I didn’t know what to expect from “the woman in the library” and it was nice to come into it with eyes open. It has a fascinating format, of a first person story featuring a writer…and at the end of each chapter is a note with comments on it from a reviewer! A story within a story. It’s nice because the reviewer is used to explain some things and set the scene. Speaking of the scene, it’s set in Boston, which I couldn’t help but love because I lived there in the past and recognized locations and businesses mentioned — the fact that some real places were used just made the story come alive in a really fun way. The story kept me guessing — I can’t help but try to predict who-dun-it and there were so many viable options!! And then a twist halfway through! Wow. I really liked the way this story evolved, it kept me guessing, and I was even wrong at the end for who-dun-it (partially at least)! In a very satisfying way!! Wonderful stand-alone mystery. I’m so glad I got to read an advanced copy.

This literary mystery thriller started off really strong but sort of lost steam midway through for me. Told as a story within a story, the reader is left trying to determine what is fact and fiction as we follow four strangers who meet in the reading room of the Boston Public library only to have their silence interrupted by a woman's dying scream. From the beginning we are told one of these four is the killer but the journey to uncover who is a long one. This was a twisty, entertaining ride and perfect for fans of books like Cover story or Who is Maud Dixon. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advance review copies! I'll definitely be waiting eagerly for the next book by this author!

4.5 stars

United States Publication Date: June 7, 2022

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this advanced reader's copy. In exchange, I am providing an honest review.

Wow. What a great idea for a story and a great execution of that idea. I'm one of those readers that reads it all, acknowledgments, etc and the author explains at the back of the book that she got the idea through a real life email exchange.

Hannah is a famous (we find out throughout the course of the book) author working on her newest mystery/thriller. She and a fan-turned-friend, Leo, have email exchanges in which she shares rough draft chapters and he, a fellow writer, offers feedback. In this particular instance, he is also offering on the ground research as he lives in Boston, the city her newest novel is set in. So the book we are reading contains two storylines. The one between Hannah and Leo and then the story Hannah is actually writing. The story she is writing is about a writer who was awarded a year-long grant to write a novel in Boston. Our author, Freddie (short for Winifred), hails from Australia and is stateside for a year. She's working on a mystery and is short on inspiration. One day she heads to the Boston Public Library and finds herself sitting in a cluster with three other people. The other three, Freud Girl, Heroic Chin, and Handsome Man, become Freddie's friends after a scream from a woman in the library bonds them. She assigns her new friends these monikers as they have inspired her to start writing - she will give them names later. But between her new friends and the actual scream from a woman then found dead in the library, Freddie has found her inspiration. She begins to write and spends more and more time with the three. They decide to "solve" the mystery of the woman in the library because some strange coincidences are popping up. So between writing her book and trying to solve the actual mystery, Freddie is quite busy! The question is, will Freddie's version of the story and the real life version meet up and become one or converge from each other? She gets to decide. In the meantime, Hannah and Leo's email exchanges are taking a turn for the weird. He may be a little too invested in her story.

I loved this book. I couldn't put it down and the one time I did I couldn't stop thinking about it until I picked it back up. It was a really delicious (yep, that's what I said and I'm sticking with it) read. Super clever and just so delicious! It didn't earn a full 5 stars from me because I felt like the Hannah and Leo part of the story ended too abruptly. I would have liked to have seen it rounded out a bit more. But that's really so minor in the big picture of this book. Fantastic.

TL;DR: This book had nothing wrong with it, but at the same time it didn't hit the right spots for me. The story had so much potential and it was delivered competently, but in overall it didn't do anything for me.

I'm not sure how to feel about this book and the story, so I'll start by saying that I understand the title choice, but I don't agree with it. In "The Woman in the Library" we meet Freddie, an author, that is in a library trying to push a new book to be born. She's taking inspiration from her surrounding and pinpoints three potential characters in the people sitting in the same table. A scream ensues and the four people start talking because of this situation.

What follows is a tale of fast friendships with strong bonds, romance and Freddie writing her novel while trying to separate the characters from the people she's come to meet. I liked it, felt simple, interesting. But on top of it, we have Hannah, the portion of meta of this book, that is actually writing about Freddie writing a book, and corresponding with Leo, a colleague that lives in the US, in the vicinity of where the book is taking place and giving her tips. This is where things reached the potential of being great or very bad - and where this book just delivered. It made it work, but there was no flavor for me.

I'd have liked this book more if the interludes, the emails between Hannah and Leo, were kept just like that. It added a layer to the story, but the mystery that develops in that relationship complicated the narrative too much. It felt like reading two books in one, but neither got deeply explored.

The book started to pick up pace at around 45%, when we're presented with the new (new) layer of mystery. Like a matryoshka, every chapter revealed a new problem, a new consideration. The ending felt rushed and like neither of the stories got solved in the level they deserved.

It's not that I disliked the book, it's just that I'll remember this premise for more time than I'll remember the story itself. In any way, I'd pick up books by Sulari Gentill again in the future, as I enjoyed the writing style.

Thanks to Net Galley and Poisoned Pen for the ARC.

Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press.

I was intrigued by this book because I live in Boston! A murder somehow brings four strangers together. There was no shortage of mystery here. I loved the premise and the idea of the book! I had some questions, but overall, I really enjoyed this read.

Wow what wonderful, refreshing writing! I totally enjoyed this new domestic thriller. Fast and fun new approach to storytelling. Characters were really amazing, so big I felt like I was in the story with them. So many twists and turns, the action just did not stop.
Don’t miss this one.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book

I absolutely loves this book. The secondary story within the story added an extra layer of interest. I honestly didn't want to put it down. I had a fairly good idea who the culprit was early on, but there were so many pieces to it that I didn't expect. Such a fun book! I'm pleased to have been given the opportunity to read this!

wow. I loved the writing style and setup and that kind of blew my mind. I am assuming there will be another because of how it ended. Overall, it was a good book that isn’t necessarily what you expect.

I love a good mystery and this one did not disappoint. The story is an example of a multi-layered text, featuring a mystery writer writing a story about a mystery writer writing a novel. Hannah is an Australian writer whose work in progress is set in Boston. Because of the pandemic she cannot make a trip to the U.S. to research and so relies on Leo, a Boston native and fan to be her beta reader. The story she is writing concerns Winifred, an Australian author who won an artist residency in Boston. She goes to the Boston Public library for inspiration and is united with three other patrons after they hear a scream in the library – and a dead woman is later discovered. As Hannah finishes each chapter she sends it to Leo for comment. His initial comments concern such things as the different words used in the U.S. and Australia - trunk vs. boot for example. But as time goes on his input becomes more and more suspect. Hannah becomes concerned about Leo’s character, which seems to have a troubling darker side. Recommended for fans of a good whodunnit. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher fir giving me an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Hannah, an Australian who we never meet, is writing a reverse locked room mystery: four strangers meet in the Boston Public Library and a bond is formed when they hear a chilling scream and a dead woman is later discovered. Hannah is also corresponding with Leo, an aspiring writer in America, who is quick to offer critique and Americanisms to help make Hannah’s novel more authentic. But what the reader really cares about is who killed the woman in the library and, were they really all strangers who happened to meet that day, or did someone orchestrate the entire thing? Also, what’s the deal with Leo?

I hadn’t read a good, old fashioned whodunit it in a long time and this was SO FUN! Just when you’re getting swept up in the story, the chapter ends and you get Leo’s increasingly agitated take on everything (he is VERY bothered by the fact that Hanna is choosing to ignore the pandemic for purposes of her book) and you’re reminded that it’s all the work of a writer (and yes, I understand that the whole thing is the work of a writer, but still). This was fast and fun and, even with death on the line, still pretty light. A great summer read! Available 6/7/2022. Thanks to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the eARC.

The Woman in the Library is a story within a story within another story. It should have been one I loved, but I was never fully invested in it.

Four strangers are sitting in the Boston Public Library when they hear a shrill scream. The scream ends up bringing these four twenty to thirty-somethings together. When they learn that a body was found shortly after the shriek of terror, they all inadvertently became entangled in the case. This encounter inspires Freddie, the protagonist, for the novel she is currently writing.

That is the basis for Hannah Tigone’s story. While writing her story, she exchanges emails with a super fan named Leo, who eagerly gives her advice about her characters and plot lines. The reader never sees what Hannah writes to Leo, only what Leo writes back. Over time, Hannah’s story and Leo’s emails take on a darker tone.

Usually, I enjoy a story within a story, but in this case, I found it distracting. To me, Leo’s emails didn’t add much to the narrative. It’s hard to say anything without getting into spoiler territory.

Gentill has some opinions on writing about the current pandemic in contemporary stories. However, I think her views were more clearly expressed in the author’s note than it was in the context of the story. But, in the narrative, these views pulled my attention away from the central plot.

I did like the progression of character development. At first, the characters seemed like shells named Heroic Chin and Freud Girl, etc., but their personalities became more defined as the novel continued.

This novel is a quick read as the chapters are fairly short.

There are many other rave reviews, so don’t let my review sway you away from giving it a try.

2.5 stars.

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with an arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

https://booksandwheels.com

The Woman in the Library is a twisted tale of a murder that occurs in no better place than a library. Winifred Kincaid (Freddie), is a writer looking for inspiration in the wonderful setting of the Boston Library. There, she sits at a table in the Reading Room looking for inspiration. She finds said inspiration in the various individuals sitting at her table whom she dubs “Freud Girl” ‘Heroic Chin” and “Handsome Man”. Suddenly, all are startled when a bloodcurdling scream slices through the silence.
After a quick scan of the library by security and no source of the scream is found, library patrons are allowed to leave. Freddie and those and her table having quickly bonded over the startling experience,, leave the reading room and go for coffee.
That evening the evening news declares that that the scream belonged to a murdered woman whose body had been discoverd by the night cleaning crew.
Soon, through a series of weirdly coincidental events, Freddie begins to suspect it may be one of her new found friends.
Freddie’s storyline alone makes for an intriguing mystery, but the author also embeds another story. Each chapter ends with a letter to “Hannah” signed by “Leo”. In these letters, Leo critiques the plot of the chapter that precedes it. Leo’s correspondence is both helpful and condescending and soon becomes creepily familiar.
This novel is a well written, intriguing mystery with twists and turns that make it anything but predictable.
This would make a suitable example to use for teaching a plethora of literay devices for students in a jr/sr high classroom..

First there is a scream. Then a body is found. One of the people Freddie saw in the library that day is the killer. Suspense enough with just that plot line, right? Add on top of it emails between the woman writing the story we are reading and a devoted fan who goes above and beyond to provide background information for her book. It added a quirky extra dimension to an already engaging read. I was surprised by how little of the story took place in the library since that is where the crime took place, the main characters met, and several of the characters in the book are writers. I was also a little confused by the ages of many of the characters. It felt like Freddie and Cain were much older than their stated ages in the story. Though, as many might remind me, theoretically the book we were reading is a draft and changes could be made. I really enjoyed how this book was both a light cozy and a twisty suspense all at the same time!

It starts with a scream in the Boston Public Library; four strangers going about their business, each noticing the other but seemingly unconnected to each other and the murder victim later discovered in another room. Apparently, murder is bonding because the four become fast friends, dropping in at one another's houses, calling constantly, and going everywhere as a pack. They begin digging into each other’s pasts, because how well can you know someone you just met in the library? At least one of them is a killer.

Then comes a letter from “Leo,” the stateside friend of an Australian author who acts as a critique partner and local Boston guide when the pandemic thwarts the author’s travel plans. He’s flattering, at first. Americanizes a few terms and sends a few photos. This is the point where the reader realizes that the BPL scream storyline is actually a manuscript-in-progress. I wanted to love this book-within-a-book format much more than I did.

Back and forth we go, between the story of the fearless four, embroiled in an amateur sleuth investigation and the evolving plot line of “Leo” the progressive psychopath. The interruptions are jarring and I can honestly say that I would have preferred the story of THE WOMAN IN THE LIBRARY without the device of the crit partner.

I would have liked to see the plot of the core story be a little more developed to cut out the numerous mounting coincidences that make the whole thing implausible. I’d bet if the four knew each other before the scream, a lot of the rest of the book could’ve been improved upon to ramp up the actual mystery.

Format overcomplicates this book for me, including the presence of two “Leos.” I think it was meant to be a wink about life imitating art-imitating life, but sheesh. The tone of Leo's continued correspondence are off to me in a way I can't put my finger on. His progressive madness feels contrived rather than organic, and a lot of his comments, in particular about the race of the characters and how Americans view this in literature, confused me and made me wonder if I should be offended.

Honestly, I DNFed THE WOMAN IN THE LIBRARY, but then I thought maybe it was the day and the book just wasn’t hitting right. I was already halfway through at this point and decided to ride out what turns out to be a forgettable novel. Not bad, but just not really great, either. Probably a decent beach read for those who like amateur sleuth mysteries full of lovesick women.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the ARC of THE WOMAN IN THE LIBRARY.

I enjoyed the book, except for the side story of Leo. That was distracting and deviated from the main storyline.

This book is somewhat hard to define, genre wise. The jacket label seems to define it clearly as a mystery (of the locked room variety, at first glance), but I would add meta fiction to the mix. Because it is a book about writing a book.

The problem here is the relation between inner and outer story, because it soon becomes clear that the murder which the book jacket advertises is part of the inner story. And that means I, as a reader, are immediately removed from the full immersion into that story. For all I knew, Leo - the guy writing letters - and Hannah, the author of the inner story, are "real" persons, while the protagonist of the inner story - which is herself a writer, too! - is just a fictional character, meaning the murder has no meaning.

But as soon as I realized that the mystery is the inner story and that there's a writer in that story, too - I started to dread some inception like loops. And it happens right away when the letter-writing Leo is also entered as a character into the inner story.

If the mystery of the inner story is to be the main ingredient for this novel, then the outer story is a massive way of breaking the fourth wall. Which does have it's merits. It makes the whole story seem incredibly clever.

Sadly, that quickly turned out to be the problem. At times I had the feeling this novel was too clever for it's own good, with some of the meta aspects feeling kind of forced unto the story (like the way the author seems to praise herself). And then there comes the second loop, this time in reverse. You'll realize it when it happens.

Until that second loop happens - around halfway into the book - the outer commentary surrounding the inner story adds nothing to the main story, at least not for me. It's ruining the pace and distracts me from the real plot. Or at least that's what it seemed like until the twist, when it proved to be laying the ground for something different.

I can't tell you details - no spoilers here - but in a certain sense, the outer story becomes the center point. Which means you'll have to sort through the inner story to find out what's going on. While this is a clever turn of events, it suddenly makes the task of reading the inner story a little tedious, like a kind of chore that needs to be done before you can enjoy your entertainment.

Luckily enough, the inner story quickly gains in pace at this point, and you start thinking about the inner mystery's twists.

*****

In the end, I'm having some mixed feelings about this tale. There are some things that were kind of rubbing me the wrong way - killing my immersion into the inner story, stuff like that - but still, I like its cleverness, how the two story lines interweave, the twists that are flawlessly constructed. It will twist your brain! So I'll rate it 4 out of 5 stars.

Disclaimer: I've received a free Advanced Reader's Copy and am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an electronic copy to read in exchange for an honest review.

This was an incredible book. The format and feel of the book reminds me so much of Anthony Horowitz and I am here for it. We are reading about Freddie, an Australian living in Boston on a writing fellowship. She is in the library and hears a woman scream. Other patrons at her table join Freddie in speculating what happened and the story jumps off from there. Interspersed between Freddie's story are letter from Leo to Hannah (the author of Freddie's tale). Such a great novel - I binged it in a day and stayed up way too late to get to the end.

I really liked the premise of this book. However, I felt like the execution could have been a tad better.

This book is a story within a story about an author trying to write her next story. It’s all pretty trippy. And I definitely didn’t expect that twist when starting to read it.

We actually read a book that our fictional author, Hannah, is writing. Hannah’s book is about Freddie, an Australian author having come to Boston on a fellowship and trying to write her next book. Freddie ends up in the library where she sits near three other people, trying to draw inspiration from these unlikely strangers for her main characters. But then, there’s a scream. And it gets these strangers to talk to each other. A friendship between the four grows as they try to find out who was responsible for the murder in the library that brought them together.

Meanwhile, Hannah, the author writing Freddie’s story, is corresponding with a beta reader, Leo. It’s all good natured advise since she’s in Australia during the pandemic, and Leo functions as her eyes in Boston, trying to aid Hannah in portraying Boston as authentic as possible. But Leo grows a bit too forceful in his advice and sends Hannah a little too much insights as to what murders and crimes are happening in Boston at the moment.

This is soooo difficult to review. Because of course Sulari Gentill’s writing this story, but also, it’s Hannah’s story about author Freddie that’s the majority of the book. So am I judging Sulari’s writing or am I judging Hannah’s writing?

I came to the conclusion that I enjoyed my time reading this book. It had some great, tense moments, but the back and forth speculations and lack of action in parts dragged the story a bit. I wasn’t at all interested in Freddie’s book. And I was disappointed at the lack of parallels and “life imitates art”. The plot line outside of the “book” was an interesting take, though mostly boring because it dragged in parts too.

I also felt like this story had a lot of great themes (like, class and race), but didn’t particularly follow through with the execution on them. They were just kind of there.

The last part, with all of the revelations, was hurried through quite quickly. I also hoped to get more acquainted with the characters, but alas.

I liked it and the writing was very good. The murder mystery I thoroughly enjoyed. I just wish it was a bit shorter/better executed.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an earc in exchange for an honest review.

This was such an enjoyable mystery! It kept me guessing to the end.

The set up of an author writing the mystery while corresponding with an increasingly disturbing writer/fan was interesting but the mystery itself, where four people meet in the Boston Public Library and are pulled together when a woman screams was excellent. The twists, turns and misdirections were highly enjoyable. I definitely recommend this to mystery fans!

Stories within stories can end up being confusing as all get out unless they are written extremely well. I paid attention, re-read some parts twice and still got confused. So, sadly this book was not for me.