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When a new high-profile case comes to Meredith to prosecute, she is shocked to learn the defendant is a close friend from law school, Julian, and will be represented by her on-and-off again ex boyfriend, Jonathan. Meredith tries to recuse herself but her boss wants her to continue - it will be her most challenging case yet, going up against her old friends.

Thank you to @netgalley for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Loved this book by Catherine McKenzie writing as Julie Apple. I read Fractured by Catherine which ties into this book. I really enjoy the way it all wraps up at the end. I loved ALL the Montreal references in this book - being from Montreal I could really picture the places the story took place. I recommend this novel!

An interesting concept that was well written. I enjoyed this book - would read more by this author in the future.

This book is such an amazing concept... Its authored by the incredible Catherine McKenzie- but written as a character Julie Apple (who was in one of her latest books, Fractured) You don't need to read Fractured to understand The Murder Game and vice versa- but after reading Fractured I was intrigued by this book (which was written year ago before Fractured) It may sound confusing but it is not.
I know Catherine is not only an amazing writer but also an attorney so this was really interesting to see her write from her inside perspective. Again, these two books completely stand on their own but after reading both, I loved how they were intertwined.
Not having the attorney-type mindset I found this such a fun and challenging (how will this end) story. It was a bit of a brain teaser and so different from what I have read lately, it was a nice change of pace. I would totally recommend it along with all of Catherine McKenzie's books.

I wrote it so of course I love it! Hope you do too.

Thank you to Netgalley the publishing house and most of all, the author, for the opportunity to read this book in return for my honest opinion.

This was an okay book. I enjoyed the premise and the story was well told to a degree. I feel like the characters were not well developed and I felt that really hampered my liking of the book. There were some unbelievable sections of the book for me as well. I found the story very predictable and I really enjoy not being able to guess the twist or ending.

Thank you NetGalley! This book was really great! It was hard to put down, suspenseful, and fun. I am a big fan of Catherine McKenzie, and now Julie Apple. I love how this book was the work of the protagonist from Fractured. Don't miss this one!

Meredith Delaney is a Crown Prosecutor who has been assigned the murder case of well-known hockey player but the suspect is her old friend from college Julian. Defending the suspect is her on and off ex-boyfriend from law school Jonathan. Meredith, Jonathan , Lilly and Julian were a tight close knit group in law school. The book has alternating timelines from the present with Meredith fighting the case to the past where the group met for the first time.

This is good legal drama story especially for fans of “ How to get away with Murder”. I was not as invested in it as much as Fractured but it was overall a fast entertaining read with a rating of 3 ½ stars.

Many thanks to Lawsome Books & NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest and fair review.

This and more reviews at https://chloesbooksblog.wordpress.com/

Well-written and fast paced I can see fans of Gone Girl and Girl on the Train liking this one.

Thanks to netgalley for the opportunity to have read this book. This is the first book by Catherine McKenzie I've read, so I did not really know what to expect. I was not disappointed and will try to read others by her as well.
if you're looking for a entertaining read, I would recommend this.

A friend recommended I read this book and also "Fractured". She was impressed with the author's work and so am I. To be honest, I prefer Fractured to The Murder Game though both are good reads.
Meredith Delay is a prosecutor who is unsatisfied with her life and her job. Then Meredith is given a high profile case regarding the murder of a retired hockey star. She tries to remove herself due to conflicts of interest but is kept on the case by her supervisor. As a result, Meredith is forced to confront her past at law school with fellow students who are now involved in the current case she is defending.
I found the book to be interesting and well written and there is a good twist at the end. This is the second book I had read by this author and I am looking forward to reading more by Julie Apple.

I felt the story was just too unrealistic. The writer is good, but I had a hard time getting into it. I will not be posting a review of this book. I've heard great things about Fractured, so I might give that a try.

This novel goes back in forth between two time periods, both from the POV of a character named Meredith - when she is in law school and part of a group of four friends, and years later when she is the prosecuting attorney in the trial where one of those friends is accused of murder, another is defending him, and the fourth is a criminal psychologist. The coolest thing about this book is that the credited author, Julie Apple, is actually the fictional protagonist of Catherine McKenzie's latest novel "Fractured", famous in that book for having written a bestselling novel called "The Murder Game". Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this book as much as "Fractured" or Catherine McKenzie's other books which I have read - it's a little slow for a book that is nominally a legal thriller/psychological thriller, and a little preposterous. Still a fun read though.

I received this free ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I started The Murder Game right after I finished Fractured in November. The concept of this book is the coolest, a book written by a person in another book? Come on!

The Murder Game didn’t grip me quite like Fractured did. In fact, I found this book quite slow at first. I finally decided to pick it up again on the weekend and I’m not sure if maybe I wasn’t in the right mind frame when I started it or if I got passed the hump, but I finished it in a day.

I’ll start with what I liked, the first being all the Canadiana. Catherine McKenzie does a great job at settings, she describes and writes them so well you can picture them so clearly and I really enjoy that. Being Canadian made me appreciate all the little tidbits and places she incorporated into her book.

I enjoyed the law school and courtroom sections of the book, you can tell the author used her legal expertise to add to the story in a credible, easy to understand way without having to dumb it down.

Unlike Fractured, I didn’t like the character dynamic in this book. I also didn’t find any of the characters likable, although I feel they were well developed. I didn’t like how destroyed the main character was by her on again off again boyfriend Jonathan. I get it, love hurts, but I found myself getting annoyed at how depleted the character got over a guy.

An enjoyable thriller with a great plot and characters that kept me turning the pages. Look forward to more in the future by this author.

Received a copy of the murder game from netgalley a long time ago and I finally started reading this in Jan 2017- but before reading Murder Game, I started reading Fractured by Catherine McKenzie - there was a lot of mention about Julie Apple & her book The Murder Game and it kicked my curiosity.

Murder Game revolves around 4 friends - Meredith, Jonathan, Julian & Lily.

Meredith meets the rest of the 3 of them when she enrolls into a law school, gets close to them quickly - the book opens to Meredith working as the Crown Prosecutor, something is bothering her and she sets off to the reader that she is not as normal as what she was when she started law school.

Then there's the murder of Nick Allan - the hockey star who is btw accused of child abuse, and Julian McCarthy is accused of that murder.

I really liked the way the author has spun this - back to the future in 1 chapter and then to the current day - but I felt the end was slightly flat!

I expected more energy towards the finish line..but!

Having read its partner I was curious to read the 'novel' that triggered such a wealth of events in Catherine McKenzie's 'sister book' Frankly I was quite disappointed in this one and it lay around unread for days at a time, not beckoning me over to pick it up. I'm not sure whether i found the characters less convincing or the plotline jut less interesting, but I'm sad to say that it just didn''t do it for me. Not a bad novel intrinsically, just not one that kept me turing the pages...

A famous hockey player is found in his bed with multiple stab wounds to the chest. When the police arrive they find the suspect sitting in the living room staring at his blood soaked hands. He claims to have no idea how he ended up there and his last memory was of falling asleep after taking a sleeping pill. When he awoke he was standing over the bed with a knife in his hands. After calling the police they charge him with murder. The prosecutor assigned to the case has a history with the suspect and his attorney as they attended college together and has a romantic history with the attorney. They plan to use a rare legal defense called " non-insane automatism" which means he wasn't acting voluntarily while committing the crime. The suspect has a history of sleep walking but the prosecutor thinks it's too coincidental they studied a case similar to his defense in law school. She also has to deal with her old feelings towards his attorney while being in a relationship with a new boyfriend. I thought this was a well written legal thriller and my only complaint was that the suspect and his attorney have similar names ( Julian and Jonathan) and I sometimes got confused on which one was which.

A great story - love the alternating time periods between "present day" and when the characters were in law school.