Cover Image: The Murder List

The Murder List

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Member Reviews

Fast, paced, suspenseful, mysterious and atmospheric. It is well written with a gripping storyline and well developed characters. I couldn't put it down, full of twists and unpredictability, I loved it.

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Mary is a crime writer, freelance and rents office space with some other self employed people. Her father who tragically died in a fire where Mary survived was a famous crime novelist. Amongst her Christmas gifts is a diary, which she assumes is from one of the publishers she works for. She doesn't open it until january as she doesnt use a paper diary, and finds some chilling entries- “ murder Lisa Oxford 1st Jan” and 3 others on different dates. The first date has already passed and a woman named Lisa has been found dead. She takes her finding to the police and she decides to do a little investigative work for herself. A crime piece that has fallen into her hands and not least of all as she may be the last name on the list.
I quickly got into this and felt for Mary’s predicament. It's a well written read which soon envelopes you between the pages and I found myself ever more intrigued. A very clever plot and a twist and then…. I won’t spoil it other than to say I didn't see it coming- to me the skill of a brilliant writer and just how I love it. A huge 5* from me

#blogtour

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Wow, this was as twisty as a book gets' I loved it, the pace was good, the story was great, and it was full of surprises. I love a book that I haven't managed to completely work out when I have read most of it, and this was one of those books ,fabulous. Kept me guessing until the very end..

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The Murder List ! Jackie Kabler is the author of The Perfect Couple and The Happy Family - this is her new psychological thriller and it's fast moving fun.

Mary works in a publishing house and things nothing of the journal that arrives on her desk during the holidays. It's not until a month later that she realizes there is a list of names, dates and towns.

It quickly becomes clear that a person is schedule to be murdered the first of the month. As the police attempt to find answers, Mary herself is a suspect. She is increasingly more and. more nervous as the April 1st date looms and the name Mary is written down next. Can she get to the bottom of this before the killer finds her?

This was fast moving and a quick thriller. It was not thoroughly engrossing but I enjoyed it and you will too! If you like procedurals, mysteries with psychological themes then The Murder List is for you! #harpercollins #harpercollinsuk #onemorechapter

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Woah! OMG! Wow!

What a book!

So incredibly clever, and I had strong gut feelings as to who was behind everything and was completely dumfounded by the finale as a result.

There is so much more to many of the characters than meets the eyes. There are many red herrings, and I'm never really sure how things would turn out.

For everything is pointing to the fact that on 1st April, Mary will die, and she is our main character, and main view point, and you get to know her well as she tries along with the police to see if they can track down the diary killer before it gets to her turn.

It is such a fabulous concept and so great to see how the police could react if they are given a partial threat to a common first name, city and date but nothing else to go on whether they will take it seriously, how they can even remotely comprehend keeping people in their town safe etc..

I loved the snippets from the four police forces working together to try identify and catch this potentially sick and twisted person.

I thought the previous Jackie Kabler psychological thrillers were fantastic, and this one ramps up the writing, the tension, the generally addictiveness. I couldn't get enough of it, and it is utterly amazing.

Had me completely hooked and it even seemed to help combat my long covid exhaustion as I was feeling really alert from reading this fabulous story.

Thank you to One More Chapter and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

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I liked this but didn't love it. I think the book suffered from the inevitable comparison with 'Nine Lives' which has a very similar premise and which was absolutely brilliant.

The story was pretty good but I didn't feel much connection with the characters. I thought the beginning and end were quite exciting to read but the pace lagged a bit in the middle. I enjoyed most of the twists and was surprised by them but I thought the last one was too much and unnecessary.

I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend the book but it was an enjoyable read so I wouldn't want to put anyone off giving it a go either.

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Jackie Kabler is one of my favorite authors and she knows how to write a thriller which keeps us up at night and rushing through to discover the villain. In this brilliant outing, Mary is a crime writer who receives a unsolicited diary around Christmas which has four entries - a name, a place and a date only. Murder victims, Mary herself is the last name. Throwing herself into the investigation with several English police stations Mary is determined to thwart this killer., but with few clues and few connections between the victims amaryllis has to suspect everyone in her life. So do we and switch our predictions with every twist and nuance. The fast pace, tense thriller keeps Mary and I on our toes and neither of us identified the killer until the last few pages….excellent read again!

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The Murder List is Nine Lives meets The Plot. Mary is sent a list of four people to be killed on specific dates and she is the final name. One by one the others are killed until she's up unless she figures out who it is in time. But she's got her own ace up her sleeve even if she doesn't by the time the killer comes for her. This book had me scared. It was so drawn out and so many people were acting super creepy. I wasn't impressed by the final reveal though. I also didn't like the love interest. Mary thinks he's a "good one" yet he started dating her while with another girl. . . yikes. I did like the secrets revealing around Mary, just feel like I've read it before. I'd recommend if you liked Nine Lives or The Plot.

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wow this book is outstanding what a Psychological thriller book this is made the hairs on my arms stand at at times as its that good , Will Mary uncover the truth before the 1st April ?

I won't ruin this review with any spoilers but I would Highly recommend this book.

Many thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc of this book in exchange for this honest review

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I really love books like this they remind me of Agatha Christie. It’s incredibly fast paced thriller/mystery. I couldn’t wait to find out what was happening and kept reading. This book is an absolute winner!

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I would like to thank the author, the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this book. Having read previous books by this author and enjoying them, I was looking forward to this book and I wasn't disappointed, it had a great story and some very interesting characters, with lots of twists I would definitely recommend this book.

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I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the suspects lined themselves up nicely and I had picked out who I guessed was responsible but no matter how guilty they made themselves look, I was mistaken. This didn't lessen my enjoyment for the book and ending with the final twists actually making sense once I had read them.
This was another book I needed to keep reading to find out if they would figure it all out in time and who wrote the diary entries. There was more than enough history to the characters to keep me interested and twists and turns in the day to day entries to make it a good read for me.
I'm so pleased I got to read this thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter, I will now be looking for more books by this author, I enjoyed it that much!

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Good book! This book had so many twists and turns! It also had suspense, intrigue, mystery, murder, and a great who done it! I thought I had it all figured out, but woah! The twists in this book definitely got me! Lol I definitely enjoyed reading this book! It was well worth reading! I will definitely recommend reading this one! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!

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After reading and enjoying The Perfect Couple by Jackie Kabler I couldn't wait to get my hands on this. This book surprised me, I thought I knew where it was going and then about two thirds in bam, I was thrown for a loop. I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING. I really liked that this story is told from the point of view of a potential victim, who also happens to be a crime reporter, as well as from the different police officers on the case.

This plot was unique and very intriguing and I had a hard time putting it down because I really wanted to know what would happen next, leaving me begging to find out the who and the why. I loved being surprised by the twists and the fact that the writing style was so engrossing. I found the way the chapters were formatted as a countdown really heightened the intensity, especially the later chapters. What I didn't like was the very last chapter...I was happy enough to let some of the unbelievable parts pass but that last chapter was just too much for me to be able to give this four stars.

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I was super excited to be approved for this because the premise reminded me of The Hit List by Holly Seddon, but unfortunately this was NOT it. First of all, you find a murder diary that lines up with an actual real life murder and you're like HMMMMM maybe this is serious? Maybe not? What do you think magic eight ball?! Then she takes it to the police and theyre like wow interesting, hope this isn't accurate teehee. Also, so much filler text about nonsensical, unimportant crap. I had to tap out.

Thank you for the ARC.

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This book was sent to me by Netgalley electronically for review. This is an unusual book with so many surprises that it is difficult to keep up sometimes. The protagonist receives a book that contains a murder list. Will she be last? Is it someone from her past who knows her secrets? Nothing is as it seems in this story. This author is talented and gifted in weaving an ingenious story about people who are just not what/who they seem...just when I thought I had discerned the mystery, another hint was given. I liked this book. I really liked this book. I am not sure that I like the ending...no spoilers...but perhaps there was no other way to end this book of puzzles...a book of puzzles...just as one is solved...another one arises...don't miss this one...enjoy...it is a can't put down...

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#TheMurderList #NetGalley
Mind numbing.
Mary receives a blank diary as a present, she thinks nothing of it. Until she opens the diary, and sees it’s not blank after all…
1st January MURDER LISA, OXFORD
1st February MURDER JANE, BIRMINGHAM
1st March MURDER DAVID, CARDIFF
1st April MURDER MARY, CHELTENHAM
Is this some kind of sick joke? But…it’s the end of January now. And a woman named Lisa was murdered in Oxford on 1st January.
Does that mean there really is a killer out there, planning to commit a new murder on the first of each month? And is the Mary due to be killed on 1st April her?
Loved this.
Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK One More Chapter for giving me an advance copy.

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What would you do? Mary’s new diary isn’t as new as she thought, there are entries for the first day of the month. The entries are short and simple…. the name of a woman, the name of a city and the words, kill her. It might seem like a bad joke, except that the first entry has proven to be true, a Lisa in Oxford has been murdered. And if that’s true, is the Mary that’s going to be murdered on May 1st, her?

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Murder Predicted…
When Mary receives a diary for Christmas she thinks nothing of it. So little of it, in fact, that she puts it to one side for charity. Briefly glancing through it first, much later in January, she finds…the murder list. With the first murder already having happened as the diary predicts, she goes to the police. She cannot begin to comprehend the catalogue of chaos that will ensue as each murder occurs as predicted. Mary knows that she may be the fourth predication. As the plot picks up, it proceeds swiftly to a wholly bizarre and action packed denouement and is never as predictable as you may at first imagine. A seriously fun, one sit read with a likeable main protagonist who has her own secrets, a compulsive and enjoyable narrative and an entertaining storyline.

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