I really truly wanted to love this book, but sadly, it fell flat. My first complaint is that it definitely could have been significantly shorter. Parts of it got very repetitive and didn’t add very much to the storyline. However, I really enjoyed the multiple story lines that intersected very neatly at the end of the book. It made the book enjoyable and a story that I wanted to come back to, even when it was drawn out. I did figure out the ending pretty early and the book left me feeling a little let down after all that build- up. Overall, I was disappointed in this book after loving A Nearly Normal Family.

Bill, a widower and Sally, his 8 year old daughter, Karla, a college student who wants to become a judge and Steven and his wife, Regina do not know each other until their lives become entangled. Bill needs money and decides to rent a room in his home. Karla rents this room. Karla needs money to attend school and pay the rent for the room. She takes a job cleaning Steven and Regina’s estate. Secrets are abound and a death takes place.
This novel is suspenseful and twisty.

I truly enjoyed the author’s previous novel, "Nearly Normal Family." When I saw the author's name and an interesting plotline promising a dark psychological thriller, I jumped at the chance to read the author's new book! I didn't regret my decision; this book is an absolutely engaging thriller that keeps you guessing until the end, making your blood run cold. It allows you to connect with different flawed characters and their misdemeanors, struggles, and shortcomings. The book also entertains with smart dialogues. The witty exchanges between the least likable character and her cat, whom she named the dog, made me guffaw several times.

The story opens with the murder investigation of a couple: Regina Rytter, a bedridden wife and daughter of a highly accomplished best-selling author, suffering from a mysterious disease that has forced her to be trapped in her own house, and Steven Rytter, a charismatic, good-looking doctor who seems a little intense, obsessed, and controlling about the cleaning of his house and the medical condition of his wife. Regina is found bludgeoned to death, while Steven has overdosed.

The prime suspect is Bill Olsson, a man barely making ends meet after his wife's sudden death, suffering from a gambling addiction and trying to take care of his little daughter Sally, who is definitely a sweet pie. Bill reluctantly rents a room in his house to Karla, a 22-year-old law student who is running from her past and overbearing responsibilities to take care of her drug-addict mother. Karla works with a cleaning agency to pay her school tuition and is hired to clean the Rytter's house twice a week. She finds herself drawn into their marriage drama and begins to suspect that Regina's illness may be related to something sinister.

The last point of view belongs to Jennica, a black sheep coming from a wealthy family who hates the guts of her cheating father. She becomes an estranged friend of Bill's late wife, but she has no idea that the man she falls hard for is also married.

Throughout the book, you constantly ask yourself what happened to the Rytters. You read the interrogations of Karla, Bill, Jennica, and other people related to the Rytters, wondering if one of the three POVs may be the killer. Both of them hide big secrets, and their desperate measures may push them to make desperate moves.

Overall, even though the book was a slow burn, it kept my attention alert with its amazing character-driven execution. I enjoyed how everything wrapped up, and I cannot wait to read another book by the author soon. My love for Swedish thrillers/Nordic noir escalates with each brilliant book I devour.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Celadon Books for sharing this brilliant digital review copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I really liked this book. At first, I had problems with the switching between characters with each chapter, but once I got into the flow of the book, it became much easier for me to understand why. The book held my attention well throughout and built to a great ending in my opinion.

The book jumps around a bit so it takes some time to get a feel for the characters. You can tell they connect to one another but I was curious to see how their storylines would come together. You get a glimpse of how it ends but then work backwards to figure out how it got there.

I enjoyed the non-linear storytelling. It always adds a little something to a story. I found 2/3 of the narrators kind of irritating but I think the story enough is interesting that connecting to the characters wasn’t totally necessary.

I'm going to say that this is a book that I hate to love - but it was great! Although I don't always like the alternating points of view for each chapter, in this case I think it worked very well. The story, on the surface, follows several people in different circumstances, each with a fatal flaw that they can't seem to resolve. And somehow, and not in a forced manner, they all seem to reach a sort of nexus by the end. I don't find any of them particularly likable, but that doesn't detract from the story, which is about a single man with a small daughter (perhaps the shining star in this book), a woman renting a room from him who wants to study to become a judge, and another woman who can't seem to find her way in life. And at the heart of the story is a wealthy couple for whom the renter, Karla, cleans house as a way to earn some income. There is a theft involved, which leads to more problems, and the wife of the married couple appears to be getting drugged by her pediatrician husband. Like a crack in a window pane, the fractures run off in some expected and unexpected directions, until the ending is almost a relief. Almost. This was a stomach churner - I hated to turn the page, but couldn't stop myself.

This ARC was provided by NetGalley and the publisher, but the opinions expressed herein are my own.

I had previously read A Nearly Normal Family from this author. It was one of my favorites for the year. I was very excited to get my hands on this one. While I didn't think the ending was as "aha" as the former, it is still most definitely a good read. A doctor and his wife are murdered in their home, and we have to figure out what happened. I liked the format, told from 3 POV's, and the news articles and stories thrown in were a nice touch. The characterization is once again outstanding. I loved Bill and Sally's story and wanted so badly to help them. I felt for Karla, who tries to help them. Jennica was also an interesting character. She really didn't know what she was getting into even though all the signs were so clearly there from the outside looking in. As I said before, the ending just felt a little convoluted to me. Still very good, I was just left with a few questions. I do absolutely recommend this book and author and am eagerly waiting for more!

Thank you to #NetGalley, M.T. Edvardsson and Celadon Books for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

I will post my review to Amazon, Instagram and various other retail and social media sites upon publication.

The description of the novel doesn’t do it justice. The Woman Inside is so much more than the drama of Bill and Karla. There are the Rytters — Steven and Regina whose lives are complicated and eventually intersect with, and affect Bill, Karla, and Jennica.

The story unfolds through multiple points of view. Primarily through Bill, Karla and Jennica. And the reader is drawn into the expanding drama through the lens of each character.

The primary characters are well developed and fleshed out enough to get a feel for their respective personalities as well as moral compass. And like any other novel, there are some characters that you like and others that you don’t like. Some of the characters surprised me when their true colors immerged as the story progressed.

The plot follows a whodunit theme. But there are numerous twists that really made the novel unputdownable for me. And the big reveal toward the end was certainly unexpected.

The Woman Inside was my first novel from author Edvardsson. It certainly won’t be my last. Five stars.

I received a digital ARC from Celadon Books through NetGalley. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.

This novel comes from the author of A Nearly Normal Family which I enjoyed very much. I happened to read it after returning from Denmark so I also enjoyed the cultural references from the setting in Sweden. The novel focuses around the deaths of Steven and Regina Ritter who were found dead in their home. The story is told from several points of view, all leading the reader to try to determine who was responsible for the killings. Along the way, we learn about the local community in Lund and the characters (Karla, Bill, and Jennica) who interacted with the Rytters specifically as well as each other. Each of them offers their own point of view. This book was fast-moving due to the short chapters with investigative interviews interspersed. These interviews also help tell the story and reveal clues. The ending is fitting and clever. I enjoyed it very much!

This cleverly written rat-in-the-maze story captures the reader right away and keeps the tension high all the way through. This is what happens when well-intentioned lie. I have never read Edvardsson before and wasn't sure I liked how the book was laid out but after finishing the story, I see the mastery this method. I will definitely pick up his next book.

This kept my interest and was an exciting storyline. The characters were easy to relate to and meld together in their life story.
The ending was good at wrapping everything together and tying up the loose ends. Recommend..

This was a terrific read that I could not put down. Great characters and an author whoose next book I cannot wait for. Truly outstanding on every level. Ending was a surprise which is refreshing.

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were very well written to the point that I really cared about them. Bill is a widower who has recently lost his wife to cancer. It is just him and his young daughter now. He has no steady income and rents a room to a law student, Karla, to make ends meet. It works out quite well. Karla supplements her income by working for a cleaning service. Her latest assignment is cleaning twice a week for a wealthy couple. The wife is ill and never leaves the house. The husband is a physician with a girlfriend. Even though that scenario is one that we have all read - there are twists and turns to make the book different and interesting.
I look forward to reading a earlier book by this author A Nearly Normal Family.

I gave this book a solid 4 stars. Thank you to Net Galley for sending me an advance reader's copy!

I have been fortunate enough to read M. T. Edvardsson before and enjoyed that read, so I was especially pleased to be given the opportunity to read this ARC of The Woman Inside.
The writing style is the same, which is unique, and I enjoy it. The story plot held my interest throughout the book, and the ending was very satisfying for this reader.
Thank you #NetGalley and M. T. Edvardsson #TheWomanInside for the opportunity to read and review this book. I would recommend this for all mystery readers!

I thought that this would be another gaslighting, evil husband with a suffering wife. Surprised that it was so much more. Each of the many characters was evil in their own way and quite unlikeable I have to admit that I scrolled to the end and then back again to fill in the rest. I’d love to read more books by this author!

I'm not going to provide a summary of the novel, as others will do that. I thought it opened strong, and felt I'd found quite the page turner, with some interesting characters. Things changed, however, as things began to drag, and became repetitive. With such unlikable characters, I didn't really care who was blamed for the crime. Then things picked up again, and, I was again flipping pages toward a rather surprising ending.

I was super excited to have won this book! Thank you Goodreads, Celadon and Macmillian Publishers for the hard copy of this book and Netgalley for the ARC digital copy.
This is a first from this author and recommended to read his first novel A Nearly Normal Family. Excited about the cover and how this Nordic mystery was designed into interrogations, newspaper articles and how with each new evidence proposed a new direction to solve the crime scene.

The crime scene consisted of a wealthy couple found murdered in their expansive and immaculate mansion. Investigated was their newly hired maid Karla. She is a struggling law student with high hopes of being a judge one day. She raised herself while looking after her drug addict mom. The dorm rooms are considered a party scene so she decided to look for a place off campus. What she finds is single father struggling to raise his daughter Sally and make ends meet. Under the circumstances, I pitied him for his difficulties and sympathized for Sally, but his ignorance and choices impedes his growth. He makes some bad decisions after Karla rents a room in his place to help him financially and her economically. Karla pities him, so while working for the wealthy Rytters' couple she takes jewelry from them and gives it to Bill to sell. Bill is also investigated for this crime as well as a character Jennica, who also finds herself wrapped up into the Rytters' situation.
The Rytter family has their own secrets. Before their death, Karla observes Regina Rytters in a desperate situation and being drugged by her husband. She is unable to leave her house due to his controlling and obsessive behavior. There is so much more to his demeanor than meets the eye. He is not a likeable character and Regina fears she will one day be killed by him.
A great mystery to solve and the typical page-turning thriller consists of another maid that knows all their secrets.

4 main characters with a handful of supporting people. Each person represented different choices and outcomes. The ending wrapped everything up, BUT I think the male character's last scene was suspicious.

•Quick Description•
Who dunnit?
POV and police interviews
Affairs
Sick wives
Colliding lives

•Rating•
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 stars
I recommend this read!

•Review•
I really enjoyed the way the story was told. It was by 3 different points of view of the weeks/days leading up to the crime. Plus, police interviews conducted after the crime. It was an easy read. No big twists, but I still really enjoyed it!

•Similar Recommended Reads•
Look Closer
Things We Do in the Dark
Local Woman Missing

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book for my honest review.
Karla wants to overcome her past and become a judge she has to take a cleaning job to make ends meet as she goes to school. She finds a place she can rent a room from a man and his young daughter who are grieving the loss of his wife. The place she cleans is a mansion where a pediatrician and his wife who is very sick live. So much changes from this point involving several people. This book is out there but draws you in and you want to know what happens to each of them.