It’s been a while since I’ve read a legal thriller, and this didn’t disappoint. The characters were all well-layered, and it was fascinating to see Hannah’s thought processes through her time at the IP, and how it slowly changes. Camilla and Sean were great, though I do wish we’d gotten to see more of Camilla. Hannah’s ruthlessness is quite interesting, especially with how she manipulates situations to her benefit, and in hindsight, Laura’s actions aren’t quite so surprising (though it was still a twist - I wasn’t expecting her to be that ruthless!) The ending was a bit unbelievable, in that I don’t really think that narrative wise, it made sense for Rob to let Hannah do the questioning, but it definitely made for a gripping finale. Overall, it was a great read and I really liked it.

This is quite different to the previous books by Dervla McTiernan, the Cormac Reilly books set in Ireland. The Murder Rule is a legal thriller set in the US and it’s a tense and compelling read.
Hannah is difficult to like from the start. A law student, she effectively blackmails her way into a position on the Innocence Project at the University of Virginia, a program that looks into last ditch efforts to free wrongly convicted prisoners. It’s clear she’s on a mission of some kind and it has something to do with her mother, Laura now an alcoholic. Interspersed through Hannah’s narrative are excerpts of Laura’s diary from the early 90s when she was a maid at a hotel in Maine and also cleaned rich people’s houses.
Once the story gets going it’s difficult to put down. It’s a complex plot yet it works and I enjoyed the twists and turns.

Thank you to Netgalley, Harper Collins Australia, and the author McTiernan for giving me an opportunity to read and provide an honest review.

Few years ago, I read McTiernan’s book The Ruin and I remember it being grippy and thrilling. I had the same expectation for this book. This was my first mistake as I had prior expectations before I dwelled into this book.

This book is a standalone book and is not part of the Cormac Reilly series.

The cover page of the book advises that ‘No one is innocent in this story’. When you come across such statements from the author, you tend to view all the characters with suspicion, which is what I did. I did not get attached to any characters and always wondered if there was more to the story.

Though in the beginning the protagonist Hannah seems unlikeable and I just wanted her to genuinely behave like a uni student rather than taking the law in her own hands, it becomes clearer why Hannah is seeking revenge. However, the character development feels incomplete and as a reader you struggle to connect with Hannah and I feel let down by this. I felt like the only chapter that made me happy was the last chapter as I enjoyed the satisfying ending.


The story is divided into two parts: past and present. The past is a personal narration by Laura (Hannah’s mom) and the present (2019) is a third person narration to provide reader objectivity and omniscience. I felt the personal narration by Laura a tad bit boring in the beginning and once again felt no connection to this character.

I genuinely wanted to like this book and it is a great story which sheds light on narcissism, complex family dramas, dynamic relationships between a parent and a child, manipulation, corrupt system of law, and general small town corruption. However, I felt let down by the characters and the lack of depth. I still enjoy McTiernan’s books and this will not stop me from reading or recommending her books.

The Murder Rule opens with Hannah Rokeby, a third-year law student, using blackmail to get into the Innocence Project Clinic at the University of Virginia. From the onset of the book it is clear that Hannah is prepared to use any tool she has to get what she wants, but why does she want to be part of the Innocence Project so badly? More importantly, given the noble aim of the Innocence Project to free wrongly convicted people, why is she so determined to influence the outcome of a case?

I am a huge Dervla McTiernan fan and I was very excited to be given an ARC by the publisher via NetGally (all opinions my own, etc...). The Murder Rule did not disappoint. I read it all in one sitting while reclining on a sunlounger on a lazy summer's day. It is very entertaining, with Hannah's motivations slowly becoming clearer while at the same time she starts to question her life and direction. My only complaint with The Murder Rule is that there are a few things that happen at the end of the book that definitely stretched my suspension of disbelief, but that is a minor quibble. Otherwise, it was the perfect book to take on holiday and I enjoyed it a lot.

Apologies - I know this will be an excellent read but I can't access it on my kindle! I'll have to wait until it's released instead.

It is good to see Dervla McTiernan challenge herself to a different type of crime novel. I enjoyed the lawyer and courtroom elements of the book. The premise of working with inmates on death row worked well, however I felt the ending was exaggerated and not quite plausible. In saying that, it is another good crime novel of hers and I will be interested to see what she writes next.

I’ve read McTeirnan’s Cormac Reilly books, and greatly enjoyed the character she has developed, and the clever plotting that kept me turning pages well into the night.
Two pages in to The Murder Rule, her first ‘stand alone’ novel, and I had already decided the character I suspect is our lead is far from being as decent and relatable as Garda Cormac Reilly. This one was going to be different.
The Murder Rule is a legal thriller set in the USA, revolving around a university-based project that challenges unsafe convictions, in this case a conviction for rape and murder by a man who had already seen many years in prison. Hannah, our (mostly) unlikable protagonist, connives to join the project aiming to overturn his conviction, but with the simple goal to ensure the convicted man rots in prison. As we move towards the court room drama that concludes the novel we encounter secrets and lies, questionably reliable narrators, plot twists and revelations, corruption, greed, violence, self-delusion and awakenings (not necessarily in that order).
It has the makings of a great story but unfortunately doesn’t quite hit the mark. There are too many coincidences and plot holes for my liking, and the court room scenes lack credibility to me (although I freely admit I have little knowledge of the US system - perhaps they do things differently over there). It was, in the end, more like a decent TV legal drama than a compulsive mystery/thriller.
But I will not give up on Ms McTeirnan. I look forward to her next.
Three stars.
Thank you to NetGallery and HarperCollins Australia for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a review.

I enjoyed most of this book. It kept me reading and engaged, but I felt it wasn’t up to the usual stand of this author. The characters were unlikeable, with relationships not satisfactorily explained, for example Hannah and her mother. Having said that, there were some good twists and turns. A very abrupt ending, with incomplete questions.

I have read every book Dervla McTieran has written and this is by far my all-time favorite. Do yourself a favor and read this. I did find it was distracting as I had to read it all in one sitting!

Dervla at her best. She weaved the story through all the characters so well. I was hooked from the beginning when I read no-one is innocent. Thank you

3.5/5

Oof this is a tricky one. This was a very easy reading, engaging book that I thought I was really loving as I was reading it. But.

Hannah is a legal student who transfers to a new University to volunteer on the Innocence Project - an organisation that works to free innocent people who are in prison. But Hannah has a particular interest in a particular case - is she really there to help? Or hinder...?

While very easy to zip through, this book requires extreme levels of suspension of disbelief. I'm always a bit iffy about the "diary as a plot device" thing, as I tend to find myself getting caught up in scepticism when this is used ("who describes the sounds and scenery this way in a personal diary??" "Who transcribes entire conversations so exactly in their diary??" etc). However this aspect did actually end up being employed to quite good effect. However, as the book progresses toward its conclusion, it becomes more and more of a stretch to believability. This is not a "thriller" but a legal story, and the climax consists of a courtroom scene that is frankly *wildly* prosperous. Even with no legal knowledge whatsoever, I was left feeling a bit underestimated as a reader, to think I would really buy such ridiculousness. There are also no real high stakes to the climax because we never really learn enough about the defendant to give much of a crap about the outcome of his case.

I think this was a really engaging story but unfortunately I felt let down by the incredulous ending.

When I requested this from NetGalley I thought I was getting a thriller/murder/mystery single-white-female novel.

Especially with the Tagline

First rule: make them like you
Second rule: make them need you
Third rule: make them pay

What I got was a story with twist and surprises I couldn’t put down.

Hannah is a force to be reckoned with for sure. This was far better than I thought it would be.

Firstly, I am thankful for the opportunity to have received a free advanced copy of this eBook through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

This was an enjoyable read. In the beginning switching between Hannah in 2019 and her Mother’s dairy entries from 1994.

Hannah lies and cheats her way into the Innocence Project at the University of Virginia and the reasons for this are to be found within the Mother’s diary.

It is mostly told from Hannah’s side and builds up to some tense moments and a twist that Hannah did not see coming.

I rate this Ebook 4 stars and would recommend to those who have enjoyed other Dervla McTiernan titles.

#TheMurderRule #NetGalley

Gripping legal thriller. A law student pretends to help a legal team overturn a murder conviction but is actually trying to keep the client in prison. Great plot twists as she digs deeper into the case and uncovers what really happened in the past.

As always, Dervla McTiernan is a wonderful writer and story teller. The Murder Rule is well-written and engaging. There were a number of clever twists in the tale, which took me by surprise and added to my enjoyment of the novel. There were, however, some aspects of the story that I found difficult to fully buy into. Overall, I would certainly recommend this book, but for a really amazing reading experience, I would recommend Dervla McTiernan’s Cormac Reilly series. Thanks to Dervla McTiernan, the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

First up, this is not part of the Cormac Reilly series so don't expect it to be the same.
Next, for a lot of the book I found the main character Hannah not very likeable. The plot was initially quite frustrating but as it moved on the motives of Hannah became clearer. As I progressed it became harder and harder to put the book down,
In short Hannah leaves Maine University to temporarily join a Uni in Virginia so she can participate in the Innocence Project, a program for law students where they take on cases of prisoners with a life or death sentence and review the evidence for a wrongful conviction. When Hannah joins the team they are about to launch a retrial for a man who has already served eleven years for rape and murder. Hannah is doing everything she can to get a heads up on the case and will stop at nothing to ensure she becomes a part of it. However she reaches a point where she realises that her lying is starting to really impact on the lives of those around her.
There are some significant twists in the story and I found the ending most satisfying. Happy to recommend this book, thank you Netgalley and Harper Collins Australia for the opportunity to review this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely loved it!

The Murder Rule took over my entire afternoon, once I started reading it everything else was pushed aside. I really enjoyed Dervla’s Cormac Reilly series so I knew that I would be in for a great story. This stand alone thriller, this time set in the US, was easily as much of a page turner.

We met a young law student, Hannah just before she leaves home in a mission. She has found her mothers diary and learned what happened to her when she was younger. The man who abused her has been in prison for 11 years but she has discovered that the Innocence Project at a university in Virginia is working on a case to have him released as he is claiming innocence. She is determined to infiltrate them and throw a spammer in the works. And she will stop at nothing to have her way,

It is a fast paced and compelling read that I just couldn’t not stop reading. I loved Hannah and her strength and sense of family. It is a wild ride and I highly recommend.

Thanks to Harper Collins Australia for my advanced copy of this book to read. Grab it May 4th.

4★
“HANNAH – Sunday, August 25, 2019
Because of the diary, Hannah knew exactly what had happened to Laura, and she knew exactly who was to blame.
=======
LAURA DIARY ENTRY #1 Saturday, July 9, 1994, 9:00 p.m.
Writing in a diary is a habit you’re supposed to grow out of. Starting one now, at nineteen . . . I’m like the girl who brings her My Little Pony collection to her college dorm.”

We’re not in Ireland anymore! McTiernan has written an American mystery about a young woman who found diaries written by her alcoholic mother, Laura. Only fourteen when she found them, Hannah read her mother’s story of how she became pregnant by one man and was abused by another.

The abuser was jailed 11 years ago for murder, but the Innocence Project thinks his conviction should be overturned. This enthusiastic group of law student volunteers is determined to get him released.

Hannah is a law student in Maine and reads about this. She's furious, so she writes to the head of the Innocence Project in Virginia, to wangle her way into their team. I use the word “wangle”, although her methods are a little more persuasive than that.

Hannah is a doer – she gets things done. As far as she’s concerned, he’s paying for what he did to her mother and should continue to pay. Who cares how he was convicted?

She arrives and sees how frantic the pace is and how many cases there are that students - students! - are sifting through to see which convictions they think were unjust. The boss explains.

“Here at the Project, we are not the police and we are not the FBI. We have a very limited budget to pay investigators. I need students who are imaginative, inventive, and willing to be creative when it comes to pursuing our cases. Working here does not mean sitting behind a desk drafting motions—our staff attorneys take care of that. We need students to do the hard grind of investigating facts and tracking down new evidence. If you could be as dogged with that as you were with that as you were with trying to get a place here, maybe you could be of use to me.”

They have several reasons for having selected this convict, so it is going to be quite a feat for Hannah to earn the trust of the group, while privately trying to foil their crusade to prove him innocent.

It makes for compelling reading. Laura’s ten diary entries are interspersed through the first half of the book. They are often several pages long and written in italics, which makes it easy to differentiate from the main story.

Laura’s voice is different from Hannah’s as well. In her diaries, she sounds young, impressionable, naïve, and in love. Today, she fluctuates between complaining bitterly and sobbing pitifully. She is so dependent on Hannah that Hannah feels tremendous guilt going to Virginia.

Don’t be fooled when the story seems to slow down a little in the middle and you think you know where it is going. It isn’t. It becomes a thriller. They have a very short deadline to appeal the case, necessitating some interstate travel and questionable investigating.

After the last few years of political and pandemic news, I'm not going to quibble about reality. I’m happy to suspend disbelief for the sake of a good yarn. I also have no idea how accurate the legal side of the story is, but I did want to know what came next.

“The courtroom settled again into tense, anticipatory silence. Hannah was painfully aware that every person in the courtroom was focused on her and on what she might say next.”

In spite of whatever artistic licence McTiernan found necessary for the telling, I enjoyed this story. I think she is probably going to appeal to a wider audience with this one, although I missed her usual Irish landscape, and I wish she would try an Aussie one.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted.

*Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow & Company for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.* I have been a big fan of Dervla McTiernan for sometime, so was very excited to see that she has a new book coming out. I must admit, I was slightly disappointed when I discovered that the book was sent in the US rather than Ireland, but once I began reading the book, the reason behind the choice of location became immediately clear. The book centres on young university student, Hannah Rokeby, who manages to talk her way into a spot on the Innocence Project (hence the need to set the story in the US). All is not how it seems, however, as layer upon layer of mystery and intrigue are revealed. The story moves between the modern day and a few decades early as the two stories slowly converge. An enjoyable and intriguing read. I can't wait to see what McTiernan produces next.

Delva McTiernans's fourth and stand alone novel does not disappoint.
Hannah, a young law student in Maine, is desperate to join the Innocence Project team at a university in Virginia. This is a team that works to prove people innocent when they have been gaoled. We wonder why Hannah is so desperate, though a motive does become possible. McTiernan provides plenty of possibilities for the reader's' conjecture and at one point, several possibilities present themselves.
The story is told about Hannah, and by her mother, Laura in diary form. They are easily distinguished.
As usual, McTiernan presents a wide range of fully developed, complex characters
This book could also have been called Deception, as many, not all, practice deception.