Rachel North, on the fast track to a successful career, though at 36 she feels old, compared to fellow law students at Harvard and younger interns also working with her this summer in the DA’s office. Her husband is a well known, successful defense attorney and when she’s finished law school she’ll join his firm, as his partner. It’s all going to work out perfectly. But as her internship progresses with the ruthless, cut-throat DA, her husband’s sworn enemy, office politics and egos make Rachel question the intentions and motives of everyone around her. Maybe things aren’t going to work out perfectly, after all.
This is an excellent suspense novel, keeping you on the edge of your seat, with a thrilling, twisted and completely unexpected ending. I strongly recommend this very well written book.

This book sounded interesting when I was looking for a good suspense/ mystery/thriller.WOW! It totally blew me away and wasn’t what I expected at all, Great read that still has me shaking my head.

Don't start reading this wonderful book from, Hank Phillippi Ryan, before you go to bed, you'll never put out the light!! One surprise after another sneaks up on you . Great characters, plot and story. Rachel North, smart, ambitious DA intern, with a loving lawyer husband starts out at a leisurely pace. However, this takes off like a fourth of July rocket, exploding into twists and turns you never see coming. You are breathless at the end marveling at this mystery masterpiece.

Many years earlier, Rachel was part of the Boston political world, working for a state senator and harboring ambitions. All that comes crashing down when an intern in the office is murdered shortly after Rachel's stint on jury duty ends. Now marriTed and reinventing herself as a law student, Rachel takes a summer internship with the Middlesex County DA's office and learns that case is being reopened. The murderer thinks they're smarter than they are, and the DA is supremely confident she'll be able to convict - with Rachel's help. There are a few unsurprising twists here, but as a summer thriller read you can't go wrong. Plus, the setting is in my hometown!

eARC provided by publisher.

THE MURDER LIST by Hank Phillippi Ryan is a riveting legal thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. This book has everything - politics, courtroom drama, a murder mystery, police procedure and so much more. It is told from multiple points of view, with parts in the past and the present. The main characters, Rachel, Jack and Martha are perfectly portrayed so the reader never knows who they can trust. The clever cat-and-mouse plot had plenty of twists and turns leading up to the shocking ending that I never guessed. I thoroughly enjoyed this gripping and suspenseful novel and highly recommend it. I can’t wait for whatever comes next from Hank Phillippi Ryan! Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an early copy.

The Murder List by author Hank Phillippi Ryan is an intense legal thriller, that does not disappoint! Not my usual genre but I’m so glad I read this book!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an arc copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

A legal thriller heavily dominated by manipulation and betrayal on multiple platforms. The characters are well developed and highly persuasive. While some of the plot is predictive, the delivery of the narrative dominates, leaving a resounding effect in its wake. Excellent novel for its genre. 4 stars

Thank you to #NetGalley for this ARC of #TheMurderList

What a great legal thriller. I have not read one in awhile and this one did not disappoint. Rachel North is interning for the Boston DA, but will something that happened years before when she was working in the communications office of a senator have bearing on a case she's called on to work on with the DA? Plenty of twists and turned will keep you guessing about who is guilty of what. Thank you to the author for the ARC.

I think this books was a complete and total masterpiece!! It’s full of lies and twists and turns, leading you down several paths, and lots of now/then narratives.... and even with all of that I didn’t see the ending coming when it did! Very well done and very entertaining!

Thank you for the gifted book Forge Reads. I received this copy for review purposes.
I loved this book. Fast paced and amazing. The story line was a hook line and sinker. I was brought in from the first page. Hank Ryan knows how to write a great book.

This was an uterlly engrossing novel about lies and the law. Told through dual story lines, the past and the present, from the three main characters points of view. This was a cat-and-mouse thriller at its finest that kept me glued to the pages. This was beautifully written with an original plot. It has a knock out ending ending that I never never saw coming. With courtroom drama, deceit, murder and politics, this one has it all. Ryan is definitely at her finest. The verdict is in... This book is a must read!!!
Thank you netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Action packed novel, a rollercoaster of a ride! Very entertaining. I loved the multiple storylines. This author is now on my must read list!

Are you looking for your next legal thriller? If so, then this is the book for you.

Rachel is married to the highly well known criminal lawyer, Jack. She is also going through law school, to join her husband, as his partner. As part of her schooling, she has intern with Jack's enemy, the district attorney. When the district attorney reopens a cold case, a murder, that once rocked Rachel's life, all bets are off.

The Murder List is a legal thriller, murder mystery, a little drama, and even adds in some politics. This is an excellent book of cat and mouse, and you never really know who you can trust, and who is lying. I was really invested in the story and also the characters. The ending was not at all what I was expecting at all.

This was my first novel by Hank Phillippi Ryan but won't be my last! The Murder List was a fast paced thriller with an interesting ending - couldn't put it down! Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy.

I know this book received great reviews but for me it was just boring and lacking. I figured out early in the story who the killer was so it wasn’t a surprise. It was just a very tedious read for me to get through it. I don’t think I would recommend this book. Thank you netgalley for letting me give an honest review of this book.

Rachel North is in law school. She is married to Jack who is a defense attorney. After Rachel graduates, Jack wants her to join him. But first she must intern at the district attorney's office. The DA's office is currently working on a new case and an old cold case. As the twists and turns and secrets are revealed, it leaves the reader is awe! Which characters are telling the truth? When you think you have things figured out, more twists! I loved this roller coaster of a ride book! I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.

#themurderlist Wow! @hankpryan This was such a rollercoaster of a ride! I love when a novel has more than one story entwined within! I can literally say I read the last few chapters with my mouth open!! You totally got me with this one!! Five stars across the board! #loved Thank you for opportunity #net-galley to read this amazing story!! 📚🤓❤️

The Murder List is a character-driven novel, and quickly drew me in, even though I'm not a big fan of psychological thrillers. Hank Phillippi Ryan's writing is evocative, adeptly setting the scene, and keeping me turning the pages. This is a great addition to the genre and I recommend it, even if, like me, you don't typically pick up books in this category.

The plot is character driven, and I’ve never disliked any characters more, but for me that is what makes this novel so believable. They're all hugely flawed egocentric human beings who will go to any lengths to get what they want. Rachel, adores working for Senate leader Tom Rafferty, and hates to miss work to serve on a jury with the DA Martha Gardiner, and Defense attorney, Jack Kirkland. Rachel runs into Kirkland after the trial as she hears about murder of her colleague, and Rafferty’s wife is implicated. Rachel and Jack marry and six years later she’s now finishing her second year of law school and interning,to Jack’s dismay, with his nemesis, Gardiner.
It was a good book to read, but it wasn’t a pleasant book to read.

This review is a courtesy provided by NetGalley. To support this site and my other work, please consider being a monthly donor at Patreon.com/amberunmasked

Riveting.
Didn't want to put it down.

Those are blurbs you typically see by famous authors or film critics about the next "big thing" on the market. Well I'm using these cliches too because my non-famous self was captivated by the development of the three main characters, the plot twists, and the changing points of view in each chapter that The Murder List delivered.

I had a couple of nights where I had to force the book down in order to go to bed. Then I kept thinking about it. Rachel North, 30-years-old and in her third year of Harvard Law School, was the primary unreliable narrator. Yet, despite her dominating the bulk of the book's narration, the points of view of her husband Jack Kirkland and her new boss Martha Gardiner presented nearly as much focus into their versions of the events of the past and the dramatic unfolding of the present situation.

The Murder List is a prime example of having an unlikeable protagonist. She's immature and only confident at all the wrong moments. I can relate to the flashbacks of how she behaved in her twenties -- cocky on the inside, thinking all men want her, and that all women are competition. In her married thirties, she didn't grow up at all. It was during the one of the earliest flashbacks to Rachel's time working the Massachusetts state house for Senator Tom Rafferty where I thought, she's off her rocker. Rachel insists that she took the internship with the enemy in order to learn her tactics from the inside. Then after her three months, she and Jack can go on to form their law partnership, Kirkland & North. 

Jack Kirkland was rarely a decent human being through most of the book. He's a defense attorney -- and while that seems noble especially as one with such a great record that he gets to be on "the murder list" of attorneys for the defense in capital cases -- Jack is a gaslighting misogynist in his marriage. Generally, I love rooting for the underdog -- the one who will correct the system's mistakes, but Jack was either a sulky uninteresting grump or a domineering blowhard in court and at home.

This brings us to the prosecutor, Martha Gardiner. Talk about unlikeable. She's a spinster (yes I'm using this word intentionally) who lives only for work. She doesn't have a single hobby or interest outside of her cases. There was one mention of a small garden patch, but we never get to see Martha being tender and cultivating life in that way. She's mean, manipulative, and as Rachel discovers -- she will twist the law (or break it) herself in order to win convictions. Martha is conniving, but also damn brilliant just like Jack. It's no wonder they're enemies. 

If I were being informal, I'd say Martha needs some vodka and weekend of unbridled ecstasy-enthralling sex. For days. Until she sees God to bring out a personality in her. I worked for someone just like Martha Gardiner and this was giving me flashbacks. I couldn't suss out a single likeable part of her character.

We learn that everyone is guilty of something, even the clients Jack is trying to defending. Maybe they didn't murder, but they're drug-dealers or thieves. Every single person mentioned in The Murder List has something sordid about them and that includes the victim, Danielle Zander.

There were specific moments when I felt for Rachel North and sympathized with her situation. She clashed with her husband constantly over her internship and he was a total dick to be blunt about it. He would give her the cold shoulder; try to manipulate her; try to get her to quit; pretend he had more important things than her; and so on. It wasn't until Rachel had an epiphany about Martha Gardiner and presented Jack with the greatest gift ever -- telling him he was right. Once that happened, Jack was magically head over heels for his wife again. It was another moment where I truly hated Jack. He only loved Rachel when she was his loyal lap dog. 

Eventually, I softened on Jack the more it progressed and landed at the WHAM-BAM denouement. He was able to stand by Rachel when -- ethically speaking -- he should have asked someone else to help her.

If that isn't enough to win you over to The Murder List readership, believe me when I say that Ryan's exquisite descriptive details setting the scenes will the trick. Something I noted many times in my copy was how effortlessly she showed the non-verbal communication of each character: their fingers steepling; their choice of footwear; which seat they chose around a table; what they ordered. They're all facets that bring the characters to life.