The Murder Rule

A Novel

By: Dervla McTiernan

Narrated by: Kate Orsini, Sophie Amoss, Michael Crouch

Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's Summary

For fans of the compulsive psychological suspense of Ruth Ware and Tana French, a mother-daughter story—one running from a horrible truth, and the other fighting to reveal it—that twists and turns in shocking ways, from the internationally best-selling author of The Scholar and The Ruin.

First Rule: Make them like you.

Second Rule: Make them need you.

Third Rule: Make them pay.

They think I’m a young idealistic law student, that I’m passionate about reforming a corrupt and brutal system.

They think I’m working hard to impress them.

They think I’m here to save an innocent man on death row. 

They're wrong. I’m going to bury him.

©2022 Dervla McTiernan (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

Disappointed

I've been a huge fan of the author's previous books. This one doesn't compare . The main characters are not likeable. The writer is capable of much better. This book has the feel of something put together for a multi part cable show. I thought the performances were uninspired - maybe because the characters didn't seem real. Frankly, the plot was preposterous.

A disappointing departure from Cormac Reilly

I have really enjoyed Dervla McTiernan’s Cormac Reilly series and was intrigued when I saw this new standalone novel. It has a somewhat unique plot that initially drew me in, but this book ultimately fell flat for me. I question the amount of research the author did into how legal clinics at law schools actually work. Law students don’t have this much leeway and I found the plot highly unrealistic for that reason. Several plot threads were (in my view) not adequately resolved and the ending felt rushed. I didn’t have a clear understanding of why certain characters did what they did. The choice of narrators was also weak, although I did somewhat enjoy the Hannah performance. All in all, a disappointment! I hope to see Cormac Reilly back in action soon.

Loved until ending

I’ve read all of her books and pre-ordered this one with much anticipation. It did not disappoint for most of the book. And then the ending… it was a complete eye-roll mess. One of the most implausible wrap-ups to what was otherwise a fun, twisty story that I could imagine. Truly disappointing. I struggled with how many stars to give on this one.

Loved the Hannah narration, but disliked the choice of narrators for Sean and Laura.

What happened Dervla?? Did you have a deadline??

What a disappointment from one of my favorite authors.

Sad because with more time spent, this could have been brilliant! Truly, it was a great story line.

I don’t want to give anything away so I will only say that it is ridiculous that a law student would get where she got so easily and figure things out ahead of the experienced folks she was working with. Seriously disappointing.

A “beach read”

Story line is pretty implausible but it’s a light read and while the ending is not unexpected it’s fairly obvious how things will turn out it passed the time while walking my dog. Did not require too much attention. I expect it will end up as a NetFlix series. I enjoyed her earlier books more.

Disappointing

I have loved this author’s other works and so looked forward to this book. But I found this book very manipulative of the reader and completely unrealistic. Yes, she writes very well & I listened to the end. But, overall, I felt this was a very shallow story that had been written in hopes of a movie deal. It was quite a letdown.

She got me!

I pride myself on being able to figure out mysteries long before the end of the book, but this one fooled me. And that makes me happy.

I actually got this book on accident. I thought it was the next installment in the Cormac Reilly series. So when I listened to the first few minutes, I thought “Awe, man! Dang it.” But I was not disappointed for long. The story drew me in and had me guessing the whole way. I truly hope this might be the beginning of a new series

So good.

I would recommend this book who is a die-hard mystery novel reader. Dervla McTiernan has always written storylines that break my expectations but this one really broke the mold and had a very different cast of characters from her previous books. There wasn’t anything for me to dislike about this novel. It gave me chills and had such a well written characters in a fairly short story. It was efficient and so deliberate. Thanks McTiernan for another great read! I hope to get to read more of your work.

Entertaining

Very different from Dervla McTiernan’s other work. I was quite entertained. The final sequence jumped the shark a bit for me, but it was still worth a listen.

We are no longer in Ireland

I have read all of Dervla McTiernan's book and realized that this was not in the Cormac Reilly series but it might as well be written by someone else! This book seems like a try-out for Reese Witherspoon's book club. Horrible American girl "protagonist" complete with whiny girlhood entries from her mother's diaries. It was almost unreadable as I don't like inhabiting the mind of unsympathetic characters. That said, the plot was complex and I stuck it out to find out what happened.
I hope Dervla returns to setting her books in Ireland with characters that are likeable. I think maybe she was aiming at this being a movie script like all those Gone Girl knock offs.