The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill has me beyond confused.

This is a story in a story which was interesting but at times I did not know what was going on. I kept having to flip back to events to figure out the plot and keep my connections straight. I have no idea what the ending was about so that left me scratching my head.

Overall, I was not able to wrap my mind around this story and it completely went over my head. There may be some who enjoy this book which is wonderful but please reach out and help me understand what I just read. Thanks!

Thank you to NetGalley and Posioned Pen Press for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to love this, it had all the pieces of a book I thought I would love. Unfortunately, the execution didnt work out. It was very slow and the narration was too hard to follow.
This is a story-within a story- within a story and it ends up disrupting the flow instead of adding tension/intrigue

i really wish I could have enjoyed this

I really enjoyed this mystery and the idea behind it. I adored the story within the story, but I wanted a bit more character development (which can be a challenge when the story is structured this way). The mood of the story really enticed me and made this a lovely read. I have MANY students who devour mysteries, so I am excited to add this to my list of recommendations!

This book was good. I was hooked from the beginning and I think that every sentence and every word has a point and that meant the story was so fast paced and a really enjoyable reading experience

The Woman in the Library (by Sulari Gentill
I requested this book from NetGalley in late May 2022 on a whim as one of my June reads, and I’m so glad I did!
Gentill’s characters, some of them very eccentric (Mrs. Weinbaum!) and the entire plot kept me up late into the night trying to guess ‘whodunit’!

This quote from the text sums everything up neatly:
“The narrative is strange—unlike anything I’ve written before. The library takes on a consciousness of its own, watchful, patient, dangerous. The scream becomes a motif, an echo of each character’s silent cry for connection and friendship, for help.”

Things I liked
1. The metatextual/intertextual elements:
a. The story within the story – the MC (Hannah) is an Australian author who has set her next book in Boston. She has entered into an email correspondence with one of her fans (Leo) and sends him completed chapters of the book-in-progress for feedback.
b. Hannah names MC of her book, Freddie (Winifred Kincaid). The character is semi-autobiographical as she too is an author. Freddie has travelled to Boston on a prestigious writing fellowship. She is united in friendship with 3 strangers one day by a shared experience that occurs within the BPL:
~~
“A scream is the most human and primal of things, a siren call which binds all those in hearing to help, as it did us to each other and to Caroline.”
~~
Freddie decides to write her next book about the event and those subsequent.
c. Hannah’s correspondence with Leo turns dangerous and chilling when he begins to send her strange photos and she attempts to break off the email friendship. The FBI ask her to continue it.
d. Hannah writes Leo into the framework of her book and Leo the fictional character begins to interact with Freddie in a fashion that mirrors the real-world. Boundaries begin to blur.
e. The connections (current and past) that are continually revealed and unravelled.
f. How our real-life experiences can inform our created/fictional worlds
g. The reader sits as observer as we witness the stories each character is attempting to write – some come together, while others are dismantled.

2. The detailed discussion on the process of story-writing that occurs between Leo and Hannah, and between Freddie, Marigold, Cain, and Whit.
~~
“Cain shows us his plot, an intricate flowchart created on his laptop, and explains the thems and subplots which radiate from his central premise. There’s something beautiful about the chart. It’s like a spider’s web spun to catch a story. I’m fascinated by it, and a little regretful that my work does not begin with gossamer webs.”
~~
a. Unique-ness of individual authors’ writing, outlining, and brainstorming processes.
b. How when inspiration strikes, one must give oneself over to the muses.
c. How writing can be a cathartic process of helping one work through negative experiences. Or how it can be a traumatic one.
d. How writer’s must pay attention to the descriptive language that is used when portraying a character or culture distant from one’s own – vagaries of describing everyday items (e.g., loo vs bathroom)

What I didn’t like:
1. Reference to “the dying days of democracy” as a new Dark Age. As a medievalist, I have an intense dislike of the use of the term ‘Dark Ages” as it is frequently used to refer to the period of Western Medieval history from 500-1500 CE; however, the term is a misnomer as this period was full of culture, and art, and music, and travel, etc. This period actually saw the birth of Western democracy – the Magna Carta and such.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a multi-layered, complex crime/mystery tale.

What a fantastic mystery! I loved the premise for this one. The characters were unique and interesting. I really liked Marigold. I loved the Boston setting and the various interactions between the characters. My only complain with this one was the addition of the letters between authors. I started to have trouble keeping the names straight and couldn't remember who was who. Ultimately I realized that the letters were really spoiling the flow of the plot for me and I began to just skim them or skip them altogether. In the end I don't think the book needed them at all. So mostly I loved this but felt there were a few things that caused me to loose interest as I read.

This is an interesting concept as it is a story within a story. Hannah is writing the story of what happened at the BPL while consulting with her overseas friend, Leo on her writing. I couldn’t really get into the story and felt like I needed a bit more from each character.

Enjoyable story within a story. Interesting concepts within both. Suspension of belief definitely required. Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review

This cleverly written suspenseful mystery grabbed my attention almost immediately. Initially, I was confused by the fact that the premise was that it was "a book in a book." However, once I knew what was going on, I found it to be a smart way to tell this story.

Due to the multiple storylines, there are a few different mysteries at play. I anticipated more spillover between the separate stories than there actually was but I was completely fine with how it all played out.. I hesitate to tell too much about the book itself because I think it's better to read it and pick up on all the nuances yourself. Let's just say one of the storylines focuses on a woman's scream in the library and a body being found later. That drives the rest of the story and basically sets the tone for the book.

This is definitely a book you have to let unfold in its own time. It's a fun and enjoyable read with intelligent plotting.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to read and review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

The Woman in The Library, Sulari Gentill
Pub Date: June 7/22, Poisoned Pen Press

This is the #bogo of mystery books. It’s a locked room mystery with an added psychological thriller piece. I really liked the concept of an author connecting with a fellow writer across the world to help with realizing the story’s plot line by assisting with vernacular and setting descriptions as the writer creates her locked room tale. But what if that same confident or co-collaborator becomes too enmeshed? What if they become a danger.

I really enjoyed « Hannah’s » book and I like the concept of the tangled creation plot line. But - they both could have been done separately and I do believe that the plot line of a research collaborator gone wrong could be very strong on its own. As it was it felt a bit disjointed. And I wish I could have had that piece as it’s own tale.

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the digital arc.

Man, this was such an odd, yet slightly addicting ride. I wasn’t sure what to think more than half of the time. And I can’t say whether that was good or bad, or intentional or not.

The book is uniquely formatted in the sense that the entire main story is told in a form where we know the entire cast are in fact characters in a novel. We learn of the author behind the novel through her correspondence with a beta reader from Boston. Apparently, this is based on this book's actual author's experience. The exchanging of letters part, not the murder part.

While a enjoyed the book enough to come back to it time and again. It is not a one I feel I could easily recommend to others hence the more average rating.

The format for "The Woman in the Library" is a story within a story told with corresponding letters. Which probably makes no sense until you actually start reading the book. But I loved how it was about an author writing a book that was about an author writing a book.

Enough about that... it also begins with a scream. While writing in the Boston Public Library, Freddie is at a table in the BPL with three others who hear the scream. The four become close immediately, bonded by that moment. But one is the killer.

Hannah is writing the story of Freddie and the others, corresponding with Leo overseas. Leo's letters give insight and feedback into Hannah's writing and what reader's may think of Freddie and the others as the pandemic rages in "real" time.

I read and listened to this book, thanks to Netgally and Sourcebooks. I would highly recommend this to mystery/suspense fans both due to the unique format and the way the plot keeps you guessing until the end.

I was intrigued by the format of a book within a book, but when it became a book within a book within another book, the author lost me there. I lost interestin the first writer's novel and the editing feedback from her friend Leo, because I thought, this is not the real story, just a book she's writing. Then because there is a real Leo and a fictional Leo, who may be one and the same, then I became really confused. And the ending threw me, as I didn't know what I was supposed to make of it. I guess I missed the significance of the punch line.

This I feel is a writer's novel, not a reader's novel. I was not interested in Leo's editing comments re Australian versus American customs, language, etc. It was ok at first, but then just got jaded.

Rarely does the novel within a novel draw the reader in like The Woman in the Library. Though I knew Hannah, the recipient of letters from Leo, was the novelist, her characters were so real that I read the book in one sitting. Masterful whodunit.

Could not put this book down! Once you get started you are entrapped in its pages. Sulari Gentill wrote an incredible murder mystery that will have you guessing until the end. All these characters were intelligently written, and each brought something to the story. I highly recommend this book to any mystery lover.

I really enjoyed this one, it's fun to read.

It's a story within a story.
It's a story about correspondences between Hannah the famous writer and Leo the aspiring writer. Each chapter is filled with a chapter of Hannah's new book and at the end of chapter Leo gives his comments, guessing the plot and suggestions for the story. Hannah's new book is about a murder in the library and it's very captivating and I'm so invested in all the characters in the story. The comment and suggestions from Leo got me wondering is Hannah going to put Leo's suggestions in the next chapter or not or did Leo guess about the plot is right, this is what I love most about this book aside from interesting gripping story, I love how Leo's comments sometimes put doubts on me about who's the murderer, also there's the suspense between Hannah and Leo that got me on the edge of my seat. It's a really fun mystery thriller read, again because it's story within story so there's more suspense and more than one plot, that makes this book a page-turner one. Although one of the plot is predictable for me and the other felt rushed and I wished there's more explanation because the build of the suspense is so high so I've been expected so much, but still overall this book is a fun read and I really ejoyed it a lot and still recommended it to anyone who's looking for a fast-paced entertaining fun mystery thriller read.

Four strangers are sharing a table at the Boston Public Library when the silence is shattered by a woman’s scream. They all need to stay while the police investigate and it gets them started talking to each other and building a friendship. When a woman’s body is found - they are all invested in finding out what happened.

This is a story with a lot of layers - I went in without really knowing much about the plot and I think that’s the best way to go. While there were parts that felt a little repetitive and bits of the ending that didn’t quite work for me - overall this was a very fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon and I think would be a great beach read.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance reading copy.

I received a complimentary electronic copy of this tight mystery on June 7, 2022, from Netgalley, author Sulari Gentill, and Poisoned Pen Press. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read The Woman in the Library of my own volition and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. I am pleased to recommend Sulari Gentill to friends and family. I particularly enjoyed the e-mails and letters traded between Leo and Hannah. What a ride!

Two stories, here. Leo is an American thriller writer in Australia who has agreed to trade critiques of their new work via the internet with Hannah, an Australian writing a murder mystery in the United States. In the beginning, he only pointed out the American way of saying certain things. A car's boot was actually a trunk, a crisp is a fried potato stick, etc.

Winifred "Freddie" Kincaid is an Australian writer and winner of the prestigious Marriot Scholarship, an award that includes a year in a furnished apartment in Carrington Square, Boston, Massachuttes, a year to do nothing but write. No worldly pressures. In the first month, she deleted more than she has written. She hates the thought of wasting even a day of this time but can't seem to find her muse. She takes herself to the Boston Public Library in search of her.

And then a mishap in the Library, a single, terrified scream heard throughout the many rooms, unites her with her three tablemates in the Reading Room. Everyone is asked to retain their seats until the security people have cleared the library, which takes some time. Cain McLeod is a fellow writer with one book published to high acclaim, and working on book number two. Marigold Anastas, a seemingly nieve young lady, and Whitt Meters, a law student trying to fail law school so he won't have to join his parent's law firm were in the library to meet others, who didn't show up. Nothing untoward is found in the library. The foursome moves to the in-library Map Room Tea Lounge to continue visiting and exchanging phone numbers and internet addresses. All four eventually leave feeling they have found kindred spirits. A body is found in the Library later that day, under a table behind the tablecloth. Who would have thought it would have anything to do with our foursome?

And for a time, their contact and friendships grow, and they meet often as a foursome or as couples for coffee or a meal or to share a movie. But then secrets seem to leak out of the blue, and loyalties are tested. Whitt is stabbed and is near death, surgery required. His mother, a lawyer, and overachiever manages to keep him secluded beyond his return home. Marigold is obviously enamored of Whitt, but he has a reputation of "love 'um and leave 'um" that she doesn't seem to think also applies to her.

Cain has befriended a homeless man, Shaun "Boo" Jacobs who was a companion and friend of Cain's youthful mentor, Isaac. Cain and Freddie have a clash with him after an evening out, and when Boo is found dead later, Cain is the prime suspect. And just for fun and giggles, the police consider him their prime suspect for the murder of the woman in the library, despite his alibi for the time of the scream. Perhaps, they think, he had an accomplice. Perhaps that accomplice was Shaun Jacobs. There will be no changing the minds of the police. What do they know that Freddie doesn't? What does she actually really know about Cain?

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 4.75/5 stars

Run don’t walk to get this book! The Woman in the library has one of the most creative framings to a book I’ve ever read. You read one chapter of “The Woman in the Library” written by the in universe author Hannah and then you get to read the comments of her beta reader, Leo. As the plot of “The Woman in the Library” gets more involved so does Leo’s commentary about the book and his daily life. The plot of “The Woman in the Library” follows Freddie, who is in Boston for a writing fellowship, as she writes a mystery book. The book opens with Freddie working on her book at the library as she hears a blood curdling scream. She and the other people at her table strike up a conversation and tentative friendship while they wait for the all clear from the security guards. The new foursome’s bond is put to the test after a body is found in the library and clues begin to point to one of their own.

I could not put this book down! The mystery of both the story and Leo’s life were totally engrossing and made for quite the page turner. My two complaints are that both story lines wrapped up too quickly and I think the author did too good a job with the red herring because even though I know who the murderer is, in my heart I still think it was the red herring. Which is why this rating is really a 4.75 instead of a 5. Also this is the first book I’ve read that incorporated the pandemic which was wild. It also brought up an interesting question for authors moving forward who set their stories in the real world do they set all their stories in the before times, do they mention Covid and incorporate all that entails or do they set in a parallel universe where the pandemic never happened? Just interesting things to think about.

Gentill weaves an interesting tale of author/fan interaction and the overarching mystery behind it all. It does fall short in the end, but the characters are fairly three-dimensional. I just wish there was a bit more development in the last third of the story. It felt very rushed and not as fleshed out as the beginning. I did enjoy the ending, however, Gentill is a gifted storyteller and knows how to hook the reader.