Heck, yeah!

When Hannah Rokeby stumbles upon an article in Vanity Fair about what was happening at the Innocence Project at the University of Virginia, a plan is set in motion.

Professor Rob Parekh who runs The Innocence Project at the University is working to free Michael Dandridge, a man convicted of the brutal rape and murder of Sarah Fitzhugh.

Hannah cannot let that happen.

You see, Hannah’s mother, Laura has been running from this man for over 20 years-the details of WHY, chronicled in the diaries she wrote when she was just 19 years old.

Details which led her mother down a lonely path of alcoholism and distrust.

So Hannah blackmails the Professor to make sure that a spot for her will become available in the “already full” program, and sets about to make herself invaluable to the team.

While she is convincing the others that she is passionate about saving this man who they believe is innocent- she is working behind the scenes to make sure that he will NOT walk free.

The story alternates between Hannah, in the present, working with the project and Laura’s diary entries from 1994.

While I doubt that the newest member of the Innocence Project team, would so easily get to take center stage on the case, in the many ways that she does, just go with the ride and enjoy the entertaining story!

After all, aren’t we all looking for a book, where we yell “Heck, yeah” at the end? 😉

Dervla McTiernan may not be a household name in the US, yet…but she is an award winning, number one bestselling author known around the World for her Cormac Reilly series, which has sold over 400,000 copies in Australia and New Zealand, alone.

The Murder Rule is her first standalone thriller, inspired by the true story of a young law student who uncovered evidence at the Innocence Project, exonerating a man who had been in prison for 26 years.

This title will be AVAILABLE MAY 10, 2022 here in the US.

Thank You to the Scene of the Crime Early Read program and William Morrow/Harper Collins for providing a gifted ARC. It was my pleasure to offer a candid review!

Thank you Netgalley for an eARC of The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan prior to pub day! I really enjoyed this book. I absolutely love dark academia books - And I think you could slot this one into that category, but it's different than most (In a great way). This one alternates between present time chapters and chapters from history, which are actually diary entries. The dual timelines make it all the more interesting to piece together what happened in the past and how it's impacted the MC's current situation.

This one has a bit of everything - psychological - mystery - legal aspects - school setting - secrets and family history. Buckle up for a wild ride! I thought I had this one figured out but didn't, and the twists were fantastically placed.

Thank you to Netgalley, Dervla McTiernan, and Harper Collins for an E-arc in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed this book- I went into it blindly and was pleasantly surprised. It was fun to follow Hannah as she infiltrated The Innocence Project as they try to overturn a murder conviction. I enjoyed the multiple POVs and it really helped develop the story and the connections between the characters. The twist was unexpected for me and it worked so well within the plot. I am hoping we see Hannah helping with more cases with the Innocence project (I love a good series) in the future. This one will be on sale May 10th, 2022!

4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 for GR.

This was a unique thriller told from the point of view of Hannah in present time and Laura, Hannah's mother, via her diary entries 25 years ago. Hannah creates a story about her mother being sick, which has led her to transfer law schools to work for the Innocence Project. She chose the college because of the case the Innocence Project is currently working on, one that she has personal ties to. Via Laura's diaries we learn that she met someone, fell in love, got pregnant, but the father of her baby died at the hand of one of his friends. This same friend is currently imprisoned for killing someone else, and the Innocence Project is fighting to save him.

The author does a great job weaving between the two points of view and leading the reader down one path only to throw in a few twists and turns along the way. Hannah is an interesting character as she is very willing to take risks to satisfy her goal of keeping an 'innocent" man behind bars, but she also tends to see both sides of the argument and speaks up when needed. I very much enjoyed reading this and can't wait to read more from this author.

Thank you to William Morrow for the opportunity to read and review.

I love this author and have loved her other series. This book is completely different. It takes place here in the US for one thing. It starts out a bit slow and it took until more than half way through before it picked up. But once it did there were plenty of twists and turns you will never see coming. The end was a surprise and while it may have felt a little forced and more than a bit far fetched it was really perfect. Thank you William Morrow and NetGalley for the advanced readers copy for review.

This book represents a significant change in setting and tone from McTiernan's previous Cormac Reilly books, but maintains the very high quality of writing and plot established in her earlier books. Set in the East Coast of the US, it traces a young law student's involvement in an Innocence Project re-visitation of an old conviction, a complicated undertaking with rapidly-shifting loyalties and motivations. It's a fast-paced book with nuanced characters and enough details about the legal process to add color, but not so much that it's a courtroom procedural. I loved it!

Many thanks to Harper Collins, Scene of the Crime, and NetGalley for the advanced readers copy of this title.

They think I’m a young, idealistic law student, and 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.

And with that, we know Hannah has an agenda. Right now she is a third-year law student in Maine. Living with her mother, Laura, who is a master manipulator and an alcoholic. Hannah understands her mother is damaged by things that happened to her in the past. Things Hannah has read in her mother’s diary that covers the summer things went horribly wrong.

First, Hannah needs to convince the head of Virginia’s law school that she is transferring there and wants to be a part of the Innocence Project. The group working to get Michael Dandridge out of prison. While the court has vacated his conviction, the local DA is refiling charges. The project is trying to get him out. Hannah is working to make sure he stays in.

Hannah had a plan and boy did she stick to it. She pretty much blackmailed the professor to let her in the project and then proceeds to sabotage the case. But the sheriff and the district attorney are in cahoots and are blackmailing pretty much everyone in the town and they don’t need her or the team snooping around and they aren’t above killing to ensure they stay don’t get caught.

The mother-daughter relationship was really well-done. We tend to want to make excuses for our mother’s behavior so we believe what they say. Until we don’t and then, it’s over. Hannah was a really good character. Smart in all the ways that count, but naive when it came to her mother. Secrets and lies, and a shocking ending! Well Done!

NetGalley/ May 10th,2022 by William Morrow & Company

Three and a half stars. I really wish it hadn't taken over halfway through The Murder Rule for the story to feel like it was finally interesting. I like slow burn thrillers and mysteries, but there has to be things in the plot that help keep the reader engaged, and it just takes too long here. The first half of the book alternates between Hannah, a law student who hatches a plan to get onboarded as part of the team at the Innocence Project, and her mother Laura's journal entries from an eventful summer where she worked as a maid and met a lonely, wealthy boy her age. It becomes clear to the reader that Hannah has an agenda for being where she is - get on the team working Michael Dandridge's case. Through her mother's journal entries she knows he's a connection to her family and whether he's guilty or not in his current case isn't necessarily Hannah's concern. Finally, as the story goes on, the reader learns just how complicated the situation is where Michael was arrested for murder, and realizes there may be more to Laura's story than Hannah knows. If the reader can stick it out, the latter half of the book helps make up for a relatively uninteresting first half, but you do have to suck it up to get there. A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

#TheMurderRule:

I flew through this book in about a day and really enjoyed it. I really didn’t know what it would be about, or even if I would like it. But, @harperaudio recommended it, and I’ll always take a hot recommendation. This [in my honest opinion, don’t come for me] gave me like a Elle Woods but badass, pissed off, and more reckless, I was here for it.

I loved that Hannah was cynical. She doesn’t give AF about them and their ethics, and would call them out about how pretentious they were being or not following their oath. It was so refreshing because that’s the side commentary I’m yelling while reading.

There’s 3 readers, and one is a male. I kept wondering when he would appear and I’m glad he finally did. Kate Orsini, Sophie Amoss, and Michael Crouch gave me everything and more. It flowed with the different POVs very well with the different readers. I do feel like the dual timelines and POVs weren’t confusing, but there’s a part where the back and forth between present day seemed a bit muddied. We don’t know what’s truth and what’s fact and it was a head scratcher for a hot second.

Now, to Legally Blonde. There’s a courtroom scene that gave me the Chutney and last year Prada’s shoes in one. It was a “oh snap” and I couldn’t help think of our iconic gal, Elle. I didn’t picture Hannah as Elle at all. She’s not this blonde bubbly law student. She’s a woman on a mission to destroy that needs to be destroyed, make no mistake.

Overall, a super quick listen with great promise! I enjoyed The Murder Rule and feel like it gave me some time for reflection after the explanation of what it actually is. (I learned something!) Thank you so much WM and HA for the copy! The Murder Rule is out May 8th

3.5 Stars
I really enjoyed this one! Most veteran thriller readers will see the twists coming but I still really enjoyed the story. Focusing on the Innocence Project was a really unique plot and I loved getting a tiny peek into how that organization works. I love messy characters with questionable motivations so Hannah was the perfect protagonist for me.

*** Disclaimer that I think the ending of the book requires the reader to suspend their disbelief quite a bit. Especially anyone with experience in the legal field.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for a review!

Fantastic book -on the surface you think "The Murder Rule" is about Project Innocence working to get a falsely convicted murderer/rapist out of prison but once you read it you will see it also explores relationships in many different forms and it above all reminded me to question everything. I highly recommend it and am looking forward to discovering Dervia McTiernan's other books.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for a chance to read and review.

Thank you to NetGalley, William Morrow Books and Custom House for the ARC of this book!

Hannah is a third year law student at UMaine Law School. She transfers to the University of Virginia Law in order to work with their Innocence Project. After blackmailing her way onto the Project, she begins her work to try to get on the high profile case that the Project is working on – Michael Dandridge. Michael Dandridge was convicted of raping and killing a woman, but he maintains his innocence. While the Project works diligently to free Michael, Hannah is doing the opposite.

This book was great. I am a lawyer, and went to law school – though I never worked at my school’s innocence project. That alone made me connect to the book.

Aside from the connection to the law, it was written very well, kept me engaged, and had some great twists and turns. It is a very fast read. I had no idea what was going to happen, and I couldn’t guess the end at all. Honestly, after finishing the book, I wanted there to be another one with the same characters! I wanted to know what happened with Hannah.

If anyone is wondering, my law school’s innocence project did send out students to conduct investigations – find new witnesses, talk to people, etc…

This is my first book by this author, but it won’t be my last!!

Please go ahead and pre-order this book here.

I enjoyed the twists and turns of this book. It kept my attention. I didn't see the end coming, It was a bit of a stretch what happened but I enjoyed it a lot.

Not quite as good as McTiernan's first book, which is always disappointing. For some reason I expect an author to get better with time. I'm sure the pressure to produce can be counterproductive.

What a terrific read! I literally couldn’t put the book down. Put this at the top of your reading list.

Hannah lives with her mother Laura. Laura has a secret she is desperate to keep, but Hannah just wants to uncover the past. Hannah found a diary that her mother kept as a teenager and gains some insight into her father’s murder. She believes she know who the killer is and is prepared to take them down. Will she succeed?

I could not put this one down. It felt like a rollercoaster ride at times. Dervla McTiernan takes you on a twisty journey until finally the truth is revealed. This was a very fast paced and puzzling story that I was dying to solve. Any book involving a court case seems to draw me in and this was no different. I really enjoyed THE MURDER RULE!

Many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow Books for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This review will be posted to my Instagram Blog (@coffee.break.book.reviews) in the near future.

The Murder Rule is a twisting tale of deceit and deception wrapped in a unique legal thriller.

This book ended with an absolute flurry of action and intrigue. It was a slow burn until the final stretch and big reveals. Certainly an enjoyable read, but really took until around the three quarter mark to REALLY get going and capture my attention. Once that happened, I finished in a single sitting.

McTiernan has a unique and impressive writing style that I'll always enjoy reading and I look forward to the next book.

I loved this book. It is mostly the story of a young woman who is determined to prove the guilt of a man who the Innocence project is working to save. She is working with them and in the course of investigating, lots of truths about her life and her relationship come to light. Very well written and very interesting

3.5 stars. Hannah weasels her way onto the Innocence Project in an attempt to derail a case to keep the man she believes to have killed her father behind bars.

This legal thriller hooked me immediately. The first half of the book alternates chapters from Hannah's 2019 perspective to her mother's diary entries from 1994. While Hannah isn't very likeable, I appreciated learning about her motivations and was engaged as she does whatever she can to reveal the truth.

The last quarter of the book was a bit of a let down as you really had to suspend belief for the scenarios that unfolded. The wild scenes felt highly unlikely and I wish we learned more about the defendant to care more about the outcome of his case.

Overall it's a popcorn thrill that I think many will enjoy if you don't look too closely at the details.

Thank you William Morrow for my advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Nostalgic for the first 5 or 6 Grisham Books?

Thank me later.

Well I mean thank me for the rec
Thank Dervla McTiernan for the book.

And the narration? Spot. On