Review: The Murder Show – Matt Goldman

I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Murder Show is a pulse-racing novel about secrets, old friends, and how the past never leaves us by New York Times bestselling and Emmy Award winning author Matt Goldman!

Showrunner Ethan Harris had a hit with The Murder Show, a television crime drama that features a private detective who solv...

The Murder Show is a pulse-racing novel about secrets, old friends, and how the past never leaves us by New York Times bestselling and Emmy Award winning author Matt Goldman!

Showrunner Ethan Harris had a hit with The Murder Show, a television crime drama that features a private detective who solves cases the police can’t. But after his pitch for the fourth season is rejected by the network, he returns home to Minnesota looking for inspiration.

His timing is fortunate ― his former classmate Ro Greeman is now a local police officer, and she's uncovered new information about the devastating hit and run that killed their mutual friend Ricky the summer after high school. She asks Ethan to help her investigate and thinks that if he portrays the killing on The Murder Show, the publicity may bring Ricky's killer to justice.

Ethan is skeptical that Ricky's death was anything but a horrible accident, but with the clock running out on his career, he's willing to try anything. It doesn't take long for them to realize they've dug up more than they bargained for. Someone is dead set on stopping Ethan and Ro from looking too closely into Ricky’s death ― even if keeping them quiet means killing again...

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The Murder Show by Matt Goldman held promise, but I struggled with the slower pace of this book. There were staccato bursts of action and secrets being revealed, but there were also moments of events that occurred that didn’t add to the suspense (or to the overall plot for that matter).

One of the areas where I felt the author excelled in was the accuracy of what it is like to be the main character Ethan, who is a television show writer. Ethan’s interactions with characters as they realize that he works in the industry is so true-to-life that I almost felt embarrassed for the characters for some of their clichéd (yet oh-so-common and cringy) reactions.  While the story avoids predictability and delivers an unexpected ending (trust no one!!), the pacing was what did me in.

I am definitely still looking forward to reading Goldman’s next book, but this one wasn’t one of my favorites.

Reviewed by: Adri D. (Guest Reviewer)

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