THE GAVEL - When the gavel falls, there are no appeals.

Some failures don’t make headlines.

They make patterns.

THE GAVEL is a dark, grounded thriller series about what happens when the justice system repeatedly recognises violence—and still allows it to continue. Told through a sequence of escalating cases, the series follows Hannah Mercer, a woman erased by wealth, power, and institutional language, who becomes an invisible force of consequence when protection proves temporary and justice becomes optional.

After surviving an attempted murder and the loss of her children, Hannah rebuilds her life under a new identity, working inside women’s refuges and court systems meant to prevent harm. From this vantage point, she watches the same cycle repeat: warnings issued, orders breached, perpetrators walking free while victims are instructed to be patient, cooperative, and quiet.

At first, Hannah believes intervention and observation are enough. She helps women escape, then monitors their safety from afar as their lives stabilise. But when the system’s failures cause irreversible harm, Hannah confronts an uncomfortable truth—removal without consequence does not prevent repetition.

What follows is not vengeance, but procedure.

Each novel in THE GAVEL examines a different stage of moral escalation, using the language of law—Beginning, Precedent, Appeal, Sentence, Contempt, Verdict—to chart the evolution of responsibility, consequence, and power. The violence is purposeful, never indulgent, and the focus remains firmly on outcomes rather than spectacle.

This is not a story about heroism or redemption.

It is a story about systems that function as designed—and the cost of forcing them to acknowledge what they prefer to ignore.

This work is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, organisations, events, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of the copyright holder, except as permitted under applicable copyright law.

This book addresses themes of domestic and family violence and contains depictions of physical harm and psychological trauma. It is intended for a mature audience.

First published in 2026 by M.D Mason Publications

THE GAVEL - BEGINNING : When the gavel falls, there are no appeals.

From the series: THE GAVEL - When the gavel falls, there are no appeals.

THE GAVEL: BEGINNING

When the gavel falls, there are no appeals.

Hannah Mercer was never meant to survive.

After fleeing a powerful husband, she is hunted down, beaten beyond recognition, and thrown from a bridge. When his rage ends in a car crash that kills their two children, the system closes ranks. He is cleared. She is rewritten as unstable....

Learn More