable doubt. But David soon learns that Sienna has been set-up and the murder of the young child is just the thin edge of a very dark and sinister wedge.
Knowing his client is innocent and proving it are two very separate issues for David Cavanaugh, particularly against a clever and ambitious DA, who seems to care more for his career, than discovering the truth. And so the courtroom battle begins in the quest to reveal the true chilling motives behind the crime.
At 520 pages and with a very extensive plot, and a cast of many, this book is not for the faint-hearted. At times concentration was required to keep track of the main players and plot developments, but for the most part, I found the pace of the novel to be fine. Sure, there was the occasional legal-speak or discussions of DNA analysis that became a tad laborious, however another twist in the plot, quickly piqued my interest, the suspense built, and the pages kept turning towards the surprising solution.
And the ending itself was completely unexpected. I certainly didn't see it coming. Whether it was plausible or provided a fitting solution to a very cleverly written and absorbing plot is debatable. In my opinion, once the initial surprise had subsided, I found it a little disappointing and perhaps not up to the standard of the rest of the book.
For the most part a brilliantly written legal thriller. A multilayered, intricate and extensive plot that twists and turns all the way to a surprising, albeit incongruous ending.
May 9, 2012
There is a millisecond, just before you open your eyes, when your lashes resist the movement. It is like they cling together for comfort, holding tight to that world where light, and all the bad things illuminated by it, remain safely out of reach.
Sienna Walker’s long, black lashes were matting at their tips, clinging to the darkness until the basic human instinct to check on her surroundings kicked in – and with it came the memory, the realisation of where she was and the gravity of the loss she had suffered…
In The 3rd Victim, award-winning novelist Sydney Bauer challenges her protagonist, Boston criminal defence attorney David Cavanaugh with a case he doesn’t want. He has always promised himself he would never defend anyone whose innocence he was not totally convinced of – which let’s face it, is a difficult ideal for any defence attorney - but when Cavanagh is corralled into defending Sienna Walker, a woman accused of murdering her own baby, he soon finds that the case is not all it seems to be. Not only is Walker quite possibly innocent and therefore herself a victim of this truly awful crime, but more lives are at risk. As the back blurb reveals, ‘in the end there will not be two victims – but three.’
In this sixth David Cavanagh legal thriller, Australian author Sydney Bauer touches on the spectres of child crime and postnatal depression. The novel excels with tight plotting, and insights into the Massachusetts legal system. If you love the courtroom thrillers of Michel Connelly and John Grisham, Bauer’s David Cavanagh series is for you. Recommended.
April 18, 2015
Didnt want to finish this book as it is currently the last in the David Cavanaugh series :-( BUT it was a good read. Lost me a little bit at the end so will definitely be getting a re read. Really connected with David,Sarah, Nora, Arthur and Joe and enjoyed reading the history between the characters. READ IT you wont be disappointed
November 15, 2015
My first Sydney Bauer novel, it won't be my last. Everything I love, a crime, court-room scenes, investigations. Just when thought I had it all wrapped up, there were twists I never saw coming. Thought the end was over-complicated, but I really identified with the main characters and look forward to reading more books by this author.
October 1, 2011
This is the first book I have written by this author - but it won't be the last. A blood soaked scene and a missing baby. It has all the ingredients of a classic courtroom thriller. The author has experience writing tv scripts for these type shows and it shows. But it is much more.
May 11, 2012
Loved this book so much!!! Read it whilst on holiday, most of it in the car on the way home, as I couldn't put it down. I thought I had the plot and villains all worked out. Boy was I wrong!!!! definitely keep your opinions until the very end. Great book
September 9, 2013
I loved this book till just about the end when the twist was too difficult to believe. Sigh..............
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