The Murder List

By: Hank Phillippi Ryan

Narrated by: Angela Dawe

Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

Now a Mary Higgins Clark Award Nominee!

Anthony Awards - Winner, 2020

The Murder List is a new standalone suspense novel in the tradition of Lisa Scottoline and B. A. Paris from award-winning author and reporter Hank Phillippi Ryan.

"An exhilarating thrill ride that keeps you turning pages...Ryan deftly delivers a denouement as shocking as it is satisfying." (Liv Constantine, best-selling author of The Last Mrs. Parrish and The Last Time I Saw You)

Law student Rachel North will tell you, without hesitation, what she knows to be true. She's smart, she’s a hard worker, she does the right thing, she’s successfully married to a faithful and devoted husband, a lion of Boston's defense bar, and her internship with the Boston DA's office is her ticket to a successful future.

Problem is she’s wrong. And in this cat-and-mouse game - the battle for justice becomes a battle for survival.

©2019 Hank Phillippi Ryan (P)2019 Macmillan Audio

Why the low ratings?

As of this writing there are three ratings. One person rated this five stars and two people have rated it one star. I’m not sure why but I’m happy to say I am giving this book a five star review.
The book begins slowly as the characters are developed. Once established the story picks up momentum about the half way point. It vacillates between past and present until the two collide. The publisher’s summary gives enough information that I don’t want to elaborate on the characters. The plot though is very interesting. This is a legal thriller not a court room drama. You’re really not sure who the murderer is until the end and then it’s a bit of a shock. The epilogue is rather weird but fitting.
Angela Dawe does a great job narrating.
I really enjoyed this book and HIGHLY RECOMMEND it.
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Ryan's best book yet

Wowie wow wow! This was a GREAT thriller. So many triangles. So many twists and turns. Nearly every chapter ended with a new shocker. I couldn't put it down.
My only question about the feasibility of this novel's premise is: Would a public prosecutor turn private detective on the cases she works on? Would she show up at the crime scene with the police or before the police? Would she write her own search warrants and interview subjects on her own in their homes? I wouldn't have thought so, but this one definitely does.
Best of all, Ryan keeps it all clean. No sex. No bad language. Lots of excitement!
Angela Dawe did a great job with all of the characters, and although the timeline flips around a bit, her narration kept me sharp to the time.

Such a disappointing listen

I really struggled to find ANYTHING redeeming about this book. Every single character is miserable and unlikeable. The three main characters, The DA, The Defense Attorney and The law student were just horrible people and promulgates the stereotype that lawyers are bad people. Without giving away the story, the ending was totally unbelievable. It is revealed as an epilogue and literally contradicts EVERYTHING we know from the rest of the book. I couldn't be more disappointed in a novel

Writing and narration - good, storyline not for me

I'm conflicted about this audiobook. The narration was good and the technical aspects of the writing were good, but I didn't connect with any of the characters, in fact I didn't like them. And, I really didn't like the ending. The author created subplots that I thought were pertinent to the story and they were left dangling. I think, in retrospect, they were used just to throw the reader off-kilter.

Exercise in manipulation

The main characters in this story are constantly pulling the reader in opposing directions. They guide you and confuse you. It’s a rollercoaster who’s end comes slamming you out of your seat. Enjoy the ride!

Good storyline

Never guessed the ending until miway through part4. Wondered early on why she wasn't focused on as a suspect. Reasonable to do so early on.

Strange law interpretation.

Too unreal to be believed but not a bad storyline. Narrator was good. Would recommend.

Waste of time

This is awful, utter drivel, ridiculous nonsense. People do not behave this way. The story is so disjointed, moving back and forth in time, and moving between different cases. It is very confusing and feels gimmicky and unnecessary. The author really does the reader a disservice. There is just too much going on, it's a mess. I also did not care for the narration. Some of the female voices were very grating.

padded with redundant self centered obsession

it is impossible to care about what happens to these self centered characters after reading their repetitive obsessive reflections and redundant manipulative thoughts. in the first 30minutes the main character tells us no less than five times that she is married to another character.

Definitely was intrigued!

There was a couple of murders going on past and present with all the same players. Characters were so perfectly developed and conveyed more of their truths and lies as the story unfolds. It’s a really captivating story! Narration was excellent and portrayed the various characters so well!