Member Reviews
Karla wants to go to law school. She doesn’t want to be a lawyer though. She wants to be a judge. She’s old for her age, as she’s had to care for her drug-addicted mother since she was very young. She cleaned up after her mother, lied for her, tried to help her, and now she’s moved away from her, to try to make a better life for herself. She doesn’t have much money though, so she’s cleaning house for a wealthy couple, Steven and Regina Rytter, and renting a room from a single father.
Bill has been struggling for a while, as he had to watch as his partner got sicker and sicker until she died. Despite his grief, he had to continue to raise their young daughter. Her long illness had wrecked their finances, and he had unwisely stolen and then tried online gambling to try to put them into a better position. Instead, he lost his job and got increasingly desperate for money to keep them afloat. He finally decided to take in a lodger for Sally’s bedroom, even though it’s not exactly legal where he lives.
When Karla figures out that the student housing is too loud for her to be able to study, she rents the bedroom from Bill and Sally. Although she divides most of her time between studying for the exam that will get her into the law program and her job cleaning, she also spends a little time with Bill and Sally. She sees how hard Bill struggles to create a good, stable life for Sally, and it reminds Karla of the chaos she grew up in. She wants to help them how she can, even going so far as to steal a ring from the family she cleans for.
She immediately feels awful about taking that ring, even though she thought the couple would never notice. The husband is almost never there, and the wife is so ill she can hardly get out of bed. But Karla knows that if she gets caught, she’ll never become the judge she wants to be. But when she tries to get the ring back, to set things right, she runs into a wall.
Meanwhile, Jennica finds herself in a new relationship. She works as a phone psychic, although she tells her clients that she’s not psychic and merely acts as an advisor, and looks for dates on Tinder. It doesn’t really go well until she gets set up with Steven, who is charming and smart and a doctor. He tells her that his wife had died. As she had watched her father cheat on her mother as she was growing up, she promised herself she would never get involved with a married man. So when she finds out that her new perfect boyfriend, Steven Rytter, is actually still married, she is heartbroken.
And then, when the Rytters both end up dead in their own home, the police have to piece together what happened to everyone involved with the couple, to figure out just what kind of family tragedy they have.
M.T. Edvardsson’s The Woman Inside is a powerful slow-burn thriller about the secrets that families have and how they affect all the members of a family. There are questions of justice, of morality, and of love, all threaded together into a tapestry of loyalty and lies. Set in Sweden, this story is another twisted domestic thriller from the author of A Nearly Normal Family.
I really enjoyed The Woman Inside. There were layers of secrets, with the themes of the story being intertwined as the various characters came together. The way these characters all came together was fascinating and chilling, and I couldn’t stop reading this book. It’s definitely a dark one, but it’s worth the time it takes to get to the answers, and in the end it is a very satisfying read.
Egalleys for The Woman Inside were provided by Celadon Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.
The book begins with the discovery of the dead bodies of the Rytters, a wealthy married couple. The story of how they died is then told from a few police interviews and the alternating points of view of three characters. Bill is an unemployed widower raising his nine year old daughter Sally. To pay his mounting expenses, Bill takes in a boarder, Karla, a student who works part time as a cleaner for the Rytters. She begins to learn their secrets. Jennica was a school friend of Bill’s wife and also has a connection to the Rytters. Both Bill and Karla have a lot of financial and family problems. I would have thought that Sweden has more of a social safety net for such things, but I guess I was wrong. Jennica was an unlikeable character, especially at the end of the book.
This book held my interest, but dragged a bit and took too long to get to its conclusion. The characters seemed to have the same encounters over and over again. There was an author’s introduction that gave a huge hint about the deaths. Do not read it. At least the author could have had the sense to put that at the end of the book rather than the beginning. 3.5 stars
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
I loved this book! Kept me entertained and I didn’t guess what was going to happen at the end. All the characters felt real and I enjoyed reading about them. Definitely recommend!
This is a fast paced, intense, spin you left, then right, upside down, and around again. Are you feeling loopy? If you do, then I succeeded. The cast of characters are unique and from completely different walks of life. I became engaged in what each was experiencing and how they all became connected. Each adding a string to the complicated web that M.T. Edvardsson weaves. The layered backgrounds dragged me into the story, leaving me wanting to know more about each and every character. There is cheating, lying, gambling, drugs, trust issues, horrible childhoods, friendship and family dynamics, and it all ends with murder. There is a little something for everyone within the confines of the cover.
I wish I had a little more background on Steve and Regina's marriage. There were a few holes that I am still curious about. This did not deter me from how much I enjoyed the book overall. Thank you to M.T. Edvardsson and Celadon Books for my gifted copy.
A story filled with characters selfishly behaving in desperate ways. Their lives all overlap when a doctor and his wife are found dead. Did someone kill them, or is it a murder-suicide? This book leaves you guessing up until the very end. It is written somewhat in the style of Agatha Christie, in which you know that there can only be one right suspect, but everyone seems to be it until the very end when all is revealed.
I really enjoyed this slow burn thriller. Each voice was interesting and kept me captivated and the ending was beautifully twisted.
I went back and forth between two and three stars for this one. 2.5 rounded up to 3 stars. It started off strong. I really like the short chapters. The pacing was good. A super easy read and felt like it was going to be bingeable in the beginning. Unfortunately it started to drag after 60% for me. The interview scenes kept me going but overall it ended up falling flat. I wish the book as a whole was a bit shorter. I definitely didn’t hate it but personally this won’t be a memorable one for me. I couldn’t find myself really connecting with any of the characters or caring how it was going to end. Thank you to the publisher for this ARC.
Thank you to NetGalley, MacMillan, and M. T. Edvardsson for an ARC of The Woman Inside! I have mixed thoughts on this book. I did enjoy it and wanted to find out what happened to Regina and Steven, but it didn’t grip me like others have to actively try to find out. I enjoyed the process of the book and the interrogations. Sometimes a character would say something that they knew, but then a couple pages later they are just learning about it for the first time. Honestly, Bill is a bit overboard and whiny, and Karla has her moments. Jennica is a good addition to the story to add some more drama, but in the end I feel more empty then fulfilled by this book.
This one was a challenging read. I felt like it was interesting at first but it was really drawn out at the end. The ending surprised me, but overall I felt like it wasn't written very well.
Thank you @celedonbooks for my gifted digital and audio copies. I was delighted to receive them and my thoughts are my own.
A psychological suspense novel that opens with a murder scene…this one had my attention from the first page!
The story unfolds at a good pace through police interviews, newspaper articles, and the perspectives of Bill, Karla, and Jennica. We learn early on the identity of the victims.
REGINA RYTTER is very sick and STEVEN is her controlling husband who is possibly over-medicating Regina. Then, we wonder, is Regina really sick, or is her “illness” the result of her meds?
BILL is a widower struggling to make ends meet and take care of his young daughter. He takes on KARLA as a boarder to help with his expenses.
KARLA is the housekeeper for the Rytters. She is studying law.
JENNICA is having an affair with Steven.
ALL of the characters are somehow connected and all of the characters are hiding a secret. I didn’t particularly like any of the characters as the story developed but I did want Bill to be able to care for his daughter. The ending caught me by surprise!
Read this if you enjoy:
*Multiple perspectives
*Character-driven novels
*Characters with secrets
*Twists
*Surprising conclusions
A very thrilling book that follows many different characters where readers try to figure out the murder. This story is similar to one I have read before but it was nice to come back to another murder mystery story. The plot was well thought out and with different conflicts in the story. It’s very hard to feel a connection with the characters but the three main characters were great for the book even if you might hate some. The ending is predictable in my opinion as you can tell where the story is heading. This was a great book and I would be reading more of Edvardsson’s works in the future.
The Woman Inside tells the story of the investigation into the murders of Steven and Regina. It follows Jennica, Bill, and Karla who all had a relationship in one way or another with the couple and may be connected somehow. Is everything as it seems?
I loved the story being told from different perspectives and different timelines throughout. I also loved getting the transcripts from the interviews. The writing style of this book was very good. I really felt for Bill and Sally and Karla. I had no idea what had happened until the moment that the author laid it out for me. It was the perfect mystery and I was so intrigued. This is my second book by this author and I will read as many as he writes! I had access to the audiobook as well and I loved it as well. it helped with the pronunciation of names and places immensely!
The Woman Inside by author M.T. Edvardsson is a thriller that left me feeling both shocked and surprised at the ending! The story centers around the murder of a middle aged pediatrician and his very ill wife. There are 3 main characters to the story who are all dealing with troubled pasts and are trying to live better, more fulfilling futures. These characters are all connected in different ways and become entangled in the lives of the pediatrician and his wife. It’s a web of deceit where everyone is hiding something and the only way out is to stick together. This was a story that had me puzzled because at different times each character led me to believe that they could have been an evil one. I’d like to thank Celadon Books for the invitation and NetGalley for the arc to read and review. It was my first time reading this author and I enjoyed this book and will be recommending it to my reader friends. I’m giving this story a 4 star rating.
Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to receive this book for an honest review.
I had mixed emotions about this novel. It sounded interestint to me at first but then I found it to be slow going.
It was different that I imagined, it is more of a police novel. Alot of back and forth.
It seemed to be predictably and I wasn't surprised at all.
Others might feel different so I do no discourage anyone from giving it a try.
I liked that this story had three different narrators. I appreciate the different viewpoints to the story, it helps keep my interest. I liked the way the characters were written. I read a lot of thriller type books so I figured this one out pretty early and wasn't fully engaged throughout the entire book.
This is my second read by this author and while the first book was awesome, this one fell one star short of the first. It dragged in parts, but picked up significantly at the end. This book revolves around the lives of Karla, Bill, Jennica, Steven and his wife Regina. They are all connected in small ways and their lives begin to intertwine. I can’t really say too much without giving this away, but when Steve and Regina are found dead in their house, who is responsible and what was the motive? Good summer read! Thanks to #Celadon Books and #NetGalley for the ARC.
The Women Inside was my first novel by M.T. Edvardsson and it was excellent! If you are a fan of Lisa Jewell, I think you will really enjoy this book. It has that same kind of witty writing with unreliable characters. I truly had no idea how this book was going to end and I was glued to my kindle all day to find out! I loved this book and can’t wait to read more from this author!
𝚁𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐: 3.75⭐️
𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: Thriller/mystery 📚
𝙼𝚢 𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜:
Not the best thriller out there but it kept me entertained
𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎:
Multiple POVs
Popcorn thrillers
Quick reads
Solving mysteries
Lots of secrets and drama
Slow burns
Character driven
𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚍:
All of the different formats included (i.e. newspaper clippings, interrogation experts, etc.)
A cat named Dog
𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛:
Annoying characters
Predictable
I didn’t love the ending
I loved this book! This is my second read from this author and I definitely enjoyed this one more than the first. The characters were interrupted and I found myself continuously coming back to my kindle to try to sneak in a few more pages. I would recommend this to family/friends and anyone that loves suspense.
I enjoyed Edvardsson's book "A Nearly Normal Family" when I read it in 2021 so I was very excited to be approved for an e-ARC copy of their new novel.
This novel had a lot going on within it since there were multiple perspectives and that did cause it to feel a bit jumbled when jumping around the storyline. I do feeling that the beginning half moved very slowly and then about halfway it sped up to a quick conclusion. I enjoyed that you never really know what is going to happen and who committed the murder throughout the story until the very end. That allowed for you to question, which of the four to five people committed the murder.
The main thing I wish about this story was that the ending was not rushed as quickly as it had been. As well as the conflict between Bill and Jennica was not fully flushed out and seemed to be more of an afterthought when being tied together at the end. I felt this thriller was on the level of average, but still very enjoyable. I would pick up anything else that Edvardsson writes in the future.