Not exactly a mystery, and not exactly a domestic thriller, this was a unique, fun read about a crime writer writing about a crime writer. It's difficult to summarize, especially without giving away too much, but it definitely kept me turning the pages and held my interest to the end. Not particularly deep or demanding, this is a book I would recommend to people who are looking for something quick and catchy.

This book is about two writers writing about made up characters who are each other. I loved this concept! Ms Gentill did an excellent job of getting this to work and having it just confusing enough to keep us interested but not overwhelmed. It is a wonderful addition to the crime genre and the psychological thriller genre. Brava!! Thank you to #netgalley for letting me read #aftershewrotehim ahead of publication.

I really struggled with this. I couldn’t figure out what was happening with the two authors. Who was actually writing who and what was happening? It was very confusing. I liked the two separate stories until they would randomly mingle in the middle every time. It would just bounce to the other and their thoughts about the other and it was just too confusing. I just couldn’t figure it out.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for providing a copy for an honest review.

I’m not sure how to start. You really have to be engaged while reading or you might miss something. This was an interesting read but it didn’t hook me. The author had a great idea. Madeleine writes a character for her novel and becomes obsessed with him. It takes twists and turns. I did not love the ending but figured it would veer this direction.

I would recommend.

This book is intriguing--who is the true author, and who is the character writing about the author? It will resonate especially with fiction writers (and aspiring fiction writers) who love to think about how one's characters are both autonomous and inescapably tangled within the author's own psyche. It may also resonate with those who have had an author for a loved one, and have felt some irritation or abandonment as the writer leaves the present, physical world for an interior one that one may get to visit, occasionally, under strict rules.

The ending was not what I had hoped it would be, but perhaps that is the point?

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for a digital ARC.

Fascinating!

While writing this all I could think about was the Oscar Wilde quote: “life imitates art far more than art imitates life”...

In this case, the “art” is Madeleine d’Leon’s own crime novel. As her marriage deteriorates she pens her perfect man, in her protagonist, Edward McGinnity, called Ned by his friends.

Or is the “art” Ned’s book? His love for Willow is unrequited, so he settles for being her best friend. As she pulls further and further away from him, he begins to fall for the protagonist in the crime novel he is writing...Madeleine d’Leon.

Who is real?
Who is imagined?

An exploration of how a book, or a protagonist, takes on a life of its own as it is being created, and what happens when the lines of what is real and what is fiction, get crossed for the author...when they cannot bear to let go of their creation in the same way that we the reader, sometimes hate to say “goodbye” to characters that we have become attached to.

The “whodunnit” crime novels being penned by the characters felt timeless in style to me, yet trying to figure out which character existed and which was the creation, was a COMPLETELY UNIQUE concept, for today’s mystery reader, and I was captivated by it!

Sulari Gentill, an author living in South Wales, was the 2018 Winner of the Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Fiction, with this book, first published August 1, 2017 under the original title, “Crossing the Lines”.

It will make its US debut, April 7, 2020 under this title.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the Poisoned Pen Press for the digital ARC I received in exchange for a candid review!

This is a clever, tantalizing , though provoking, complicated novel and it sizzles, The ‘story -within -a -story ‘ is taken to new levels in this obsessive, confusing novel and you often need to reread a paragraph to to keep up with the shifting narratives. Tricky, tricky, tricky.. Does it matter what’s really real?

After She Wrote Him is such an interesting concept! I really enjoyed the plot and this novel really pulls you into the world of Madeleine and Edward.



Overall, the novel was entertaining and kinda confusing. But while confusing it still pulled you in and kept you guessing.



The author Sulari Gentill's writing was amazing! She did such a great job developing interesting characters and every chapter made you not want to put this novel down. You really need to pay attention to what's going on to keep from being confused.



The only downside was the ending, unfortunately it left me feeling unsatisfied. But don't let the ending keep you from reading this wonderfully written masterpiece.



I highly recommend, i personally give this novel a ⭐⭐⭐⭐ star review. While the ending didn't do it for me the overall story of this novel left me a happy reader.





After She Wrote Him by Sulari Gentill



Release Date: April 7, 2020



Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for providing me with a digital advanced copy.

First, let me say this book is a rollercoaster!
It's a mystery versus thriller versus literature, where Madeleine and Edward, both authors, are creating stories about each other and their writing process, and then a murder happens and everything after that gets confusing, but in a good way. There are twists after twists, fiction mixed with reality until you don't know who's saying the truth, what exists only in writing, and who done it... The characters are interesting and realistic. I'm still on the fence about the ending, which still confuses me.
Although it left be still questioning reality, I enjoyed the book, and will try more books from Sulari!

Thank you, NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press, for this ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

I would have given this 5 stars but I hated the ending. This was a very fast and entertaining read. It had me rooting for the characters and I loved the way the book was written. Such an interesting story about a writer writing about another writer writing about him. Confusing? No not at all, I really loved the characters and the story itself. I only wish the ending was different. I would definitely recommend this book. You might feel differently about the ending then I did.

What happens when a writer is immersed so much in her own story that she fails to differentiate between what is real and what is fiction? This story answers just that. I received this book from netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This story is about a crime novelist named Madeliene who is also a lawyer. She creates a character named Edward who is a fictional writer. This book reflects on the connection between a writer and his character and what really happens when the two worlds merges and it becomes difficult to differentiate what is real.

It throws light on the consequences of immersing oneself in a fictional world to escape from reality. The writing is fabulous and it caught me from the first chapter itself. I loved the setting of the story but when I got to the end, I was a bit devastated. I didn't expect it to end that way. I wanted to know what became of Edward. I wanted a proper closure of his story which unfortunately I didn't get.

The characterisation is very well done. It was wonderful to know the inner thoughts of both Edward and Madeliene and how they interacted throughout the story. They both shared similarities upto some extent. I loved the fact that each minor detail has been given a thought in defining the character. It made the story realistic.

Still I didn't like the ending which was a bit disappointing for me. I read it too quickly upto 50% but after that I felt like the story was getting a little detrimental for both the characters. I wanted to have some positive outcome for the characters which didn't do it for me.

The story was good and if you want to experience something new, you should read it.

Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press, Sulari Gentill, and Netgalley for providing me with a digital advance copy of After She Wrote Him. This was such an interesting concept, and the writing was very vivid. I immediately felt pulled into each scene, and the characters seemed fully-formed and believable. Having said that, I found this novel increasingly confusing — to the point that it took away from my enjoyment of the book.

OOO yessss definitely read this one! Y'all I truly was hooked by the first chapter. I wasn't sure if this was the type of book that was going to be up my alley but then I started reading it and I loved it! I think Sulari Gentill did absolutely phenomenal and I cannot wait to read more from this excellent author.

"After She Wrote Him" was a refreshing and original novel with a unique premise -  I haven't read anything quite like this before, and I loved it. 

Madeleine, our protagonist, is a successful author who becomes a little too fixated on one of her newly-created characters. The character in question is Edward, also an author, and in love with a married woman. Madeleine, suffering from the physical and emotional trauma of a series of miscarriages, finds herself retreating further from her own husband, and becoming increasingly enamoured with Edward. but Edward is just a fictional character...isn't he?

The twists and turns were brilliantly executed, and although I found myself confused at times, the author pulled things together in the end. This is a complex novel requiring the reader's full attention - definitely not one to read when you're tired or distracted. But I felt that the effort required by the reader was more than worth it, and even made the book more enjoyable - I  had a real sense of working with the author to unpick what was going on. 

Highly recommended, and I look forward to reading more from this author. 

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book. It took me a minute to get into the flow of the 2 stories. I love the relationship between author and subject (if you can figure out which one is which). Lots of suspense and surprises.

Very creative original idea executed perfectly. I was surprised at the ending. Lots of suspense and well worth the read.

I really wanted to enjoy this story only to find a convoluted guessing game which in the end left me wondering what was that all about. It was more akin to a cryptic crossword on speed.
An independent review NetGalley

After she wrote him is a story about a former lawyer turned crime writer who is writing her current novel about an author writing his latest novel about a lawyer who becomes a crime writer writing about an author… confused yet? I earmarked this book to be my lunch time read and I mistakenly started it on a Friday. After putting it down over the weekend I had no clue what was going on come Monday. Once I committed to the book and gave it my full attention and focus it was an interesting albeit weird read. You go from Madeline (the lawyer turned writer) narrating one sentence and the next sentence has switched to her character, Edward (who may not be her character??) I thought I would have preferred if the switching between the two main characters had of been separated into their own chapters, but having it switch mid paragraph like one became the thought of the other made me question who the “real” author actually was and which one was the one being written about. That was the interesting part, the weird part comes about halfway through when the two leads, who up until now have been only part of each other’s imaginations seem to cross over and are able to become physical with each other. I found the plot to be a little flat until the last couple of chapters when things really went off the rails. Overall it was a solid read and I think that Sulari Gentill did an excellent job with this work of meta fiction.

Wow! I just loved this book! It was like a classic mystery, mixed with literary fiction, mixed with a psychological thriller.

Madeleine and Edward are both authors and they are writing about each other. Madeleine is a murder mystery writer and Edward is an author of literary fiction. This book explores their writing process - which was a lot of fun! Edward is at an art gallery when a man he despises is murdered. He begins investigating to clear his own and his friend's name. Madeleine is a successful writer with a marriage that's on the rocks.

This book was so original and interesting! It was a page-turner, but I was highly-invested in the characters. It keeps you guessing about what is real and what isn't, which I love! I loved everything about this book - highly recommend!

5 inside-the-writer's-head stars!

<i>Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!</i>

I absolutely loved this book, such a cleverly written story with plenty of twists that kept me guessing right up until the end! The characters were vivid, each plot so believable it was impossible to guess who was the fiction. The ending left me questioning what was real, who was telling the truth...truly outstanding.

Great book one of those you need to know what happens next kind of reads. I will definitely look for more from this Author.