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A review by litwithleigh
The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan
1.0
Thank you William Morrow for a gifted physical ARC in exchange for an honest review. IYKYK, my reviews are always honest.
THE PLOT
Hannah joins UVA Law's chapter of the Innocence Project—but she's not there to help.
MY OPINION
I— what just happened? I've read three ARCs from three authors I REALLY like (Dervla McTiernan, Holly Seddon, and Lucinda Berry) and they were all so cookie-cutter and uninspired. Each book was devoid of the originality that I admired in the author. I can only conclude these books are the equivalent of a talented artist putting out a top 40 bubblegum pop song.
I just finished The Scholar (shameless plug here's my review) which I liked so much I gave it FOUR stars. It was well-written, fast paced, and unique. But THIS???? YMCA creative writing class. Slow as a snail despite it being barely over 300 pages. As unique as a human with two eyeballs.
There was so much closed caption ass writing in this book, for example:
They found a cafe that served an all-day breakfast. Sean ordered a breakfast burrito. Hannah a cajun chicken sandwich, and then waited, while Hannah thought about how hungry she was. She couldn't remember if she'd eaten breakfast. The food came quickly, and it was really good.
WHO TF CARESSSSS???? At least explain WHAT makes the food good—is it saucy, spicy, salty??? C'mon now.
This one nearly killed me: They walked to the car and Sean beeped the locks open. They dumped their bags in the trunk and climbed in. Bro...
Ok and then we have "the diary." LOL. The diary that was written in present tense, chock full of dialogue, and more closed caption writing. I understand WHY the diary had to be included, but c'mon... this diary was written MLA style.
Next, we have inaccuracies galore. Where to start? Well, apparently Hannah is wearing BOOTS in VIRGINIA in AUGUST. GWURLLLL. Your feet about to be STANKY. All it takes is a quick google to confirm the temp and realize this outfit is not appropriate for the character.
Also, if she wanted to destroy the case and send Danbridge back in jail... why wouldn't she just volunteer for the prosecutor's office? Lol. Would be a whole lot easier than being a double agent of sorts.
And ... I hated Hannah. Is she supposed to be a protagonist? Antagonistic hero? Or just a conniving, manipulative, easily swayed nutter? She sent Hazel on a fake interview in New York just to take her place on the Danbridge case. What did Hazel do to deserve that? Damn. A little extreme. And she expressed NO remorse. I guess this was supposed to be part of her redemption arc, but she didn't actually redeem herself in the end so???
Ok... maybe I'm almost done with this rant? But, similarly to [b:The Woods|43931|The Woods|Harlan Coben|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1439523356l/43931._SY75_.jpg|14591855], the author inserted random tangents about shit that was irrelevant to the plot or character development. For example, what was the point of saying "the left-leaning papers"? The papers were legit never mentioned again. Lol. Or a thicc ass paragraph about Hannah's opinion on the murder rule—which BTW is irrelevant to the plot. Hilarious. Literally the case at hand has NOTHING to do with the murder rule. *screams into the abyss*
Cutting myself off from writing more. Bye. I will still read the rest of McTiernan's Cormac series and I recommend you do the same. Skip this one like you skip ads on a YouTube video.
PROS AND CONS
Pros: the hardcover is absolutely beautiful
Cons: .... read my rant above :'(
THE PLOT
Hannah joins UVA Law's chapter of the Innocence Project—but she's not there to help.
MY OPINION
I— what just happened? I've read three ARCs from three authors I REALLY like (Dervla McTiernan, Holly Seddon, and Lucinda Berry) and they were all so cookie-cutter and uninspired. Each book was devoid of the originality that I admired in the author. I can only conclude these books are the equivalent of a talented artist putting out a top 40 bubblegum pop song.
I just finished The Scholar (shameless plug here's my review) which I liked so much I gave it FOUR stars. It was well-written, fast paced, and unique. But THIS???? YMCA creative writing class. Slow as a snail despite it being barely over 300 pages. As unique as a human with two eyeballs.
There was so much closed caption ass writing in this book, for example:
They found a cafe that served an all-day breakfast. Sean ordered a breakfast burrito. Hannah a cajun chicken sandwich, and then waited, while Hannah thought about how hungry she was. She couldn't remember if she'd eaten breakfast. The food came quickly, and it was really good.
WHO TF CARESSSSS???? At least explain WHAT makes the food good—is it saucy, spicy, salty??? C'mon now.
This one nearly killed me: They walked to the car and Sean beeped the locks open. They dumped their bags in the trunk and climbed in. Bro...
Ok and then we have "the diary." LOL. The diary that was written in present tense, chock full of dialogue, and more closed caption writing. I understand WHY the diary had to be included, but c'mon... this diary was written MLA style.
Next, we have inaccuracies galore. Where to start? Well, apparently Hannah is wearing BOOTS in VIRGINIA in AUGUST. GWURLLLL. Your feet about to be STANKY. All it takes is a quick google to confirm the temp and realize this outfit is not appropriate for the character.
Also, if she wanted to destroy the case and send Danbridge back in jail... why wouldn't she just volunteer for the prosecutor's office? Lol. Would be a whole lot easier than being a double agent of sorts.
And ... I hated Hannah. Is she supposed to be a protagonist? Antagonistic hero? Or just a conniving, manipulative, easily swayed nutter? She sent Hazel on a fake interview in New York just to take her place on the Danbridge case. What did Hazel do to deserve that? Damn. A little extreme. And she expressed NO remorse. I guess this was supposed to be part of her redemption arc, but she didn't actually redeem herself in the end so???
Ok... maybe I'm almost done with this rant? But, similarly to [b:The Woods|43931|The Woods|Harlan Coben|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1439523356l/43931._SY75_.jpg|14591855], the author inserted random tangents about shit that was irrelevant to the plot or character development. For example, what was the point of saying "the left-leaning papers"? The papers were legit never mentioned again. Lol. Or a thicc ass paragraph about Hannah's opinion on the murder rule—which BTW is irrelevant to the plot. Hilarious. Literally the case at hand has NOTHING to do with the murder rule. *screams into the abyss*
Cutting myself off from writing more. Bye. I will still read the rest of McTiernan's Cormac series and I recommend you do the same. Skip this one like you skip ads on a YouTube video.
PROS AND CONS
Pros: the hardcover is absolutely beautiful
Cons: .... read my rant above :'(