Nina and Simon are an attractive young couple, dating since High School, share the same interest in rock climbing, and are very much in love. Simon’s family are wealthy, and have purchased a cabin in Vermont, where they go for the weekend. However only Simon comes home, with a heartbreaking tale about being deceived and thrown over for another man. This doesn’t ring true with Nina’s family, who know their daughter, and they report her absence to the police as a missing person. At a press conference, they implore Simon to say more about what has happened, where their daughter is; they are desperate. In response, his risk adverse family, feeling he will be accused of something if Nina is not found safe and well, hire expensive lawyers and a PR firm which floods social media with a disturbing campaign designed to throw suspicion on Nina’s family. Soon the story is taken up with the mainstream media, and speculated upon endlessly by conspiracy theorists, with devastating implications for Nina’s parents. There will be no winners here, and if one side plays dirty, the other side will too.
McTiernan is a hugely talented writer, and this is not a mystery as such, as it is clear something terrible has happened to Nina, but more a thriller about the horrors of the modern world, seeking answers to unspeakable questions, the limitations of the legal system, and the complexities of grief. It is incredibly dark, evoking quite intense feelings resembling anxiety as the reader sympathises with Nina’s family who are out of their minds with worry, grief, and growing public speculation that they are somehow involved in their daughter’s disappearance.
It is a fast-paced thriller, but it is far too dark for me, and I put it down with something akin to relief.
Reviewed by Lesley West
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Internationally bestselling and critically acclaimed writer, Dervla McTiernan is the author of The Ruin, The Scholar, The Good Turn (together the ‘Cormac Reilly’ series), and her stand-alone novel, The Murder Rule, as well as her novellas, The Roommate, The Sisters, The Wrong One and The Fireground.
Dervla’s novels and novellas have been number one bestsellers in multiple territories – The Murder Rule was No. 1 for four weeks in Australia, The Sisters was No. 1 Audible for four weeks in the US, and most recently, The Fireground was No. 1 Audible Australia (Fiction).
The Murder Rule is in development as a premium limited series at FX.
Dervla has won numerous awards, including two Barry Awards, a Davitt Award, a Ned Kelly Award and in International Thriller Writer Award.
Dervla spent 12 years working as a lawyer. Following the global financial crisis, she moved from Ireland to Western Australia and turned her hand to writing. Dervla lives in Perth, with her husband, two children and far too many pets.
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