Advanced
Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Title details for The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan - Available

The Murder Rule

A Novel

by Dervla McTiernan
Kate Orsini
Audiobook
4 of 6 copies available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
4 of 6 copies available

A New York Times best thriller of the year!

""Matters culminate in a courtroom fireworks display worthy of Perry Mason in his prime. The Murder Rule holds one's interest from its cheeky opening pages through its final scene."" —Wall Street Journal

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 bestselling 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.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 10, 2022

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780063042247
      • File size: 268687 KB
      • Duration: 09:19:45

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      January 1, 2022

      Irish-born McTiernan ("Cormac Reilly" series), who now lives in Australia, sets this stand-alone suspense novel in the United States. Hannah is a law student at the University of Maine. Leaving her ill mother, she heads to the University of Virginia for a semester and volunteers for the Innocence Project, pulling strings and manipulating situations until she gets a place on the team seeking to free Michael Dandridge, who was convicted of murder. But Hannah's motivations for getting close to the Dandridge case are very different from what she claims. Hannah's story alternates with diary entries written by her mother, Laura, when Laura was a young woman working at a resort on Maine's Mount Desert Island and cleaning houses for extra money. There Laura met a wealthy young man named Tom and they fell in love, before he died in an apparent accident. Hannah works steadily to derail the Project's work on Dandridge's behalf, but the longer she spends on the case, the more cause she has to wonder if she's on the right side. Kate Orsini, Sophie Amoss, and Michael Crouch capably narrate this twisty story that will please listeners who enjoy Ruth Ware and Tana French. VERDICT Fans of psychological suspense or McTiernan's previous books will devour this one. Recommended for public library collections.--Stephanie Klose

      Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      January 10, 2022
      In 2019, University of Maine law student Hannah Rokeby, the protagonist of this entertaining if flawed psychological thriller from Thriller Award winner McTiernan (The Scholar), shares a home with Laura, her alcoholic mother, until she transfers to the University of Virginia, where she wangles a highly desirable job with the law school’s Innocence Project, which tracks down new evidence in cases of individuals convicted of a crime, but who profess their innocence. She’s assigned to work on freeing Michael Dandridge, who’s on death row, having served 11 years for the rape and murder of Sarah Fitzhugh. Meanwhile, vivid excerpts from her mother’s diary recount dramatic events surrounding the death of wealthy Tom Spencer in 1994, when Laura was working as a maid at an exclusive hotel in Seal Harbor, Maine. McTiernan keeps the suspense high as she gradually reveals how Spencer’s death relates to Hannah’s work on the Dandridge case. Unfortunately, the rush to the finish is riddled with unaddressed issues, like why no one challenges Hannah after she admits in court that she broke into a sheriff’s garage to obtain evidence. McTiernan has done better. Agent: Shane Salerno, Story Factory.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      McTiernan, whose Cormac Reilly series is set in Ireland, has ventured to the U.S. for this stand-alone legal thriller. The story is delivered by three talented narrators. Kate Orsini voices third-year law student Hannah with a mission-driven intensity. However, Orsini struggles to credibly convey a key male character who is British. Hannah's chapters, which take place in 2019, alternate with those of her mother, Laura, who is confidently performed by Sophie Amoss as she reads Laura's diary from 1994. Toward the conclusion, listeners hear from Sean, a law student, voiced by Michael Crouch. Crouch masterfully delivers the most tension-filled part of the story. While the plot stretches credulity at every turn, it does elucidate the challenges to the legal system, and to listeners, of judging guilt or innocence. E.Q. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Loading
OverDrive service is made possible by NOBLE member libraries and the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners with funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.