Book Review: Three Reasons for Revenge

Three Reasons for Revenge

By Dervla McTiernan

With Three Reasons for Revenge, Dervla McTiernan has written a riveting psychological thriller/police procedural set in Australia that will have readers and fans of Jane Harper and Tana French throwing their plans out the window to keep reading. I kept picking up the book at random moments, like when I was making breakfast or in between other tasks just because I wanted to know more, right away, and I couldn’t even wait until I had a longer block of time to settle in and read.

Detective Sergeant Judith Lee is a lone-wolf type of detective. She rides a motorbike, wears a leather jacket, and has been known to smoke a cigarette during an interrogation. But at her heart, she wants the absolute best for the people she helps and she is willing to break a few rules in order to solve cases. However, this behavior is about to get her into a LOT of trouble. This novel seemed like the introduction to a series, so I will definitely be reading the next one!

As the book begins, a college student comes into a police station to report a sexual assault by a psychologist, specifically requesting Judith, even though Judith is now a homicide detective. The testimony given by the student, Alexis Turner, sounds very familiar to another young woman from the past. Judith is determined to investigate the psychologist now, in a way she couldn’t before, to make up for her past mistakes. But when he winds up murdered, Judith finds herself in the crosshairs, suspected for either murder or professional misconduct. As she investigates, she finds out Alexis Turner is just an alias.

Meanwhile, three packages with blackmail material are sent to three people who seem disconnected. The only thing they have in common is someone believes they deserve revenge…

I requested the ARC because I was a big fan of What Happened to Nina? and read it in a day.  Three Reasons for Revenge didn’t disappoint and I felt the storylines all threaded together seamlessly by the end.

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.