Summary: Wealthy couple Steven and Regina Rytter are found dead in their home in a lovely, upscale neighborhood in a Swedish town. Bill Olsson and his young daughter Sally are struggling to keep their lives together and a roof over their heads after the death of wife and mother Miranda. To make ends meet, they take in a lodger named Karla, who attends university and works part-time for a cleaning agency. Karla starts cleaning at the Rytters’ home and is startled to discover Regina living as a recluse in the home, confined to her bed and clearly addicted to prescription medications. Jennica is an old friend and school mate of Miranda’s who has just met an older man on Tinder and is starstruck by his wealth and sophistication. Jennica’s friendship with Miranda ended on terrible terms years ago when she accused Miranda of cheating with her boyfriend at the time. The lives of these four people intersect over the course of the novel, with unforeseen and shocking results.

Thoughts: What a gripping and engrossing read this is! The Woman Inside really made me think about how we perceive ourselves, and the lies we tell ourselves in order to feel safe and comfortable. None of the characters in this novel are entirely what they appear to be, or what they tell themselves they are. Like everyone, they each have a darker side and are capable of taking unethical or outright criminal actions when they feel it is justified. They also lie to themselves about the other people in their lives, choosing what to believe and what to conveniently ignore. This is a tense, dark, psychological thriller which will string you along to the very end. I will say that I was left with some lingering questions, but I suspect that is what the author intended.

I didn't love this one, though I thought some parts were well done. I enjoyed how the characters are intertwined, even without them realizing it. They're all connected, and several have a motive for the crime.

But I also found some of the characters' motivations hard to understand. Yes, people make poor choices, but some of these characters seem to make nothing but poor choices. It was hard to sympathize with any of these characters aside from Sally. All the adults seem like horrible people with bad judgment.

Overall, I thought this book was an interesting mystery and it kept me reading until the end. After finishing, though, I kept thinking of all the ways it didn't work for me.

3.5/5
This suspense mystery is the 2nd title I’ve picked up by Edvardsson and it didn’t disappoint. While I thought this story lacked the thrills necessary to call it a thriller, it held a gripping mystery that kept me glued from beginning to end and the characters were compelling enough for me to want to see how their stories concluded. The ending felt incomplete in some ways and left me wanting more. I like the ambiguity of it but I wish there were some definite answers to certain questions that arose. Solid mystery, nonetheless. A fast paced read.

Thank you NetGalley, Celadon books, and MT Edvardsson for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

The Woman Inside by M.T. Evardsson

A wealthy couple is found dead in their home and there’s multiple suspects. The woman hasn’t been seen outside of the home in months and the man has carried on an affair. This follows Bill, a recent widower with a daughter. Bill can’t shake his money troubles. There’s Karla, the wealthy couple’s housekeeper, who is also a full-time law student with an addict mother. And finally, there’s Jennica, an old friend of Bill’s wife who started seeing the wealthy man before he died.

This was entertaining enough and the multiple POVs kept the twist going a bit. All in all, I wasn’t super impressed. It felt a lot like other books I had read. I didn’t particularly like any of the characters. It was well-written enough, just didn’t have a lot of uniqueness to it. The multi-cast narration was great though, and helped me keep the characters straight. I wish I had more to say about it, but that’s about it, unfortunately! Not a bad read, but not a great one.

Thanks to @celadonbooks / @macmillan.audio for the review copies!

This was a very intriguing and engaging mystery! It starts off a little slow out of the gate but picks up quickly and holds the reader's attention the entire way through! I loved the multiple POV's as it allowed the reader to gain a better understanding of every single character. The interrogations in particular were super interesting to read and added another layer to the story! This was definitely a lighter/quick read but still very entertaining!

This was a fun mystery/thriller about a wealthy couple found murdered in there home. I loved the way the story was told in multiple perspectives as well as interspersed with interview clips in present tense while the story was told in past tense. That writing style really kept me engaged.

My only complaint is that a lot of the story seemed very similar to several thrillers I've read recently (mostly my own fault for reading too much ;)), but there was definitely some originality as well!

I've also read A Nearly Normal Family by this author and think this one was even better than that!

The audiobook has a full cast audio which was very well done!

Thanks so much to Macmillan Audio and Celadon Books for the gifted ARC and Audiobook!

This book will be available on June 20th!

3.5 Stars rounded up for GR

When the extremely wealthy Steven Rytter and his wife are found dead in their home, the investigation leads officers Larsen and Hemstrom on a merry chase. There are many suspects to choose from. Karla works as their cleaner and as she gets closer to the ailing Regina, she soon suspects Steven of poisoning his wife. Bill cares for his young daughter after losing his partner to cancer. He’s lost his job and is about to lose his home. Taking on a boarder is a quick fix for now, but ultimately he needs a quick bit of cash. Karla answers his add and moves in shortly thereafter. As she shares news about her employer, Bill is quite intrigued. Jennica has met the man of her dreams. Steven is everything she’s ever wanted and then some, but is he too good to be true? She is a fortune-teller/ psychic by phone each night, even though she has no physic abilities. After being cheated on by a former boyfriend (who also has connections to Bill), and living in a home where her father consistently cheated on her mother, she is out to save all the women who call in nightly for her help. Someone has killed the Rytter’s the only question is who? This book/audio was fast paced and compelling from start to finish. The audio version was read by multiple voices making it easy to distinguish who was talking (my favorite type of audio🙂). Told in three voices with excerpts from the investigation intermixed this was a very good read/listen. Thank you to Celadon Books, Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an ARC and ALC of this book.

This is a very interesting mystery, definitely a good follow up to the author’s first work A Nearly Normal Family. I really liked the writing style and I loved that the story was told in chunks through three characters’ perspectives and interviews with the police. It was a little show to get going, but the ending was great and more than made up for any early slowness. The characters were all interesting, compelling, and best of all for me deeply flawed. This is a story that has no true good guys (unless you count little Sally), but all the characters are doing their best to follow their own moral compass. Bill has lost his wife and his doing his best to take care of his 8 year old daughter, but he has run out of money and is at risk of losing anything. Karla is hoping to be a law student so she can be a judge if she can stick to her plan and not be dragged back by her substance abusing mother. Jennica is floating without a clear plan. She’s in school and working as a telephone psychic to pay her bills. But when the family Karla is cleaning for appears to be harboring secrets they all head towards chaos.

With this one, we can’t really get into the plot too much. The synopsis already tells us a good bit, as it relates to these great characters…

Steve and Regina are our couple found dead in their luxurious home. Steve is a respected pediatrician, and his wife is ill with some kind of a long virus. When she is found murdered and he’s found with an overdose of pills in his belly, the police are of course investigating the matter thoroughly. They are also looking into our other characters:

Bill, whose wife, Miranda, recently died of brain cancer, leaving them in a rough financial situation. She came from money, and Bill had been working at a movie theater for fun, until she died. Now she’s gone, and he realizes he knows nothing about real work experience. He’s raising their daughter, Sally, by himself now, and has had to bring in a renter named…

Karla, who is a law student and aspiring judge. Her fatherless childhood was filled with drugs and desperation, and she’s working hard to be a different member of society than her mother. She is employed part-time as a house cleaner for a wealthy couple (you guessed it - Steve and Regina!) and likes the stability of living with Bill and Sally.

Jennica is our Tinder-addicted Netflix junkie and fake phone psychic. During the day she’s usually in her filthy apartment with her cat, Dog, and at night she gives advice to people desperate enough to pay for it. She and Miranda were once good friends, but now…

In the beginning, this was a bit slow, but then it kept going and I kept getting better acquainted with the characters. I wouldn’t say I loved any of them (maybe Sally) but they were all flawed people written truly. Overall, this book was a lot of fun as police interviews are interspersed throughout to build up the mystery even more.

The ending wasn’t something I’d had in mind, so it did surprise me, but it wasn’t a crazy shock. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this enough to finish it in one sitting, and I liked this mystery-thriller that had me guessing from page one. Four stars!

(Thank you to Celadon Books, M.T. Edvardsson, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review. This book is slated to be released on June 13, 2023.)

I really enjoyed this book. It is a slow burn mystery that it held my attention the while time. The author writes real, flawed characters that you can't help but root for them. I really liked how the story was told from several povs, police interviews, and news articles. I highly recommend this book.
The estimated publication is June 13, 2023.


Thank you Netgalley and Celedon Books for the e-arc.

This is such a good book! The compelling story starts with a double murder of an affluent couple. It slowly unfolds as we learn the backgrounds of the small cast of main characters, through multiple points of view in short chapters. No spoilers. This book was translated from the original Swedish and is an excellent translation of this well-crafted story. This is the first book I’ve read by this talented author. Please keep the translations coming! Highly recommended!

I really enjoyed this book! I found it to be a perfect whodunnit. It was a quick, fast-paced read & I had it finished in one sitting. I’m usually pretty good at figuring out the end or twists in books, but this one caught me off guard. That’s an automatic win for me!

Only downfall for me, was the multiple time lines & narratives going back & forth so often. It didn’t make it hard to follow, just had to keep up with who I was reading at each moment.

Overall, it’s a perfect read if you’re looking for a murder mystery!

Also, thanks to #Celadon & #NetGalley for the ARC! #TheWomanInside

Overall, this was a very interesting and engaging read. There were little things that annoyed me throughout, but not enough to severely dampen my enjoyment. Bill had issues. Lots of issues. And I wish he hadn't or that his story ended differently. I think I just didn't like his character. I also felt like the story dragged on a little bit. I recognize that it was to make sure the plot was fully laid out and everything tied together, but a little editing wouldn't have been bad. That all said, I did really enjoy how the story was set up, the different POVs, and the interesting way it was all resolved. Definitely a unique story and a book worth reading!

The woman inside is a wild tale. The story is told in multiple points of view even though there’s multiple characters they all flow together. Everything you think you know about the characters could be right…. We start out with a murder and everyone in the story has their own craziness. A twisty suspense that keeps you guessing even after you’re done reading.

I really enjoyed A Nearly Normal Family when I read it a couple of years ago. This book was no different. The multiple POVs worked so well and I found myself sucked in merely by the connections between the characters. It was also interesting to see the different ages and watch how these characters navigated Lund. I was also invested in finding out who dunnit. I love books that include excerpts from interviews and interrogations. The mystery is fun when you know the end and are trying to piece together what exactly happened. I did struggle at times to relate to the characters and they were not my favorite but the mystery redeemed the story. Sally was my favorite character and I primarily wanted to know what happened with her. She was the brightest spot in the story and of course, the most innocent. The final reveal was what I expected and I like how there is still a mystery as to whether Bill and Karla spill their guts. Overall, I enjoyed this one and look forward to more from M.T. Edvardsson!

It took me awhile to figure out the cast of characters: the young house cleaner who studies law, raised by a drug-addicted mother, renting a room in the accused killer’s house; the accused killer, a down and out single father, still grieving his wife’s death; the spoiled and lazy woman carrying on with the married man; and the murdered couple themselves, a doctor and his chronically ill wife.

The plot skips around time-wise quite a bit, mixing in interviews with the main characters that occur after the crime, as well as plot points told in chronological order. That choice just seemed a bit puzzling to me; I never quite found the rhythm.

And the characters? They came across as flat, a bit one-dimensional, and not all that likable or hateable, if that makes sense. Just a feeling of…meh.

I WAS curious enough about whodunnit to keep reading, and it was an appropriate length of book (at least it wasn’t 500 pages to find out the killer!) but sadly, it will end up being rather forgettable for me. I suspect others will enjoy this Scandinavian mystery however.

A wealthy murdered couple, the mistress, the housecleaner, the widowed father all come together with six degrees of separation for this domestic suspense thriller. Cleverly constructed relationships between the characters enhanced my engagement with this book.
Bill Ollson is a widow with a young daughter and is on the brink financially. However sad his predicament is, you find he's made some bad choices. Karla, the housekeeper, also in a bid to correct wrongs, makes some dubious choices when she connects with Ollson as his lodger.
Then there is the Woman Inside. Is she an innocent or a Machiavellian orchestrator of the eventual demise of the rich couple? I found myself drawn into each character's development which guaranteed a collision course and the eventual melt-down of one person.
The Woman Inside is a good foray into Nordic Noir and a recommended read.
4.25 stars

Thank you to Celadon Books for an early e-copy. All opinions are my own.

Alternating between the viewpoints of Bill, a jobless widower; Karla, an aspiring law student working as a housekeeper and lodger at Bill’s apartment; and Jennica, a fake psychic advisor with no life aspirations except dating wealthy pediatrician Steven Rytter, who turns up dead in his home. Interspersed with their viewpoints are interrogations into the Rytter murder and news articles reporting the story.

I liked the different viewpoints of the characters and watching them slowly come together and connect. The interrogations provided greater insight, cliffhangers, and curiosity so that you just had to keep reading to find out what came next.

This was okay but did not deliver on the reveal. The story felt very long and left me feeling underwhelmed. I feel like it could’ve been a tad bit shorter and would’ve been higher than a 3.

This one started off super promising. There are a lot of characters to keep up with and that made me nervous at first, but I was so hooked by the plot that it really didn't bother me. This one is an easy binge-read. I couldn't put it down because I had to know what happened. I formed so many different theories while reading because there were so many ways it could have gone. Which brings us to the ending. This is where it kind of lost me. The ending was very underwhelming compared to the rest of the story. It may have been intentional to leave things kind of open in regards to Steven and Regina (in order for the reader to form their own opinions about them), but I think further character development of both (especially Regina) would have sold the ending more. Overall, it was still a solid read, but it didn't really blow me away.