This book just wasn’t for me. I am in the minority! Seems like everyone else is loving this. THe first 40%had me intrigued and interested. Started to slow down for the middle 25% but then picked back up. First few pages were explosive and left me wanting more information about the fire. Plot alternated between Mary and the police investigation. There were quite a bit of police involved as multiple sites were part of a task force. Mary’s back story isn’t revealed until the end as a “twist” For many readers, I’m sure this worked for some readers. . I knew something was odd about her history but it felt rushed or like the expected “got ya” moment to me.
Many suspect red herrings that were very obvious. As soon as Mary became suspicious and convinced that one of her friends or coworkers was involved, it was clear she was wrong. The real killer was a little surprising but there weren’t many options either by the time it was revealed. I enjoyed parts of this but felt the pacing was off.
Other readers have loved it!

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the ARC in exchange for my review.

So good! Really enjoyed the plot and characters and kept me guessing throughout the story. Definitely recommend to any thriller lover! Thank you NetGalley for this ARC

A crime writer named Mary is going through a bunch of holiday gifts she has received. Paging through an office diary, she sees the first day of the first four months have the first name and city of someone to be murdered, with April bearing her name and city. This setup brought to mind Agatha Christie's "The ABC Murders" where the killer telegraphs ahead of time the name and city of a person that will be killed. A great jumping off point for a thriller. Mary gives the diary to the police and from that point the novel alternates between her first person POV and the third person POV of various police personnel in the different cities. Lots of twists and turns and an unexpected killer. Fun read.

Whoa! What the heck did I just read, and why have I not heard of Jackie Kabler before now?

Would you rather know or not know your death date? Mary has no choice in the matter as she's gifted a diary that includes her first name with the notation "1st April MURDER MARY, CHELTENHAM". There's a slim chance that she is not the Mary in question, but reader, you know that's not true!

With four named victims, one already murdered, police are baffled. There is no obvious connection among the people on the list, and no way for the police to narrow down the targets with such common and popular names. The best they can hope for is that the killer makes a mistake.

I have a serious case of whiplash from all of the twists and turns revealed as the story unfolds! I found myself shouting out loud "whoa!" and then a few pages later "whoa"! Excuse my cliches, but my heart was in my throat as I waited with bated breath to see who the killer might be.

I love that Kabler executed (no pun intended) this novel with no missteps in her storyline - it was tightly written with no plot holes and the characters of Mary and her flat mate, Peter were engaging. This is on my list of "I stayed up until my eyes bled" books!

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK/One More Chapter for introducing me to this clever author!

A juicy new murder mystery by an author I've enjoyed previously. The setting is several cities close to each other in Ireland. The time frame covers about four months, from Dec. through April.
Mary is a freelance crime writer who rents a workspace with an diverse medley of other professionals. Mary survived a deadly house fire as a teen which claimed her father, a famous crime author, and her best friend. Mary has some secrets in her past. Connecting the clues is a part of the mystery. She has a housemate, longtime friend Pete, as a renter.
Mary receives lots of Christmas gifts from editors, etc. She doesn't immediately open them all. When she finally gets around to them, one package with no card is an office desk diary. Before putting in the toss or donate pile, she flips through the pages. The first day of several months has a first name and the word "murder". April 1 has "Mary".
The first name in the diary is in fact murdered.  Mary contacts local police with the diary and it's named potential victims. The investigation gets underway there are four different stations and DCI's involved. As each potential victim is only identified by a first name, they struggle to make any headway.
There was plenty of suspense and many viable suspects for the killer. The characters were well described. It was an easy read and there were twists which surprised me. There was a predictable event, but it didn't deter from the overall plot. The only small quibble for me was Mary's overall reaction to the possibility she was the target of a killer. She did fret and worry a lot, but she carried on with everyday life normally. I have never knowingly been the target of a murderer, however;  I'm pretty sure I would go into pure panic and utter hysteria. It is a fictional murder mystery and the perpetrator was not who I expected, so it was worth reading. I would read this author again.
Thanks to NetGalley for the advance digital copy of "The Murder List" by Jackie Kabler and to One More Chapter, Harper Collins. These are my honest personal thoughts and opinions given voluntarily.

What would you do if you received a list of murder victims with your name as the last victim?

I enjoyed The Murder List, it was a fresh idea with so many twists and turns. The book was well written and I liked Mary as the main character.

I didn’t see the twists coming and the story had me guessing the whole way through. I would recommend The Murder List.

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

Well, this one had a very unexpected twist! This is my favorite by this author so far! Nobody in this book is who they seem, not even the protagonist. Worth a read!

3.5 stars
Overall a pretty standard mystery/thriller
It has some pretty good twists, but it can also be a bit tedious at times.

The Murder List by Jackie Kabler is a quick, fast-paced thriller involving Mary, who receives an interesting gift of a mostly blank diary that includes names & dates. All of a sudden, Mary realizes she recognizes the name & date as that of a recent murder. Are the other names future murders & why is Mary’s name on the list last?? Read The Murder List to find out!
This book begins in an utterly terrifying description of a tragedy & takes off from there: I enjoyed this mystery book full of multiple twists.
The main character is scarred from a fire when she was younger. I was so excited to see a main character with scars. I have many, including an 18 inch scar on my spine & it’s rare to hear about them so I just had to shoutout my appreciation for that. Also, there was a lovely side character who was a wheelchair user & absolutely thriving. Something else that is rare to be represented in books & deserved mentioning, my sincerest of thanks to the author for both of those things from a disabled woman with scars!
In the midst of the big reveal & climatic scene, the main character makes a super obvious mistake, which I know could be due to stress, etc. but I got irritated because it was such a simple error for an intelligent character. There also were a few moments where the police did things that didn’t make sense to me but I suppose everyone makes mistakes
I wasn’t able to guess all of the surprising moments & I always appreciate when that happens. There was also a lot of explaining of the ending & I appreciated how it tied everything together.
Overall The Murder List by Jackie Kabler is an interesting & twisty psychological thriller that is great for mystery fans. I gave it 3.5 stars!
The Murder List comes out May 31, 2022!

Massive thanks to NetGalley & HarperCollins UK One More Chapter for giving me the opportunity to read an arc of this in exchange for an honest review.

Trigger warnings: This book mentions &/or contains fire, violence, murder, gore, abuse & cheating.

I will post on my Instagram before release & add links once I do.

Wow wow and wow.
So many twists and turns throughout this book and such an original idea for a thriller too.
Written in ‘real-time’ we follow the main character through the months leading you to her intended murder. The diary killer has named 4 people that will die on a certain date. The first three have happened and Mary from Cheltenham is the last.

The writing was sublime and yet another author on my watch list. The twists and turns led me to several conclusions but I did not foresee that ending.

Great book, great final chapter twist to finish

Mary Ellis is a crime reporter and she lives with her best friend Peter Chong and Pete has a girlfriend Megan walker but they don’t live together Pete rents a room of Mary and is her lodger he does own his own home but he rents it to a work colleague
Mary receives a parcel at work which she thinks is a present so takes it home to open Christmas but when she opens it up theirs no label from who it’s from and she was going to put it in a charity bag when she thought she should look at it first when she opens it up it’s got 1st January murder Lisa in Oxford then on the 1st of February it’s got murder Jane Birmingham then on 1st march murder David Cardiff and 1st April murder Mary Cheltenham which at first she wonders is it someone having a sick joke but a woman was on the news for being murdered on the 1st January and her name was Lisa so Mary decides to take it to their police station
Totally recommend this was gripping from start to finish and so many twists throughout
Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins Uk One More Chapter
I just reviewed The Murder List by Jackie Kabler. #NetGalley

I really enjoyed this book for the most part, once the storyline picked up I was glued to my seat to find out what happened next!

I slowly plodded through this book. It started off well but soon got tedious. The suspense was lacking and the characters were rather boring. It just was not as good as I had expected.

A does-what-it-says-on-the-tin cosy suspense. Great premise - not unlike The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie although it went off in its own unique direction. The author was good at conjuring up a large field of suspects. With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.

The Murder List
By Jackie Kabler

Review:  I expected this story to be more from Mary's point of view. I wish the chapters had names or titles. It would make it easier to keep track of who is speaking. It took me a few chapters to get into the rhythm of this book. There were a few twists in the storyline. It was a slow burn. Am I glad I read this book?  Yes. Will I re-read it?  No.

I'm thinking of adding this to my reviews. Let me know what you think. Buy. Borrow, Bud (audio) or Bypass.  This one: borrow.


Read this book if :
📝 you like easy to read thrillers. Nothing dark and twisted.
📝 total resolution at the end
📝 a secret love story that plays a small part of the story.

Thank you to @netgalley, Harper Collins UK & One More Chapter for an ARC of this book for my review.

This was my first Jackie Kabler book and I thoroughly enjoyed the read. Mary, a crime writer, finds herself in the middle of a crimes of a possible serial killer. She has received and put aside the gift of a diary. A month or so later when she opens it to identify the sender she finds a macabre list of murders yet to be committed, with herself as the final victim. This is a thriller with plenty of twists and red herrings. It kept me guessing.

I struggled with this book. the first half was really good but it became clear where the story was going and the second half was just hard to read and keep going almost like wading through treacle at times. I did finish the book eventually but never really enjoyed it all that much. All overall the book felt rushed and no consideration was put into the second part of the book. Not good enough

What a great book this is, I loved everything about it from the very first page until the last. Extremely well written with well described characters, such a great story line which got better and better the more pages I read and was completely hooked.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins (OMC) for this brilliant ARC which I can thoroughly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to receive an arc in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own!


So; overall, I liked the book. The writing format was great, the pov was fine. The last chapter … just wasn’t necessary. I feel like the twists were enough, but that’s just me! Would still say it’s a good one for thriller/mystery readers though!

Wow! I loved this book and it was a keep you up till you finish it book. Never read anything by the author before but this was such a good book I was impressed.