Welcome to my review of The Murder List by Jackie Kabler. I had never read a book by Jackie Kabler before, but I was asked if I would like to review it by the publisher, One More Chapter, I had heard about it on one of their blogger vents, and it sounded fantastic! I was then invited to their read-along event last week, which I loved but got a little behind; life has a way of getting in the way at times!
When 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?
The clock is ticking for Mary to uncover the truth, before she becomes the next victim on the killer’s list…
Jackie Kabler was born in Coventry but spent much of her childhood in Ireland. She worked as a newspaper reporter and then as a television news correspondent for twenty years, spending nearly a decade on GMTV followed by stints with ITN and BBC News. During that time, she covered major stories around the world including the Kosovo crisis, the impeachment of President Clinton, the Asian tsunami, famine in Ethiopia, the Soham murders and the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Jackie now divides her time between crime writing and working as a presenter on shopping channel QVC. She has a degree in zoology from Trinity College Dublin, runs long distances for fun and lives in Gloucestershire with her husband.
www.jackiekabler.com
Twitter @jackiekabler
Instagram @officialjackiekabler
The Murder List has a fantastic premise. We begin by meeting Mary in Cheltenham. She is a crime journalist and has received a random diary from someone just before Christmas. She isn’t very interested in it as she prefers another format. However, while tidying up just after the new year, she decides to check if it has a note with who it was from before taking it to the charity shop and finds four entries. One for the first day of the first four months. Each note names a person’s forename and the city they live in with a note saying to murder them. When she checks the papers, she sees that the note to Murder Lisa in Oxford on January 1st has already happened.
We follow as Mary takes the diary to the police, and they share their investigations into the links between each of the coming victims and try to prevent them. This is an excellent idea for a story, and I enjoyed following the investigation.
Mary was obviously shocked when she realised what was in the diary, especially that it included her on the murder list. I would be petrified but probably also think it was a friend playing a joke on me. Mary doesn’t appear to have a lot of friends though, and it is a very sick joke. Nevertheless, I think I would be with her and take the diary t the police just in case something else does come real, and the co-incidence of the first murder is just that.
I really enjoyed seeing the story from the perspective of Mary and the police investigation, it enhanced the story, and you could see the struggles on both sides. For example, sometimes Jess, the Family Liaison Officer (FLO) working with Mary, could b a little cold and would tell her not to worry. She was obviously trying to reassure her, but I think it would have panicked me even more, as she seemed to brush it all off.
I liked the characters in the murder list and enjoyed learning more about them. Pete seems a bit shady and doesn’t seem to be a very good friend to Mary. He appears to be using her for a cheap place to live rather than being a proper best friend. He would promise to stay with her overnight on each of the murder dates, so she had some support, but every time would disappear with his girlfriend, which was really annoying. When their relationship changed, I wondered if this was part of his manipulation and began to consider him more and more as a suspect. He was definitely an odd character and friend.
The twist in the middle of the book was fantastic. I had already guessed what it would be, but it was great to see that things weren’t all as expected, and I felt that it changed the pace of the book a little and moved it along well when it could have become a little stale with no results on the investigation.
Taking part in my first read-along was a great experience. I didn’t do all of the challenges due to lack of time, but it gave a slightly different reading experience with everyone sharing bits of information and their thoughts as we went along. Although, writing my prediction on day two (after chapter 19) was excellent. I usually predict what’s going to happen but never write it down, so when it does happen, I don’t always remember when I made the prediction or how close I was. I might even start doing that more often!
The big twist at the end, I didn’t see coming at all, which makes a great book!
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| Title | The Murder List |
| Author | Jackie Kabler |
| Series | N/A |
| Format | eARC |
| Page Count | 338 Pages |
| Genre | Mystery & Thrillers |
| Publisher | One More Chapter |
| Release Date | 31st May 2022 |
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