Ummm… what in the blazes did I just read?! Like holy crap this book was twisty and addicting! I was not expecting all of that.

This is the second book I've read by M.T. Edvardsson and I really enjoyed it. It was told from the point of view of three different characters - Jennica, Bill and Karla - leading up to the murders of Steven and Regina Rytter. In between the chapters in each of the characters voices, there were also excerpts from police interrogations and articles about the murder of Steven and Regina Rytter. All three stories held my attention, and it was interesting to see how they all tied together. Steven was a truly despicable character - I wasn't sorry that he was murdered. I liked the relationship between Bill and his daughter, Sally but I would have liked more information about his relationship with his deceased wife, Miranda. There were some surprising and unexpected twists that I didn't see coming at the end. I will definitely be reading any future books by M.T. Edvardsson. Thanks to the publisher, NetGalley and BookishFirst for the ARC.

The Woman Inside is a mystery steeped in lies, twists and dysfunction. It takes place in Sweden but the story could take place anywhere there are cheating husbands, drug addicts and domestic chaos. The three POVs alternate chapters and newspaper articles are intermixed giving a unique texture to the storyline. It takes a while for the characters' background to come to light, to see how they will intersect and find themselves involved in something that could change their lives forever.
Bill's idyllic life was upended when his partner and mother of his child dies from cancer. He is sad, alone and trying to raise Sally by himself. He has lost his job and struggling to find something that will made a dent in his rising debts so in a desperate move, he rents a room in his place to Karla who is studying to be a court Judge, who comes from a very chaotic home life complete with a drug addicted mother and absent father, and who takes a job as a house cleaner and lands a job for a well-to-do doctor and his wife. When she shows up the first time, she discovers the wife is bedridden due contracting a virus a year before and it seems to have invaded her mind in some way. Jennica has been floundering in deciding on a career and flips flops in her studies from this and that. While all her friends have partnered up and started families, she is still on Tinder but thinks like she met the man of her dreams. He's a doctor, handsome, wealthy and a widow. They meet all the time at fancy restaurants, hotels and in his city apartment. Who can complain?
I was intrigued by the story for a long while but about midway through, I got bored, the writing and story began to repeat itself and I began to lose interest. I think this story has so much to it but it needs to be tighter to keep the reader's interest. I felt like the author kept introducing new information that didn't seem relevant but only bogged the characters' backstory down. Karla was the only character I really cared much about though pathetic, desperate Bill comes in second. All three of them are damaged by their backgrounds. The reader is supposed to feel badly for Jennica once the truth comes out but even she is not very likeable in the end.
There is great potential because the story is very twisted and unexpected. Just tighten it up a bit and it's gonna be a winner!
Thanks to Netgalley and Celadon for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I was really drawn into the story initially, but there were a few too many back and forths between the POVs for my liking. This made it a bit confusing to follow. I also didn't really care for the ending. I did think this was a good story and I was really intrigued by the characters, but it didn't quite deliver the way I was hoping. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

A psychological , domestic thriller that will keep you on your toes. Multiple point of views gives of a story that allows you to put pieces together, but not the final piece until the end. A 2023 whodunnit.
I loved the dialogue and the cat named Dog!
Be sure to add this one to your TBR!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

This book has that feeling of “I’ve read this before” and I know which books it reminded me of immediately. That just tells me it fit into its niche quite well.

I definitely enjoyed the inserts of the interviews surrounding the crime, which gave us a sort of dual timeline - watching the story unfold and the criminal investigation after the fact.

This book is a bit wordy and too much for me at times. I did find myself wondering when it was going to get to the point. While the suspense was there, it wasn’t always enough to keep me interested.

3.5⭐️

Bill Olsson, mourning the loss of Miranda, his fiancée, and mother of Sally.
Financial struggles as a single parent are kept at bay by a lodger.

Karla Larsson, law student.
Financial struggles are kept at bay by working as a housekeeper.

Jennica Jungstedt, former girlfriend of Miranda.
Financial struggles are kept at bay by talking to callers for Psychic Advisor.

The story begins with the report written by one of the first patrol officers at the home of Steven and Regina Rytter. Interspersed between segments from the POVs of Bill, Karla, and Jennica are excerpts of Q&As with various individuals as the investigation moves forward.

I loved how the captivating story was written. The short chapters were alluring, built suspense, and unfolded drama, as everyone had secrets. Secrets that created numerous possibilities during the police investigation.

After reading "A Nearly Normal Family," the author's debut thriller, I knew I wanted to read more of his writing. I highly recommend this gripping novel with incomparable pacing and unexpected twists.

Thank you @celadonbooks @macmillan.audio for a copy of this who done it murder. The book starts with the murder of a wealthy husband and wife and I was interested to see what happened. The story is told in multiple POV and the story slowly reveals how these characters intersect. I like the themes explores in the story from being a struggling single parent to doing what's right and wrong. With so many POV, I didn't feel there was much depth into any of the characters

Thank you BookishFirst for the hardcopy and Celadon Books and NetGalley for the digital copy. I thought this was an interesting premise that sounds like a few popular books smashed together but it was very drawn out and could have been shorter. Definitely a book to take notes because there's quite a few characters. I did like the short chapters and the mix of police interviews and newspaper articles that were added in between chapters to add new information or change directions.

I was given this book by NetGalley for an honest review-
Bills wife has died and he is raising their daughter Sally but he is struggling to pay their bills so he decides to take in a renter - Karla, a law student. She also has a job cleaning at the Rytters house,.
At the Rytters the husband is a pediatrician and the wife lays in bed ill- or is she? When the Rytters end up dead- the question is who murdered them? Why? Grab this book for a thrilling read!

This book is told from multiple perspectives of characters, and they all have their own things going on. Jennica is trying to find love, Bill lost his wife and is trying to care for his daughter but has fallen on some hard times, and Karla is a student who wants to become a judge. All of their lives intersect, and it’s woven really well throughout the story.

I feel like there was a LOT to unpack here, but the alternating viewpoints, along with police interviews, made for such an interesting read. It was pretty suspenseful, and kept my attention throughout. If you liked this author’s previous work (I did!), you will like this one too. Definitely a page turner!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Woman Inside just didn't resonate for me. Edvardsson does a fine job of connecting his three narrators together, but I didn't really like any of them. The story itself begins with the deaths of the wealthy Rytter couple, then alternates between the three narrators - Bill, Karla and Jennica - when their three paths begin to interesect, as well as the present, when law enforcement is trying to figure how the Rytters were killed. As the story plays out, all three have possible motives, but they just don't feel compelling enough to kill for. Karla is a bit of a pushover who's renting a room from Bill while she tries to get into law school. She's also the cleaner at the Rytter house. Bill is a sad-sack, unemployed single father. And Jennica is unknowingly having an affair with Steven Rytter while refusing to act like a grown-up instead of like the college student she's pretending to be. Karla's story is the most compelling in addition to her interactions with other primary characters, she also struggles with what her level of commitment should be to drug addicted mother. She feels like a bad person for not being there for her mother, but also knows that she'll have no life of her own if she stays. I feel like backstory gets left out in regards to Miranda, Bill's significant other, and a former good friend of Jennica. It feels like an event that happened years ago forms a whole dynamic between Bill and Jennica but the reader only sees each one's very biased perspective on the situation. I also struggled some with how Edvardsson made everything work. It just felt like law enforcement investigating the situation was incompetent and could have figured how things happened but didn't really have anything throughout the whole story. And at the same time throughout the book they interview characters that the readers know have a connection to the murders, but that the police wouldn't seem to have a natural reason to speak to. A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Woman Inside is a psychological thriller set in Sweden which follows the investigation of the murder of a wealthy couple found dead inside their luxurious home. The story is told through the points of view of the three main characters and police interview transcripts.
The main characters are Bill Olsson, a struggling widower with an eight-year-old daughter, who rents out a room in his apartment to Karla, a pre-law student who works part-time as a house cleaner for the Rytters, a wealthy couple. Jennica is a student, the black sheep of her family, who falls for a handsome older man she meets on Tinder. The primary characters are well-developed and as the drama unfolds, we discover their respective back stories, motives, secrets and moral compasses.
The devious plot and multiple POVs keep the story moving quickly with numerous twists and an unexpected ending. The Woman Inside is a well-written, gripping, tense, enjoyable Nordic thriller. Thank you to BookishFirst, Celadon Books and NetGalley for a copy to review. #CeladonReads #CeladonBooks #TheWomanInside #partner

The Woman Inside
By: M. T. Edvardsson

4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Bill and his 8 year old daughter Sally are struggling to pay bills after his wife died. He decides to take in a lodger Kayla who is a college student studying to become a judge.

Kayla works as a housekeeper for a wealthy couple. The Rytters are an unusual couple. The wife is suffering and is taking pills subscribes by her doctor husband. Kayla feels like the husband is controlling and not very caring or concerned for his wife.

The couple end up dead and Bill of all people is the suspect. Part of the novel has interviews of the people who came in contact with Bill and the couple. This part was fascinating. This novel kept my interest the entire time as secrets come to the front. The ending was crazy. It’s amazing what people will do to keep secrets.

Thank you Celadon, Netgalley and the author for this advanced copy. This novel come out June 13.

#thewomaninside, #mtedvardsson, #celadon, #netgalley, #bookreview, #bookstagram, #booksconnectus, #stamperlady50

Having absolutely been gripped by A Nearly Normal Family, I was excited for the opportunity to read the authors next work and I was not disappointed. My only complaint, if you could even call it that, is that it probably could be edited down to make it a little shorter/tighter. Other than that, a solid read.
This is a multiple POV murder mystery that takes place in Sweden. It’s told from the POV of our 3 main characters - Karla, Bill and Jennica, as well as transcripts of police interrogations.
Bill is a single parent and unemployed and struggling to lay the bills so he decides to rent out a room in his house as a source of income. Karla’s a student who also works part time as a cleaning lady, rents the room in Bill’s house. Jennica was a friend of Bill’s late wife, and is now dating the owner of the house that Karla cleans twice a week because Steven’s wife is I’ll and cannot take care of the house herself.
The story starts out with Steven and his wife Regina found dead in this home and the progression of the story is who did it and why. Everyone had motive and opportunity and the investigators have their work cut out for them.
Thanks to Celadon Books and NetGalley for this audiobook arc in exchange for my review.

Bill is recently widowed and working hard to provide for Sally. In order to make ends meet, he moves his daughter into his room, and takes in a lodger. Karla is a law student and aspiring judge who pays her bills by being a housecleaner to a wealthy couple. It isn’t long after Karla starts working for them that she realizes the husband is controlling and obsessive, and he seems to have drugged his wife so she can’t leave the house.

As Bill and Karla’s relationship grows, she decides to take matters into her own hands in order to help him out. Unfortunately, when her employer and his wife end up dead, everyone’s a suspect.

This book was interesting in that you knew who was dead from the get go, and they were still a character we learned about. The main purpose of the book was to figure out who had committed the murder. This one was told from several points of view, of which several are the potential killers. As you get to know each one you can’t help but wonder what made them, if at all, commit the murder. It was fun and interesting. I never really did develop a connection with any of the characters enough to care about them or not. They all had really unlikeable traits and I just never got into any of them enough to root for them. I also felt that this one was rather slow, and at almost 400 pages, it felt very long. I really enjoyed the setting, Sweden seems absolutely lovely, and I’d love to visit someday.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Celadon Books, @celadonbooks, and Netgalley, @netgalley for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Additional links will be added once posted.

I wouldn’t say this was a thriller but it was interesting. I oddly learned a lot about Sweden—no jury trials?! I liked the funny bits about Jennica hating to bike everywhere and Karla and her classmate, Waheeda were great. I wish they’d get their own spin-off and we could see their adventures in working at McDonalds and becoming a cop and a judge!

I felt really badly for poor Sally. Her dad was a mess and I can’t image things would improve:

I really enjoyed this one! I never knew where it was going next and I was a fan of the twisty nature of the book. I’d definitely recommend this to my friends and family.

The Woman Inside is a gripping thriller that captures the reader's attention from the start with its multiple perspectives and complex characters.

With a wealthy couple murdered in the nicest part of town, the story unfolds as we follow the lives of those involved in this terrible crime. While the plot may be predictable at times, the story is still compelling and will keep you on edge as you try to solve the puzzle.

Unfortunately, the characters do not seem to be very well developed, and many of them are not very likeable. Karla, however, stands out as a character that is easy to feel sorry for and root for throughout the book.

Overall, The Woman Inside is a compulsively readable, page-turning thriller that will keep you guessing until the very end. While the plot and character development could have been stronger, the multiple points of view and suspenseful storytelling make this book a worthwhile read for fans of the genre.

[arc review]
Thank you to Celadon Books for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
The Woman Inside releases June 13, 2023

This is a multiple pov murder mystery set in Sweden, with some mixed media in the form of interrogation transcripts.

Karla, Bill, and Jennica are our 3 main narrators. They all seem to be connected to each other in one intricate tangled web.

Karla, a student, is also hired as a cleaning lady, and rents a room out of Bill’s house.
Bill is a single parent, fresh out of employment and struggling to pay rent and other bills, hence the idea to offer one of his rooms to rent out as a source of income.
Jennica was apparently a friend to Bill’s late wife in the past, and is also dating Steven, the owner of the house that Karla cleans twice per week.

It’s made clear at the start of the story that Steven and his ill wife, Regina, are the ones who turn up dead, but who had a hand in their deaths and what was their motive?

I felt like the pov’s here kept alternating too fast before we even got a chance to establish or develop the characters.
The murder mystery just wasn’t enticing enough for me and I didn’t particularly care for any of the characters.
There could have been more time spent to clean up the ending because all of the characters trying to find a plausible way to explain the fingerprints was so messy when one of the main characters has been regularly cleaning that house for up to 8 hours every week. Like, yeah, obviously if you find an extra set of fingerprints it means they’ve been there quite recently?? Such a glaring plot hole and didn’t line up with the interrogation process.

cw: cheating, theft, extortion, drugging, manipulation