I will leave review on Amazon on Aug 20, 2019

I received The Murder List from NetGalley and the Publisher in exchange for my fair and honest review.

Wow, I really enjoy reading this authors books. She spins such an amazing tale, and I never figure out the outcome before the end of the book. This story is told in alternating times, moving back and forward from present day to past. I was so wrong in my thinking, which really makes the book so intriguing that the authr can trick up so easily. I would certainly recommend this book to others that enjoy thrillers.

Rachel is in law school and gets an internship with the district attorney's office. This causes problems in Rachel's marriage because her husband is a defense attorney, and his biggest enemy is the DA. During her internship, a cold case is reopened. One that Rachel has a connection with from her days working with a senator.

This novel alternates between past and present. Rachel is smart and driven. Her husband is a successful defense attorney, and they have plans for her to get a law degree so they can work together. Before getting married, Rachel worked for a senator. During her time there, a coworker was killed and the murderer was never found. During her internship with the DA's office, that old murder case is revisited when new leads are found.

A simple story told in a complex way. The murder mystery is who killed a woman that worked for a senator. As the past meets present, old secrets are revealed. Each character seems to have an ulterior motive, making for an absorbing thriller.

A good read for fans of legal thrillers. Suspenseful, clever, and twisted.

I received a free ARC of The Murder List by Hank Phillippi Ryan from Macmillan in exchange for an honest review.

This book was excellent! Totally kept my attention and I wanted to find out what would become of the main characters. Highly reccomended.

This isn’t a can’t-put-it-down thriller, but it is a solid mystery with a thoroughly satisfying twist at the end.

Review #47 THE MURDER LIST by Hank Phillipe Ryan and reviewing for Netgalley. Good story with a huge twist of an ending, though I saw it coming. ⭐⭐⭐⭐Four stars. #Netgalley .

This story is a wild ride. It is twisted. Toxic. There are poisonous triangles. Jack/Rachel/Martha. Politics/Law/Media. Prosecution/Defense/Truth. The Murder List encompasses all of this, moving back and forth between events six years previous and present time. I couldn't put it down.

I absolutely love Hank Phillipi Ryan, which is why I wanted to review this book. Thank you Netgalley. I had a little trouble with this one. It started off slow for me. Almost halfway in I almost gave up. A very slow build up. Just didn't get me excited to keep reading like most books out there. I'm sure the next one will be better.

I've been a fan of Hank since her previous book, Trust Me, came out. The Murder List is as good as or even better than Trust Me. It was a clever, riveting, fast-paced, page-turner with a twist that I didn't see coming. The ending was spine-tingling. I highly recommend reading this book if you love a good suspense. Thank you to the author for the advanced copy to read and review.

Bestselling author and one of my favorites, Hank Phillippi Ryan wowed us last year with TRUST ME My Top Books of 2018 and returns with her best yet—THE MURDER LIST. Top books of 2019.

An electrifying plot-driven standalone legal thriller which will leave you glued to the pages in this high stakes cat-and-mouse game of manipulation. A wild roller-coaster game of obsession, power, and revenge. The ending is jaw-dropping good!

It takes more than two to tango. There is a triangle (we are not talking love triangle). In addition to the cat-and-the-mouse, there is also cheese (the power). You will be guessing until the final reveal, which one is which. Which character is manipulating the other? Which side are you on?

Meet the characters:

• Martha Gardiner - Assistant District Attorney. Highly intelligent.
• Jack Kirkland – Best defense attorney in Boston (married to Rachel)
• Rachel North - Age 36. Law Student Harvard. Married to Jack. Goal: To be a partner: Kirkland and North law firm, once she passes the bar.

Jack and Rachel have been married for six years. Jack is a lawyer, and he likes to win. Rachel is a law student but has a plan. Her plan is ultimately to be a partner in Jack’s law firm. To do so, she wants to do a summer internship in the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office. After all, it is only for three months. She can do it.

However, to do so, that would be working with Jack’s enemy, ADA Martha Gardiner. Martha would be her new boss. Jack refers to her as “Satan in pearls”. A predator. She is the one prosecutor who can beat Jack. There may be some friction on the home front.

Rachel wants to get on the murder list. She wants them to be a team. She has heard all the stories from Jack about Martha’s disturbingly unfair and manipulative tactics. Rachel thinks this is the perfect strategy.

Her plan: She will work with Martha, learn her methods and techniques. She could scope out the competition from the inside. The more she understands her prosecution, the more she can use to structure their defense. She thinks it is brilliant. She then will be back with Jack and working against Martha, right?

Jack does not agree. Very risky. He thinks Martha would be using Rachel. Jack cares about justice, defending his clients, even the ones he knows are guilty. He almost always wins—even if a murderer walks free.

There was a murder-list case. Jack was appointed as Marcus Dorn’s attorney. The key witness vanished. Marcus Dorn is now behind bars after being charged with a gruesome murder of a couple after breaking into their high-priced condo. He was the security guard.

Now Rachel is training to understand two sides. Defense and prosecution. “The devil you know.” Law school is about the, what if? Just like her life.

Martha Gardiner holds the key to Rachel’s future. Martha is from Old New England money. She is in it for glory and power. For the win. She has her eye on the attorney general’s office.

Who will be collateral damage?

“How long does it take to ruin everything? One moment. One wrong decision. One mistake. One unfortunate assumption or ill-chosen word or even a misunderstood gift. The dominoes fall, never to be righted.”

Will Rachel be the manipulative opportunist or the advantaged insider?

What about Jack? His motives? Is Jack jealous? What about Martha? Did Martha choose Rachel to blackball Jack from getting murder-list cases? Dealing with the devil has its pitfalls. There are two sides, and Rachel is in the middle, or is she?

From a case six years earlier before Rachel and Jack were married. Rachel worked for Senate President Thomas Ames Rafferty Beacon Hill. A necklace. A murder.

"Politics—like life—is driven by the balance of power."

The murder list—the list of accused killers who cases, and lives, he’s responsible for. That is how Jack got assigned to represent now-convicted slasher, Marcus Simmons Dorn. High-paying cases. This is how Jack and Rachel met.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN. You will doubt every character in this power play. Who will win in the end? Who will outsmart the other?

ENTHRALLING! Hank Phillippi Ryan is in her element. 💕 Polished craftsmanship, brilliantly written, from the Boston, setting to each precise movement of each character. 🎬 Movie-worthy! From the intricate legal proceedings, courtroom scenes, politics, character development, and crime scenes.

With the Author’s expertise in the field as an investigative reporter, she carefully constructs every scene and multiple POV and timelines. Ryan maneuvers past and present tense with a perfect pace unfolding layer by layer, leaving you looking over your shoulder. INTENSE!

A triangle on steroids with razor-sharp dialogue. Nothing is as it appears. You will be turning the pages into the wee hours of the morning to see how this psychological, legal thriller will end. Filled with shocking twists and turns that will keep you on your toes until the very last page. BTW: A KILLER ENDING 😜

Reminds me of the old book, "Who Moved my Cheese?" They all want cheese (power) and are willing to do whatever it takes to attain it. A maze, but this time there are three players and someone will lose.

If THE MURDER LIST does not hit the New York Times Bestseller list, I will be shocked! Move this one to the top of your list. For legal thriller fans of John Lescroart, Michael Connelly, Lisa Scottoline, and Scott Turow. Highly recommend! Ryan is at the "Top" of her game!

Look for my exciting upcoming Elevator Q&A with the Author coming Aug 20, 2019, and a book giveaway contest Aug 8-19. Celebrate the one-year anniversary edition of the Elevator Ride with Author.

A special thank you to Forge Books, Netgalley, and the author for an advanced reading copy.

#JDCMustReadBooks

There is something about cold-cases; they are never really closed. Ms. Ryan’s THE MURDER LIST, is a legal thriller that is filled with so many twists and turns it is like riding my favorite roller coaster. I love it! The characters throughout the story are absolutely awesome, even Martha Gardiner, who I will admit wasn’t my favorite, but I respected for her legal brilliance. This page turner kept me reading long into the evening hours and I highly recommend!

Great story! There was a lot going on here and I was never sure whose team I should join. A real roller coaster ride. Could not put this book down.
As always I cannot wait to read more by this author.

The Murder List had a lot of twists, turns and back and forth from the past to the present which was a bit disconcerting. I understand why the author did this, so the readers know the reasons the characters act a certain way, and do the things they do. I never saw the ending coming, it was definitely not what I expected.

I love Hank Philippi Ryan books, but this one was a little slow for me. The ending was interesting. It was not my favorite of this author’s. I received an advance review copy from NetGalley for an honest review.

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A fast-paced thriller that starts out slow. Gradually, as we begin to sort out the various players, the suspense intensifies until there’s no way you want to put it down. At first I found the time-jumping confusing, from the present to the past, then to the not-so-distant past, and back again. Not to mention enough character-jumping to make me wonder who I was rooting for. Sometimes it was hard to tell who was manipulating whom (intentionally, I’m sure), especially with a main character who seemed far too vulnerable for a woman her age – for my taste, anyway – but that’s part of the suspense. A lot of people, a lot going on, but a pattern begins to form that is compelling, threatening and mystifying. All is explained in the end, with a finale worthy of Alfred Hitchcock.

After reading the sneak peek edition, which included the first five chapters of Hank Phillippi Ryan's latest standalone thriller, I was eager to jump back into this story to find out what would happen next. The novel begins with the main character's (Rachel North) first day on the job in the prosecutor's office and shows the potential friction this job will cause between her and her husband, who is a hotshot defense attorney. Early on, there is a flashback to Rachel's prior work in local government. The story moves between past and present as it progresses. At first, the two timelines seem unconnected, but it eventually becomes clear that Rachel's past has bearing on the present.

In this novel, characters are not always what they seem and might been viewed as "unlikeable" by some readers. However, I felt that this lack of black and white clarity about the characters and their motivations was critical to how the story progressed. I also think this makes the characters feel more realistic. I definitely had opinions about certain characters change over the course of the novel and liked how they evolved. I hesitate to say more, as I believe this evolution is critical to the plot's development and how the story is ultimately resolved.

This author always delivers with complex, briskly paced thrillers that keep me wanting to read "just one more chapter" and this one definitely delivered. At a certain point, I could not put this book down and found it to be immensely satisfying. After reading the ending, I began rethinking the entire story from start to finish. The author did an excellent job of laying the groundwork for the ending without giving it away too soon and I felt played fair with the reader.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Forge Books for an early look at this compelling cat-and-mouse legal thriller.

OMG. This book takes you on a journey of selfishness, rivalry, jealousy, and greed.

From the beginning, you take a ride up the roller coaster, as you try to determine how two seemingly divergent roads connect with one another, as surely they must, right? When you get to the top, you think that there will be a rush to the bottom., as you just know you've figured everything out. I know that's what I thought. Ha! Think again, my friends..

PUT THIS BOOK DOWN, IF YOU DARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You never see this end coming..

This author is masterful at captivating the reader, and bringing the story to a surprising conclusion. Throughout, it keeps the reader on his/her toes. So Intriguing that I want more.

Way to go, Hank!

It's a battle between the prosecution and the defense team. Who's side do you choose? With so much going on, I found myself going from one side to the other. Such a great book. The characters are fantastic and the story line is intriguing.

I absolutely loved this book! If you like to read legal thrillers you will enjoy this story. Hank has done it again. She wrote another book that you just can't put down. It was full of twists and turns and complex characters. Nothing was as it appeared on the surface. I particularly enjoyed how she went from past events to current time and tied everything together flawlessly. My jaw actually dropped when I finally realized who done it! I definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a great summer read with a surprise ending. You will not be disappointed.

The book was very good It was a very a good legal thriller . The only other book I read by Hank was Trust Me It was different than that book. This book was a very good read and I highly recommend it to people who enjoy legal thrillers. Such as books by John Grisham

Misdirection at its very best. A cold case is reinvestigated to determine who committed the murder. Did the defendant lie under oath in the first trial that got her acquitted? Does the district attorney cheat? Was the dead woman having an affair with a married man? You will not stop turning pages till you find out. I was gifted this from the author.