The Murder Rule in Aussie Readers

May 07, 2022 Brenda rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: aussie-authors, 2022-release, mystery, 3500-2022, read-on-kindle, net-galley, thriller, crime, arc, own-read

Law student, Hannah Rokeby quietly left the house, leaving a note for her mother Laura, knowing she would be upset she’d left, but also knowing she had no choice. Hannah had read Laura’s long-ago written diaries and knew about the man, Michael Dandridge, and what he’d done. Now Hannah was determined to join the Innocence Project in Virginia, who were working to free Dandridge from prison where he’d spent eleven years. Hannah would work hard to impress Professor Robert Parekh, the boss of the pro ...more

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Mar 03, 2022 PattyMacDotComma rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, fiction, aa, arc-netgalley-done, mystery-crime-thriller

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.
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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 ...more

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May 19, 2022 Paula Phillips rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is one book I kept seeing everywhere on Bookstagram and I knew I had a copy from Netgalley, so I decided it was about time I read it. This book starts with a bang as we meet Hannah who is off on a journey for justice and it all starts with one goal. To become part of the Innocence Project and she will use her wits and will even lie her way onto it. Hannah gets her wish and is off to the University of Virginia and finds herself enrolled in the Innocence Project. Currently, they are working o ...more

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May 03, 2022 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: edelweiss-reviews, aussie-author, arc-are

Offering some startling twists and turns, The Murder Rule is a compelling stand alone legal thriller from best selling author, Dervla McTiernan.

When law student Hannah Rokeby learns that the Innocence Project at the University of Virginia is making progress overturning the sentence of convicted rapist and murderer, Michael Dandridge, she leaves her sick mother, Laura, in the care of a neighbour, and relocates to Charlottesville where she convinces Professor Robert Parekh she’d be an asset to the Offering some startling twists and turns, The Murder Rule is a compelling stand alone legal thriller from best selling author, Dervla McTiernan.

When law student Hannah Rokeby learns that the Innocence Project at the University of Virginia is making progress overturning the sentence of convicted rapist and murderer, Michael Dandridge, she leaves her sick mother, Laura, in the care of a neighbour, and relocates to Charlottesville where she convinces Professor Robert Parekh she’d be an asset to the program. But Hannah doesn’t want to save Michael, she wants to ensure the man is never released.

I was immediately intrigued by the premise of The Murder Rule, and why, and how, a young woman might go about undermining a prisoner’s release. With the preliminary hearing for dismissal imminent, the Innocence team, and Hannah, are under pressure to complete their respective objectives, and that tension translates well to the story’s pacing.

Hannah certainly seems convinced that her mission is righteous, and though her ruthless moves to gain a place on the project are not flattering, once her motive is disclosed in the alternating chapters that provide entries from her mother’s diary written 24 years earlier, Hannah’s behaviour seems if not reasonable, then at least justifiable. I liked the ambiguity of Hannah’s character, I was never entirely sure what she’d do, particularly when faced with information that challenged her beliefs.

There are some quite spectacular surprises in the novel, one twist in particular made me gasp out loud as it was so unexpected. There are also a number of tense, and even violent, moments as Hannah, and her colleagues, step on toes during their investigation. As much as I enjoyed the story, I have to admit there are some distracting flaws related to the legal elements of the story, and these particularly detracted from the intensity of the climatic courtroom scene, even though the outcome was satisfying.

Though not as sophisticated as McTiernan’s award winning Cormac Reilly, I still found The Murder Rule to be a page-turning, entertaining thriller with a compelling concept.
...more

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Jun 25, 2022 Kathryn rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 4-stars, fiction, australian-authors, 2022-reading-list, 2022-aty

The Murder Rule is Dervla McTiernan’s fourth book, and it is a stand-alone - not a follow-on from her previous Cormac Reilly series.

I really enjoyed this! It had several twists and turns in the story, with characters having good and bad sides which came into play at various times. The story is told from Hannah’s point of view, a young law student, and a journal from 25 years prior. From the outset, it is known that Hannah is not what she is trying to appear. The plotline was a clever idea, altho ...more

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Sep 02, 2022 Lisa Heidke rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan, a suspenseful legal thriller is complicated to explain, but the gist:
Hannah, a 3rd year law student, leaves her sick mother, Laura, to enrol in the Innocence Project and work on the case of Michael Dandridge, who, despite pleading his innocence, is a convicted murderer in jail for life.
Hannah has one goal - to sabotage his appeal and keep him locked up, which is completely at odds with the Innocence Project’s mission.
However, when Hannah finally meets Mich ...more

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May 04, 2023 Karen rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Not one of this author’s better novels. Hannah Rokeby reads an article in Vanity Fair about Professor Robert Parekh who is leading the Innocence Project Clinic at the University of Virginia and lies her way into this project. She has read about the case they are working on to free a man called Michael Dandridge, a man who had caused her mother so much trauma and pain that she has become an alcoholic. Hannah has to get onto his case so he cannot go free.

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May 19, 2022 Kathy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: australia

4.5 stars.

The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan is a captivating mystery.

Law student Hannah Rokeby is willing to go to great lengths to become part of a Virginia college's Innocence Project. Once she is accepted, she is willing to take extreme measures to be assigned to work on the death row case of Michael Dandridge. Which leads to an intriguing question: exactly why does Hannah so desperately want to work on this particular case?

Hannah has long taken care of her alcoholic mother Laura who is qui ...more

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Jan 25, 2023 Averil rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2022

Dervla McTiernan has been a great new voice in crime fiction since The Rúin came out in 2018. The Irish setting, the Gaelic names, excellent page-turning plots - I loved them. I'm therefore finding it hard to judge her new book The Murder Rule. It's set in the US, the names are plain, the plot was okay, although it did get more page-turnery towards the end.
None of the characters were particularly appealing or interesting, but the plot chugged along nicely. In her other books, the landscape help ...more

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Jun 08, 2022 John rated it liked it · review of another edition

I wanted to like this more than I did. I have listened to some of her previous work on Audible and have been very impressed. This wasn't a bad book, the characters were well developed and it kept me reading and engaged.

BUT the main issue for me was that it read too much like a John Grisham novel and wasn't offering anything especially new in the genre. I just wanted a little more out of it.

I remain keen to read more of McTiernan's work and recommend this book to anyone who enjoys crime mysteri ...more

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