Jack is a defense attorney in Boston. As an experienced litigator, he is on The Murder List. The list is a list of attorneys from which the state picks the person to defend accused murderers.

Rachel is married to Jack. She is also a third-year law student scheduled to intern with Jack’s arch-nemesis, Assistant District Attorney, Martha Gardiner. Rachel’s first day begins with a murder case. The victim, Tassie, is found dead under her kitchen table with no obvious wounds.

In alternating chapters, Rachel’s previous career working for Senator Rafferty is described in flashback. Unfortunately, I wasn’t captivated by the flashbacks and skimmed most of them to get back to the “meat” of the story. Until the surprising twist in the story, which forced me to go back and read them more carefully.

The Murder List is crafted carefully to fool the reader and fool me it did. And I love that! All the clues were hidden in plain sight. Only my assumptions prevented me from seeing them. Because of the excellent twist—hiding just slightly under my radar, the originality of the plot, and the clear tying up of all the loose ends in the final chapters, I give this book 4.5 stars rounded up to 5 stars! It is highly recommended for all thriller readers.

Thank you to Forge Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Like a well laid out lawyer's brief, this story sets the stage for a superb legal game of cat and mouse. The main protagonist, Rachel, a law school 3L, is spending her summer internship in the Middlesex County D.A.'s office, much to Jack's, (her husband's), chagrin. He's a well respected defense attorney whose firm Rachel intends joining upon passing the Massachusetts bar. She believes that interning with "the enemy" will yield insights to better prepare future defense cases.

Years ago, D.A. Martha, lost a murder case to Jack which shamed her and knocked her down a few notches, forcing her out of her Suffolk County D.A. post to the lower one in Middlesex County. Martha and Jack are both winners and poor losers - each holding great animosity for the other. Martha is eager to make the streets safer at all cost, perhaps using slightly speculative methods. Jack wants to give every poor accused perpetrator the right to a fair trial. If he can get them off on a technical detail, all the better - the DA didn't do their homework to make their case strong enough. As it turns out, Rachel too, was somewhat involved in that case as she was chief of staff to the senator whose wife was accused of the murder.

It appears that Martha still has a bad taste in her mouth regarding that case from six years back and utilizes her interns, including Rachel, to build a stronger and better case against the defense. But who does Martha have in her sites, (aside from Jack)? Therein lies the question.

Ryan deftly creates well-developed characters, each with their own flaws, making them that much more believable. She spins a tale, holding the readers interest right up to the final moments. Although setting the stage in the early chapters was a bit slow, half-way through the story the momentum accelerates as it passes through twists, turns and results in various red herrings. The climax is spectacular. If you enjoy good courtroom drama, legal and police procedurals, then this could well be a book for you.

I am grateful to Macmillan Tor/Forge Publishing and author Hank Phillippi Ryan for having provided a free uncorrected digital copy of this book through NetGalley. Their generosity, however, did not influence this review - the words of which are mine alone.

COMPELLING SUSPENSE! Once you start reading @hankpryan’s THE MURDER LIST, you won’t want to stop until you’ve read the last word! It’s that compelling! Her characters are perfect for this plot - all are complex, some are endearing, some are underrated, some are evil & at least one is the queen of manipulation and cunning. The setting is around the State House in Boston, MA, the Offices of the Senate President and the homes of people involved in the main case as well as two other cases that seem to be relevant. The plot is suspenseful and and will keep you intrigued and guessing until the very end. The conclusion will blow you away! I was provided an ARC of this book by Forge Books and NetGalley. The opinions expressed here are completely my own and without influence.

I am going to be a VERY unpopular opinion with this one.

I'm all for courtroom drama, but this...was just drama. It felt like I was reading a daytime soap. The storytelling was slow and repetitive. Hello Y&R!

I could have skipped from chapter 1 to chapter 5 and it would still be the same thing: the mention of Jack being a lawyer who hates losing, his hatred for Martha Gardiner and Rachel the law student, who also happens to be Gardiner's intern.

I also found it juvenile at times. Rachel was like a melodramatic teenager trapped in a 36 year old's body.

The premise is what hooked me, and I liked the alternating timelines, but I just didn't have the patience for this one. Sorry..

Favorite Quotes:

My new boss. Martha Gardiner. The woman Jack usually refers to as “Satan in pearls.” He never laughs when he says it.

Forget the speed of light. Nothing travels faster than gossip… Secrets only take a few beats longer. Gossip is the fuel of power.

At noon, Kurt had brought us lunch, wrapped in the white waxed paper of the Pietro Pan Deli. The Italian sandwiches had too much salami and too many onions, and I’d wondered if that was a sneaky way to encourage us to hurry. I wished the jury room had windows we could open.

You could send lawyers to law school. And judges to judge school, or whatever they had. And those people were versed in all the rules. But at the end of all the rule-following and objections and legal procedures, when the gavel banged and the door closed, when you got into a jury room, it was regular people. Flawed people. Biased people. Who may or may not agree to those rules. Who can manipulate and pressure and influence. And, depending on the power of jurors’ consciences, no one would ever know.

I flinch at the sound of my name. I’ve felt so invisible, even I almost forgot I was here.

My Review:

This was extremely clever, so smartly plotted, brilliantly paced, and engagingly written. I fell right inside and didn’t surface for most of the day, only under the threat with death by my internal organs and whining from my neglected husband. This was my first experience reading this sly wordsmith and I was a quick convert, I’ll buy whatever she’s selling as I totally fell for her tricks, I never saw it coming. The writing was superb and cleverly amusing as well as perceptively detailed, but the characters - they were vibrant and alive for me on the page. Ms. Ryan has exceptionally strong word voodoo. Like a binging dieter, I greedily want to amass and consume all her clever words.

Hank Phillippi Ryan delivers another fantastic thriller with The Murder List. I loved the alternating points of view and I was honestly glued to my Kindle. I read this in one sitting! Like all of her books, this was extremely well-written. If you enjoy legal thrillers, definitely pick this one up.

If you are like me and love legal thrillers then you will love Hank Phillippi Ryan and The Murder List!

I love how this book was written in alternating point of views. It was done amazing and kept me glued to my kindle. Hank also had me guessing who the killer was and I was shocked!!

I am looking forward to read more from Hank Phillippi Ryan!!!!

Just under a year ago, I read Ryan's Trust Me and she quickly became an author that I wanted to keep an eye out for! So, I was quite excited to read her latest novel through NetGalley. Alternating perspectives and time periods from before (about six years earlier than the present), this book engages readers from the very start.

Rachel North is a law student after changing careers and anticipating joining her husband at his law firm. But he's less than thrilled about her internship with the Boston DA - a woman who he seems to personally dislike. The past sections chronicle Rachel's previous political career - and the murder cases along the way in both timelines.

With brief chapters, it is easy to keep the pages turning here. Main character, Rachel, though feels almost painfully clueless at times. It's hard to see her as a real heroine as both timelines reveal her to be a woman very grounded in the main man in her life to the exclusion of all else. She has no real friends and her actions and thoughts will make you want to reach through the pages and throttle her at times.

The ending twist (such a staple of this genre) isn't hard to see coming, but would have been even stronger if the book hadn't ventured into other perspectives and had just stuck with Rachel alone. None of the characters are particularly likable and the idea that clip-on earrings are so prevalent definitely defies belief. The book doesn't really overall feel all that plausible, but it is entertaining - though the odd legal angle and this portrayal of the legal system ventures into being just plain depressing. Still, it held my interest from start to finish and I enjoyed the Boston setting.

If you like legal thrillers this is a good one. I have not read a Hank Phillippi Ryan book before although I know there is one sitting on my bookshelf I haven't gotten to yet. This book is told from alternating points of view and as the blurb about the book says - it is a cat and mouse game the whole book through. between Rachel, her husband Jack and Martha the District Attorney. I didn't particularly like the characters but they were well written - I never guessed who the murderer was and that was a plus for me. I typically don't enjoy legal thrillers but this one was pretty good. It was a bit of a slow burn read but it kept my interest and I did like the ending.

Love the alternating points of view because it really helps to hide the reality of the ending. The characters are well written and real at least as far as lawyers are portrayed on the different television shows that I have seen. Ms. Ryan has herself yet another bestseller in this book! I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reading copy of this book via NetGalley!

I always seem to have difficulties with Hank Phillippi Ryan’s books. While her books have a great concept or premise, there also always seems to be a shade of unethical behavior or, at the very least, unprofessional behavior that’s hard to ignore.

The same can be said for her latest book, The Murder List. The Murder List is a legal drama that involves a law student, Rachel North, who is a summer intern for a county prosecutor. While it sounds straight-forward and unencumbered, there is much more to the story. Rachel is married to Jack Kirkland, a powerful and successful defense attorney who is on “the murder list” - a list of practicing attorneys who provide legal services for defendants who are unable to afford an attorney of their own.

So far so good. However, the assistant district attorney, Martha Gardiner , is an old nemesis of Jack’s and Rachel wants to work with her in order to learn her strategies and thought processes. She is of the opinion that this will be helpful, once she is a full-fledged attorney and has joined her husband’s law firm. Her husband hates the idea that his wife is working for the “enemy”, even though it’s only for the summer. At this point, I had to suspend my beliefs. This did not seem like normal behavior for a law student or an assistant district attorney. The words “conflict of interest” and “unprofessional” and maybe even “unethical” was thundering through my mind.

However, I continued to plow my way through the story. I found Rachel to be quite annoying and, at times, too submissive to her overbearing husband. At the same time the three main characters play passive-aggressive games with each other. That’s something I didn’t find appealing either. The story moved from past history, before Jack and Rachel were married, to present events. I often found this to be awkward and disorganized. I would have given this book 2 stars if it wasn’t for the unexpected ending, which did prove to redeem the book and its story to a certain degree. For that reason, I will bump my rating up to 3 stars.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review.

This book is a great legal thriller! All though the book I was unsure as to who was the murderer! So we have Rachel who seems to be a bit naïve with the ways of the world. She can't seem to stay out of a court room or away from murders! Jack a defense attorney who believes everyone deserves a fair trial. Than Martha the prosecutor who is still looking for a killer from 6 years ago. I don't want to give too much away, it is a great fast read. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Thank You NetGalley, Forge Books and Macmillan Publishing!

Just literally finished this amazing legal thriller The Murder List by Hank Philippi Ryan & Man was it delish!

I’m just really blown away by this book! So well written - like a cross between a domestic thriller and a courtroom drama I sucked in at the beginning and spit out in pieces on the last page.

Just brilliant - shaking my head still!
Read. This. Book. You won’t be disappointed!

Just felt so betrayed and almost sad that it ended the way it did- but was in awe at the same time!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Rating for me on this one for sure !

Loved every word! 🖤

When you close a book and your first thought is ---- "wow, what did I just read? I need to read it again!" you know you read a book that will stay with you for a long time. A combination of riveting characters and a court drama that true crime fans can dig their teeth into this novel is one of the best of 2019! could be read in the final days of summer or wrapped in a blanket. Addictively written

If you want an intriguing read, this book is for you. Kept me wanting more and more and am only disappointed because I've finished the book! 🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2 outstanding stars for this one!

The Murder List is an exciting and thought provoking legal thriller. The story is told alternating between the past and the present. It is a tangle of three lives that have intersected before.
I highly recommend this book because of the way it is written. The actions from the present keep you questioning the motives of the characters. As the story from the past was being revealed I wondered at its importance to the present. The alternating time lines adds to the overall intrigue -just wait till the end, you’ll never see it coming.
Thank you #Netgalley and #ForgeBooks for approving my request for an ARC of #TheMurderList by #HankPhillipiRyan. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.

3.5 stars, rounded. I spent a good portion of this book guessing, and then second guessing, whether I'd spotted the truth through the veil of deceit in this one, and the final payoff was worth the journey. This was an intriguing legal suspense story, and it has readers guessing who the "good guys" really are. It weaves together a connected past/present storyline that both feature Rachel, a woman who is, in the present, a law student fulfilling a required internship with her lawyer husband's arch-rival. How the story connects in the past is part of the suspense, so I'll leave you guessing on that one. The pacing varied, but some of what felt like filler ended up being important later. Another solid pick from Hank Phillippi Ryan!

Another amazing thriller this year! If enjoy legal thrillers and courtroom drama be sure to add this to your tbr.This was my first time reading a book by Hank Phillipi Ryan and definitely will not be my last. The story is told from multiple prespectives in varying time frames. The characters are well developed. The writing is marvelous and makes all the characters seem a little suspicious at times making you wonder who actually is the guilty party providing an ending that was truly shocking.
Law student Rachel North landed an internship for the summer with assistant DA Martha Gardiner. This seems like a dream come true except for the fact Martha is enemies with Rachel's husband. Jack, a defense attorney, who is on the murder list, a special group of attorneys. Rachel is planning to join Jack in a partnership once her internship is over and passes the bars. But things start to go awry when a cold case from 6 years ago is being reopened. The cold case just so happens to be someone who Rachel had worked with at a previous job with Tom Rafferty. Rachel isn't worried and seems on board with solving the mystery of what happened.


I would like to thank Macmillan, Tor/Forge Forge books for a copy in exchange for an honest review

Review can also be found on my goodreads and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/teatime_with_a_book

This book for me was a definite slow burn. I didn't read it as fast as I normally do thrillers or legal dramas. That being said, I loved how the different character storylines all started to intersect and overlap. That is one of my favourite qualities in a book!
This book kept me guessing and I always felt like I was a step behind which made for turning pages quicker and quicker.
I will say that the one downfall for me was that it took me awhile to read. I think the reason for this was because I found the sentence quite fragmented, which didn't provide a good reading flow for me.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I started this one, as it is my first foray into a novel by Hank Phillipi Ryan, but once I got started, well, it had me holding onto my seat. Ryan has crafted a complex and intriguing story with characters to match. Rachel North is a law student who has reinvented herself at 36. Married to a top defense lawyer, she has plans to join his firm – after an internship with his biggest rival in the District Attorney’s office. Her husband is convinced it is to get inside information on him, Rachel plans to learn the ADA’s style to better defend against her when she joins her husband’s firm after graduation, but what’s the ADA’s motivation?
When a cold case that links them all is reopened, things really start to get interesting. Who’s telling the truth, who’s lying, and why is the case being reopened after so many years?
Told in a dual timeline from all three perspectives, Ryan will keep you on the edge of your seat as you barrel through this thriller. The ending was a total shock to me, and I loved it!
#tallpoppywriter #bloomreads #tallpoppyreviewer #TheMurderList #HankPhillipiRyan