The Woman in the Library is the first book by Sulari Gentill that I have read and now I want to read more. The Woman in the Library is written in a unique way that, in my opinion, added another layer to the mystery. It captures you from the very first chapter and doesn't let go until the last page. The Woman in the Library is full of twists and it kept me guessing to the end. I have never been to Boston, but it was easy to imagine the areas with the descriptions.

I recommend The Woman in the Library to mystery fans, especially to any looking for a unique style. Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

This one missed the mark for me. And in the end I’m still confused.

There were lots of different plots flying around with lots of different theories on who did it, which was nice, but in the end none of them really stuck with me. The dual perspective in this book confused me to no end. I’m not sure who the second narrator really was and ended with a huge cliff hanger, maybe like there will be a second book? I don’t know. It wasn’t bad and I definitely wanted to finish it, but was confused and frustrated for most of the read. Published June 7 if you want to pick it up though!

The ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library is quiet until a woman screams. Four strangers hear the scream and instantly bond. But one of them is a murderer. As the book unfolds, readers follow clues left by the author and by a second plot line of the correspondence between the story's author Hannah and Leo, an American want-to-be novelist. Both stories are equally interesting, although I felt quite annoyed at Leo who becomes increasingly bossy and almost unhinged.
This story kept me guessing. There are quite a few characters to keep track of, and sometimes the second plot line made me feel confused about what exactly was going on. But mostly, I enjoyed this book and was eager to finish it.

This is an interesting way of writing and reading. It’s basically a fictional story written by Freddie, but it’s also her take on what’s going on around her, and it’s letters about what’s going on in the story as well as what’s going on in Freddie’s life.

It’s… complicated. It took me a while to understand and see what was actually going on - it was difficult to get into at first because of this very different way of storytelling.

I loved the way the characters came to life - they seemed fictional at times and at other times, very real. Which probably makes no sense unless you’ve read the book! 😂

I thought the bad guy was really obvious, but did second guess myself several times (nice job of making me doubt what I knew to be true)!

This was a fun and quick read!

This is just a fun book that I enjoyed reading and whipped through. Unfortunately 3 days later I really don't remember anything about it. Lightweight, but no regrets on reading.

This book has an interesting layered approach. Writers living a mystery and telling about it through letters.

I liked the overall setting and style of this book since the letter writing added a little extra complexity. I did feel like this book took awhile to get going and it took me a bit to sort out all of the characters. I'm not sure how it could have been written differently to alleviate some confusion or having to reread some parts again to understand what was going on.

Some bonuses this book has are a romance and a character seeking redemption from their past. The ending has a nice ramp up to the big reveal as well.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me a copy of this ARC for my honest review.

Yes. Full stop.

Ms. Gentill’s “The Woman in the Library” takes an oft attempted genre meant to be unpredictable but usually boring or outlandish and manages to make it thrilling again.

The story within a story approach isn’t popular and for good reason; done wrong it’s clunky and a plot killer. But Ms. Gentill’s attempt is brilliantly executed. She waits just the appropriate amount of time to drop the bombshell. The surprise element is definitely present to where you crave going back and re-reading the first half of the book but not so out of the blue that you weren’t already suspecting something else was afoot.

Particularly well done was the escalation of insanity and psychotic behavior. As the novel progresses you come to appreciate the slow spiral of a man unhinged no longer able to mask his true derangement. She showed how subtlety these types of individuals present themselves at first, and how incremental the changes can be until all of sudden it feels like their psychosis is coming at you at 100 miles per hour and you wonder how you could have possibly missed it from the jump. It’s a little scary even because who among us has not experienced a friendship that went awry in such a fashion? Hopefully not to the point of murder! But personally I can count a number of occasions where such a friendship started with glaring yellow flags present at the beginning and yet somehow I still deemed the individual harmless enough. That is until those yellow flags grew somehow both slowly and suddenly into gigantic red ones. It gives you something to ponder about the relationship between gut feelings and the counter of not wanting to judge a book by it’s cover.

I also cannot overemphasize how well she weaved race, racism and the insidious nature of micro aggressions into her narrative. How folks who use this language and hide behind the guise of “just trying to help” or pretending to be white allies is remarkably accurate. It comes off the page with the authenticity of the genuine experience of a woman of color. I’m sorry for her that she has also experienced such language but grateful for how she was able to articulate it for a broader audience.

The only criticism I have is: the “novel” within the novel was a bit predictable but only once you get to around 75% into the book and start to think about things like who the only people that could have Cain’s cell phone are. However, I almost feel like that was intended or at least known by the author. The other thing is the narrator has the voice of someone significantly older than 27. I can’t articulate what it was exactly but I couldn’t picture Freddie as anyone younger than 45. Maybe not a critique but an observation/impression

4.5 ⭐️ rounded up

From the synopsis of this book, I went in expecting a locked room type mystery. Unfortunately that is not at all what the book was. I was invested enough to want to know who the murderer was, but not so invested that this book kept me enthralled. It was just an okay read.

WOW
This book got me bad. Got my attention at the first line and obsesses with the last sentence of the first chapter!
This book is amazing!!! Trilling from the very beginning. The characters are perfect for the plot and carefully put together. The main character bring a writers insight. This was the first book of this style I’ve encountered and I’m still processing how amazing it was.
The novel is a work of fiction inside a work of fiction! The game of realities is simply perfect. All of the characters have insight and show dept. A book I could and will recommend a lot!
Thank you su much NetGalley for letting me read this amazing work.

The Woman in the Library is a bit of a psychological thriller and written in an interesting way. It's a book about writing a book and the <fictional> author (Australian) includes 'correspondence' from an American who lives in Boston, the place where she set the novel. He also shows up as a character in the novel. This correspondent sub-plot is woven throughout the book. So you start with the premise that you are reading the novel (murder mystery) but also there's the part about the pen-pal. It sounds complicated, but it really works! I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the readers' questions and author notes in the back made it that much better.

A scream in the public library draws four random strangers together. As they form a firm friendship they find themselves sucked into the mystery of the scream. A woman was murdered in the library and it seems that some of them were more connected to her than they initially thought. As the mystery unfolds it becomes clear that there is a story hidden within the the main story. Freddie, the foreigner, loves her new friends but she is determined to keep her head. After all, some of these new friends have been acting a little strange. Can she keep her feelings in check as she tries to unravel the mystery?

This was a sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat, nail-biting, want-to-read-it-in-one-sitting kind of book! I was hooked from the very first chapter. Sulari Gentill is a master of her craft. The pace and the unfolding of each next clue/hint is so well done. The characters are complex and full of feeling. When I finally cottoned on to the hidden story...oh my goodness! Brilliant. If you like a mystery that keeps you guessing to the very end, this book is for you.

This book is wonderfully intelligent. I recommend reading it while your brain is active as it's very interactive and smart. It's beautifully written and wonderfully read.

A story inside a story.

A very clever way to format a story. This novel within a novel possibly is fast moving and keeps you wanting more. I’m interested to see what Sulari Gentill comes out with next!

“The Women in the Library” by Sulari Gentill
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Release Date: 6/7/22
Netgalley Ebook ARC

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC! I enjoyed every minute of it! This was a fast paced thriller that kept me questioning how it was going to end!

Four people. One Library. One Scream. Who’s guilty?
When four strangers are working in the reading room of the Boston Public Library and hear a blood curling scream they all are on high alert. They quickly bond over this mysterious scream. The guard can’t find where or who the scream came from. They become fast friends and as the story unfolds start to question one another. Is one of the people I’m spending all of my time with a murder?

A fantastic read, one that kept me engrossed. The correspondence between Leo and Hannah confused me at first, but I began to tear through the chapters to see what Leo would say next.

The structure of this novel stands out to me, especially in the mystery genre where things can feel very similar after a while. When I started, I was sucked into the "main" narrative of the murder in the library. But as the novel progressed, the fact the "main" narrative consisted of chapters that author Hannah was sending to an American friend, Leo, pulled me out of the story. The letters from Leo to Hannah offered the more compelling twists and surprises. Still, I have many kudos for this innovative book, which I've already recommended writer friends.

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and Sulari Gentill for the chance to read an advanced copy of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisioned Pen Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Woman in the Library is a story within a story. But unfortunately both stories didn’t do it for me. This was a DNF. I couldn’t connect to the characters at all. I found this rather boring. Leo comes off extremely stalkerish.

I wanted to love this book. It’s been on my “want to read” list for awhile now. But it just wasn’t good.

Although I greatly appreciate the ARC of this book, I did not like this one, at all. I may be the minority opinion here, but everything fell flat for me. The characters, the plot, everything. A miss for this gal.

I don't read a lot of mystery books but I really enjoyed this one.
The way it is written is really interesting and is almost a story within a story, with letters from Leo to Hannah who is writing the story about 4 strangers connected over a scream in the Boston Public Library where the main character is also an author.

Had me guessing the whole way through who the killer was and read the last 40% in one sitting just had to keep reading, and some really interesting twists within the letters and the story.

It wasn't what I expected and after a great first chapher did slow a little bit for the first 30 or so percent of the book then got super interesting.

Overall was very well done and a unique way to tell a story.

Thanks Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC copy

What a fun story! I really enjoyed the characters and their journey into finding out what happened to “The Woman in the Library”. I really loved Sulari Gentill’s writing. It was a quick mystery that kept me turning the pages and I ended up finishing it in one day. The only thing I wasn’t crazy about was the fact that it was a story within a story. I thought we could’ve just done with the story her character was writing. I didn’t feel like the emails that were sent back and forth between her and Leo were enough to really get to know either one of them, so it just felt kind of like wasted pages. When I got to those parts it tended to take me out of the other story a bit. It didn’t feel entirely cohesive. Other than that, I had a great time with this book and would recommend it to my friends. This one got 4 stars from me.