I think I liked the idea of the book better than the actual book? It was just a bit confusing and convoluted for me. The story within a story within a story is a great way to pull people in, if executed well. I think that will be a big part in getting readers to grab this. For me, it didn’t work. But that’s just me. Figuring out the mystery and actual murderer through all of the clues and false leads is another part I think other thriller readers will enjoy.

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill was an entertaining, but challenging book that kept me, the reader, on her toes. The gist is that a woman, Hannah, in Australia, is writing a book about a woman in Boston, but is from Australia, is writing a book about four people who became friends when the library is shut down because there has been a murder. They all heard the scream. The author, who is in Australia, had planned to visit Boston but both places were locked down so a correspondence filled the bill. Leo, in Boston, helps Hannah with authenticity of setting and gives suggestions on characters and plotting as she sends him chapters. She usually doesn't listen. The biggest point of confusion is that "Leo" is also a character in the book and they confuse easily, in my view. Probably the point.

The book being written by Hannah is a good one with red herrings pointing to the wrong killer all along. It is also a commentary on judging someone based on their past, and true friendship or lack of it. It was an interesting book in its final presentation as well, where everyone is revealed for who they are, both in the book and in the book. I found it intriguing. Hannah wrote some good characters, that had depth and interesting personalities. The mystery of the killer was interesting as it proves witnesses are not reliable. It was creative and different and I am always there for that.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC Of The Woman in the Library by Poisoned Pen Press, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions were mine. #netgalley #poisonedpenpress #sularigentill #thewomaninthelibrary

Ultimately, a very poor narrative decision resulted in my loss of interest in the work as a whole. I only finished it because I had to figure out "whodunnit."

What a uninique and fascinating storyline. After figuring oit what was happening with the book within a book, and the email correspondence that was also a main focus - I could easily follow along. It kept me intrigued the entire time and had me continually guessing until the end. For a mystery/thriller, I thoroughly enoiyed it and I loved the added element of blossoming romance.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of the ebook in exchange for my honest review.

The Woman in the Library Earns 5+/5 Savory Donuts…Unique & Engaging!

The concept of Sulari Gentill’s book may seem confusing, but that is far from the truth, and although the synopsis I read only mentioned the story of four strangers bonding over a murder, it only took a couple of chapters to go all in! Hannah Tigone is well-known Aussie author sharing her latest manuscript with Leo Johnson, a struggling writer and uber fan of Hannah’s work. Through only Leo’s emails readers are privy to his offering insights as an American/Bostonian, engaging in constructive suggestions, responding to the chapters, addressing things that Hannah says or asks, and including friendly talk about the Australian wildfires, the pandemic’s lockdown, and the fact Leo was included as a character in her book. It is a fascinating look at the writer/beta reader professional and personal relationship with which I can identify, but as communications continue, Leo’s tone changes becoming more intense and graphic.

The manuscript Hannah shares with Leo is about young Australian writer Winifred “Freddie” Kincaid living in Boston, Massachusetts, on a Marriot Scholarship. She discovers the atmosphere of the Boston Public Library offers her a place she hopes will inspire her creativity. She focuses on the people sitting near her, wondering who they are, connections they may have, and pictures them as characters in her book: a tattooed “Freud Girl,” dimpled “Heroic Chin,” and too “Handsome Man.” Her thoughts, however, are interrupted by a scream, and while waiting for the all clear, she strikes up a conversation with her three table mates. From there the four bond over drinks, donuts, and the death of Caroline Palfrey, but as they interact, much is revealed about each character with shocking surprises that fuel suspicions. Add curious photos and phone calls, an assault, another murder, a writer/neighbor, and more than enough evidence to believe any one of them is a murderer. Talk about inspiration, just as long as Freddie can survive long enough to write her story.

Sulari Gentill’s story within a story turns out to be an engaging journey into two stories, and once you grasp how it is organized, it’s one you can’t put down. The murder mystery that Hannah is writing and Leo is critiquing, is compelling, well-developed with plenty of surprises revealing who the characters really are with their past and motivations heightening suspicions. Additional crimes, a full suspect list, and peril to avoid, leads to a final disclosure I didn’t entirely see coming. I didn’t feel the email element added at the end of each chapter were intrusive or interfered with the pace of the murder mystery. I found the second story with the interactions between the author and reader as compelling and a fascinating discussion on research, background, process, and interpretations. I was intrigued by the evolution from a professional partnership to a more toxic relationship, and surprised by its separate conclusion. Double wow for this candidate for Best in 2022!

A book within a book within a book. Interesting premises that was new to me and in the beginning rather confusing but thankfully one book dropped off and just became something one of the characters was writing.

Four strangers in the Boston Public Library hear a scream and begin discussing that they heard, from which a friendship begins as they see if they can solve the mystery. The friendship continues as do the murders with lots of twists and turns. Between every chapter is an email from Leo to the author of the four strangers book, Hannah, as she's writing it with feedback which gets increasingly weird with each email.

Super quick read, characters were okay, but it was entertaining and kept me interested.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This mystery will keep you intrigued long after you finish it. The intriguing story has many unexpected turns and twists. I was captivated. as I tracked the story within a story. I highly recommend this book all mystery lovers.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3. I don't have strong feelings about this book. While I didn't hate it, picking it up was almost a chore. I was so enthralled by the description, and I love the book within a book trope, and the fact that it was set in a library? I was all in! Until I wasn't.

I found the story confusing to follow, and there were several side characters who seemed to serve no purpose and certainly didn't advance the plot.

I appreciate the idea behind the book and wish the execution had been better. THE WOMAN IN THE LIBRARY published June 7, 2022. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC.

I liked this book but I didn’t love it. It contains multiple stories cleverly woven together; a unique storyline. The main narrative is really a book that is being written, and you get another book being written within THAT book as well as back-and-forth dialogue between the author of the novel and a beta reader. Sounds confusing but once I made it through the first couple chapters, it came together for me.

The primary narrative is told from Freddy’s POV and focused on her new friendship with 3 others who all happened to be in a library reading room when a murder was committed. This group plays detective while also being suspicious of each other at times. The friendship between the group felt a little contrived to me- seems odd that these new acquaintances would become immediate best friends and that none of them seemed to have any other friends. If you can get past that, the dynamic between the group was interesting.

The letters between the beta reader, Leo, and the primary author, Hannah, were really cool. Leo scopes out locations and corrects words for her since she is in Australia and the book is set in America; his letters not only take a dark turn, but also explore literary themes like how much of current events should be included and whether the author needs to lay out characteristics like race when describing the players in the story. I wanted to know more about Leo, though I crafted a believable back-story on my own :)

Overall, cool concept once you figure out how it all fits together. The book felt a bit long and I enjoyed the Leo chapters more than the Freddy chapters, but overall it was an enjoyable read. I’d give it 2.5 stars, rounded up. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Terrrific read! Great story, characters and conclusion. Actually I saw the conclusion coming....,
Wonderful beach or vacation book, except you will be unable to put in down until you finish.
I am not discussing the plot but it is complex and satisfying

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill was quite a read! The book is written in several viewpoints and has quite a few twists and surprises! An author, (Freddie), who is located in Australia is writing a novel and sharing it with a colleague (Ian) in Boston. This colleague is giving Freddie facts about the city of Boston where the novel takes place. Freddie sends her work chapter by chapter to Ian who gives her tips about the city to make her work more authentic. Her story begins at the Boston Public Library where four people who are sitting at the same table hear a woman’s scream. They are detained in order to be questioned by the police and begin talking to each other. From there I will let you read the book yourself. I actually went back and re-read sections to double check my memory because I was so involved!
I will read this author’s work again and thank her, the publisher and NetGalley for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. This would be a great book club novel with much to discuss.

Thank you Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley, for an advance eARC of this book.
Thank you Libro.fm for an ALC of this audio.

The ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library is quiet, until the tranquility is shattered by a woman's terrified scream. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers, who'd happened to sit at the same table, pass the time in conversation and friendships are struck. Each has his or her own reasons for being in the reading room that morning—it just happens that one is a murderer.


I enjoyed the cast of characters and felt that they were all given a sufficient back story that led to intriguing plot twists. Sometimes I would get confused by the real characters because we referenced a book inside of a book where the main character is writing a book. The characters were meant to be similar but that led to you not always being sure who the author was talking about.
I did find the book within a book to be interesting and wish we could have gotten more story out of Leo.

Easily the most annoying part about this book was Leo saying all the things Americans don't do, because we do nearly all of them. But other than that there wasn't much to not like! I was disappointed the setting wasn't really in a library, I was under the impression that the book was going to be sort of a locked in a room mystery.

This book works well for people who love thrillers and murder mysteries.

I was able to listen to an ALC of this book and found the audio to be amazing! The voice actor did a wonderful job and added positively to the story.

One of the best mysteries I've read this year! Ms. Gentill has written an absorbing and fast-paced mystery novel with a unique, semi-epistolary structure and a story within a story that is riveting. I stayed up late last night to finish it, and I'll be frank, I rarely do that. I will admit I had to go back and re-read the ending to make sure everything has been explained and tied up accurately. While I had guessed The Whodunnit by the last fifth or so of the book, I couldn't put it down. The one thing I didn't like was Ms. Gentill's decision to write in the present tense. It's just me--I really dislike that. That is an indication of how good the book is, that I could persevere with a book whose literary style I intensely dislike. I know it's a choice used to build intensity, but I don't think her story needed that. It's so unique and compelling that I think it would have survived a more traditional verb tense just fine. But I quibble. Even if you don't like mysteries, I think you will enjoy this novel, which includes romance, redemption, and asks the bigger question of how do we know who to trust and when? Highly recommended.

A novel within a novel within letters? The conceit of the book is ok, but not used to its best advantage, and the mystery of the novel inside the letters is just ok. It felt like the author had read The Westing Game a lot as a kid and had decide to try to write an adult version, albeit with people of far more (potentially) nefarious backgrounds. While there was a lot of detail and backstory for some characters, others were just suggestions on the page. Overall, more contrived that it could have been.

Metafiction is a rare narrative technique, and often difficult to execute successfully, but The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill does so with ease, offering a clever and compelling mystery novel.

In this story within a story (within a story), Australian author Hannah Tigone is writing a murder mystery, inspired in part by her correspondence with American aspiring author and fan, Leo Johnson. In Hannah’s developing manuscript, Australian author Winifred ‘Freddie’ Kincaid, is in Massachusetts on a writers’ scholarship, when she becomes embroiled in a murder mystery that takes place in the Boston Public Library. As Hannah completes each chapter, Leo provides feedback via emails, the tone of which grow more imperious, and disturbing, as the story develops in ways he doesn’t like.

As Freddie, along with psychology student Marigold, law student Whit, and published author Cain whom she meets when a scream disturbs the quiet of the Boston Public Library Reading Room, tries to solve the murder of a young journalist, it’s testament to Gentill’s skill that I was invested in the story, and often forgot it’s place in the novel’s structure, in fact I occasionally resented the reminder when disrupted by Leo’s missives. With its air of a ‘locked room’ mystery, I was deftly led astray by Gentill’s misdirects, and found myself eager to discover who, how, and why the murder was committed.

I feel I have to mention the adroit way in which Gentill navigated the world events of 2019/2020, the years in which this book was set, with the CoVid pandemic, the BLM protests in the US, and the fires that ravaged the Eastern coast of Australia, all acknowledged in interesting ways.

Ingenious and intriguing, The Woman in the Library is a terrific read.

✨ Review ✨ The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill; Narrated by Katherine Littrell

The narrative structure of this book is utterly inexplainable until you read it, but I'll try! The book intersperses two storylines. One storyline is the content of a new novel that Australian author Hannah is writing. The second storyline is feedback to Hannah from a beta reader which comes after each chapter. The book pairs the new novel's chapters with the commentary from the reader, and the way these stories interact is so creative! This doesn't do the story's structure justice but I really loved this.

The novel within the novel was about a group of four friends that forms after they hear a scream in the Boston library. As we follow these four strangers that set out to solve a murder, all sorts of twists and turns emerge.

But this is where things get confusing. The book Hannah is writing (the novel within the novel) is about an Australian writer Freddie, and both stories feature a Leo (which is a clever storytelling mechanism but also can be a little confusing).

For me, this book some talking through after to appreciate in its fullness. It's probably not my favorite book I've read lately but that didn't stop me from marveling at its innovative approach to storytelling.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 💫
Genre: thriller, mystery, literary fiction
Location: Boston, Australia
Pub Date: Out now!

Read this if you like:
⭕️ Dual side-by-side narratives
⭕️ "Gentle" thrillers - not too much gory violence
⭕️ f/m romance storyline woven into a thriller

Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press, Dreamscape Media, and #netgalley for an e-copy and audio copy of this book!

Oh how I wanted to love this book. Murder in a library? That has my name written all over it, unfortunately this story was not particularly great. I actually almost DNF'd it near the star and actually having now finished it I wished I had.

I normally don't mind a story within a story but I don't feel like this was done particularly well here; I actually feel the side story with Leo might have been more interesting than the actual story had he not kept banging on about current events (covid, black lives matter etc) which I found to be really dating to the book.

I found it really bizarre how the group of characters got tied to each other so quickly after spending five minutes together in the library, was really farfetched; it also was really predictable which one would end up being the culprit.

I found I was just going through the motions of finishing for the sake of it and the ending just sealed the rating for me as it kind of went nowhere.

*Thanks to NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press and Sulari Gentill for the copy of this book. All views are my own.*

I really wanted to like this book, but unfortunately it was a chore to get through. The characters were difficult to invest in and never felt multi-dimensional and the book really came across as quite scattered. The two narratives had promise, but ended up taking away from the story rather than adding to it.

I think this book had great potential, but ended up quite dull and not very memorable.

2.5 stars

Unfortunately, it didn’t work out quite as well as I wanted or was hoping. I was honestly expecting a locked room mystery with the characters being trapped in the library with the killer.
This was not the case. Instead, it was a story within a story. I’ve only ever read one like this before, and this was (I admit), cleverly written. It has you questioning what’s real and what’s not.

What didn’t work for me:

- The insta friendship. I understand connecting with people easily and becoming fast friends. But I just had trouble believing this one.

- I was bored. This was a bit of a slog to get through.

- I guessed whodunnit early on.

What I enjoyed:

- I liked the story within a story angle.

- I liked Leo’s letters to Hannah. I like how it came at the end of each chapter. But I also felt like there were times it took away from a bit of the story.

- I enjoyed the characters in Hannah’s book.

Overall. I was a bit disappointed with this one. I was hoping to like it like so many others.

Despite the fact that The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill was a good read, I was not able to obtain as much enjoyment from it as I had hoped. It starts strong but ends slowly.