This book will appeal to readers who enjoy this certain feel that this type of book has. It’s very much reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes and Clue because it had the same kind of vibe. I like the concept of a story hidden inside another story, but the plot of this just wasn’t intricate enough to keep me interested.

This review is going to be shorter than my standard because I don’t really have much to say. I skimmed most of this and kind of just wanted to get it over with, knock out this review, and move onto the next book. The plot is basically 4 characters being in the same building as where a murder takes place, but this storyline within the book is actually fictional and is being written by an author named Hannah who shares correspondence with someone as she writes each chapter with these 4 characters. Interesting, but not anything that hasn’t been done before. The ending was super predictable and the plot didn’t have enough going on to keep me entertained. The ending and reasoning behind it all was very been there, done that. The author conveys her words very intelligently though; I’ll give this book that.

Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks for sending me an advanced copy in return for my honest review.

I was looking forward to this book so much. Unfortunately I just could not get into it!! Very frustrating. The whole story with on a story and the letters just did not click.

A whodunit story within a story within yet another story that had me fully engaged from start to finish!

We are introduced to our main players off the bat as four strangers have a chance meeting in a library after a scream and a murder, this event then tying them together as a series of violent and murderous events start to spiral around them; unraveling secret pasts in it’s wake.

Freddie, our main gal, is an Australian murder/mystery writer studying in the US, she uses the three strangers she met at the library as inspiration for a book she is writing. So, this book is about an author writing a book. BUT WAIT. Hannah, the author of the book we are reading about Freddie writing the book is made known to us through her correspondence with an American writer (Leo) who seems to be going down his own spiral into mystery and murder.

Sulari Gentill really knows how to pull the rug out from under you and this book was proof of that. I was making guesses from the very beginning and then changing my mind every chapter as to “whodunit” and though I was frustrated with myself for getting it wrong, I loved being wrong!

The Woman in the Library had me absolutely hooked from the first chapter. Inception and Agatha Christie really had a love child with this one! I highly recommend this read for the cozy whodunit lover.

Special thanks to Poison Pen Press and NetGalley for the advance reader copy of this book.

So good! I love the story within a story aspect of this. And can we talk about the letters?? They gave me the creeps, the chills, the EVERYTHING, starting with the very first one. A good mystery in this book. More than one! I did solve part of it, but not all. Murder is not the only thing that needs to be resolved. I do like how it all came together in the end. And that ending—I have a major question (will leave it out to not have any spoilers)

I was very intrigued by the premise of this book and how it has its own unique spin but unfortunately, I couldn't get into it and got lost. I set it aside and picked it up too many times. However, I know this will be a hit for many! It's creative and engaging.

Many thanks for allowing me to read early!

Unfortunately, I was not a fan of this one. I really liked it at the beginning, but I felt it dragged on a bit too much and there wasn't enough action. As I've seen other reviewers point out, by the time you get to the "big reveal", you aren't really that invested. The book within a book storyline also started out cool, but then dragged on and took a weird turn. I wanted to like this one, but it was a miss for me.

I found this ‘book within a book within a book’ mystery thoroughly entertaining and absorbing.

The story centres around Freddie, an Australian aspiring writer who, when sitting writing in the Boston Public Library’s Reading Room with three strangers hears a woman’s scream. These strangers become friends as they try to investigate what happened. This is the book within a book. However through emails at the end of each chapter it becomes clear that Freddie is really the creation of a bestselling Australian author named Hannah, and that each chapter is being sent to her Boston pen pal Leo, and that possibly Leo is a little ‘different’! This is the second ‘Within a book’.

I really enjoyed this story, each layer was fascinating as all of the characters were fleshed out and brought to life. The plotting was carefully constructed with enough clues to make you think you knew where the story was going but enough wriggle room for the author to completely surprise you!

Highly recommended!

***Thanks to NetGalley and Poison Pen Press***

Trigger warnings: murder, torture, sexual assault, drugs, abuse

Four strangers in a library hear a woman scream. Hours later, the body of a dead woman is found. They all have alibis - each other - but one is them is the murderer.

That sounded pretty intriguing to me, but as it turns out, that is just the plot for the next novel written by an Australian author named Hannah, which she sends to a fellow writer, Leo. The main character in Hannah's book, named Freddie, also happens to be a writer too...so essentially, this book (i.e. The Woman in the Library ) is about a character (Hannah) who is writing a book about a character (Freddie) who is writing a book (Confused? So was I at first). At first, I thought that the mystery being acknowledged in the book as being fictional would make me feel less invested, but it really didn't matter because, ultimately, the characters in the book are fictional whether it's acknowledged that they're fictional or not. In fact, I thought that being a story within a story added another interesting element because, at the end of each chapter, Leo would email with some fascinating remarks about how Hannah can improve her work - but perhaps there's more to his feedback than it initially seems?

Despite the engaging concept, the execution was a little underwhelming to be honest. As we established, there were four people in the library, which means there are four suspects, right? Wrong. This story is written in first person, meaning that we can eliminate one suspect (and in the case, an unreliable narrator didn't seem likely). Our list is narrowed down even more when the book tries a little too hard to make me think it's a certain character, which meant it couldn't possibly be them...and then there were two. When the murderer was revealed, there was no moment of real shock, because I literally had a 50/50 chance of being right. I think I would have enjoyed this more if it was written in third person, and we actually switched between the perspectives of the different characters.

As for the characters themselves, they were fine. Cain was definitely the most interesting/well-developed, but the others weren't bad when they weren't acting naive and, to put it simply, idiotic (this is specifically about Freddie, who sometimes acted like she was 17 when she's supposed to be 27 - she even comments on this herself). Similarly, while the romance was actually pretty decent, I think too much time was spent on developing it instead of the actual plot. For a good portion of the book, I swear the author just forgot that the characters were supposed to solve a murder. Even during these less interesting parts, I found the book very easy to read, and I found myself caught in the trap of saying "just one more chapter".

Overall, while this is no means a boring book, I think it was better in theory than in reality.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ ½
Genre: Mystery Thriller

The Woman in the Library is a fascinating novel. It has a very interesting structure. This is the story inside story kind of book. The broad story is about communication between Hannah and Leo. Hannah Tigone is an author who sends one of her fans, Leo chapters of the book she is working on. And Leo after each chapter gives his mini-review/feedback on that chapter and some suggestions as well. As readers, the only communication we get from Hannah is the chapters she emails to Leo.

The chapters are the actual story that is The Woman in the Library. The story revolves around four characters, Caine, Freddie, Marigold, and Whit. They are writers and complete strangers to each other who meet in a library where a woman is murdered! All of them hear a woman’s scream and they find out that a murder took place there. This will make these curious strangers acquainted with each other. But is there a possibility that one of these four persons be the killer?

The story is narrated from Freddie’s point of view in a first-person narration style. The interesting thing about her is that she is using the three other persons as characters in her own book! (Makes it a book inside a book, inside another book!). Sounds confusing? It is not that much when you read it.

For some reason, The Woman in the Library was giving me Agatha Christie’s story vibes even though this is not the cozy mystery kind of story. Sometimes I felt a lot was going on in both layers of the book. There are plot twists. The characters are intriguing enough. Overall, I liked it but I can’t say I was totally smitten by it. Honestly, I am still not sure if the complexity of the way the book is structured has affected my liking positively or negatively.

Many thanks to the publisher Poisoned Pen Press, and NetGalley for providing me with an advance reader copy of this book.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for sending me a copy of this arc in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are mine*

First of all, I would like to start off by saying that upon reading the description for this book, I loved the concept. I looked forward to devouring it and loving it from start to finish.

Unfortunately, from the very start, this book was a disappointment.

First of all, the description of this book was deceiving. I was going in expecting something completely different than what I read. Depending on the plot, this can be a complete setoff for the reader.

Secondly, I was not expecting the "story inside of a story" type of plot. This is not entirely a bad thing, however, it has to be done right. In this particular case, I found that it was done poorly. It didn't work with this storyline and had me perplexed and bored.

The characters in this novel were also unlovable. I found that they were flat, boring, and unoriginal. When the novel revolves around a set of characters and their interactions, it is crucial that one can like at least one of the characters. But seeing as I found all of them boring, I could not get into the story at all.

Now, imagine you're hating pretty much all of the book so far, you would need a pretty good ending to make up for what you previously read...right? Well, I decided to push through hoping for this imaginary ending. But by the time the murderer was revealed, I already had a good idea who it was. (there was a pretty big indication about halfway through the book). The ending was extremely anti-climatic and unfortunately not worth me pushing through.

In conclusion, this book was not for me. However, this is not to say that I do not encourage you to read this book. Just because it did not resonate with me, doesn't mean that it will not resonate with you. Personally, I say that if the description intrigues you, go for it. Just know that the format might be a little different than what you were expecting.

Review is also on my Goodreads,

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill is a story within a story. Within a story. Think Inception but in book form and set in the Boston Public Library. Sort of.

The first layer: Leo Johnson is an aspiring author who, after multiple rejections from publishers for his book, is frustrated. But as he sits in the Boston Public Library's Reading Room trying to get some inspiration, his correspondence with famous Australian author, Hannah Tigone, is keeping him going.

As he describes the characters he sees in the BPL, Hannah begins to weave them into her own book, sending Leo chapters as they're completed. Every few chapters, Leo will send back a response, giving Hannah tips on how to use American lingo (as opposed to Australian), giving her ideas for locations around Boston, and sending the odd photo to help her fill in the details of her story.

Second layer: The main storyline is really the book that Hannah is writing. We follow Winifred 'Freddie' Kincaid, who is an aspiring mystery author, as she sits in the Boston Public Library Reading Room with three strangers: Freud Girl (Marigold), Heroic Chin (Whitt) and Handsome Man (Cain). As she starts to think about how these people in front of her would weave into a story, there's a pricing scream.

And suddenly the people in front of her, strangers before today, are thrown into her life as the four of them are wrapped up in a murder. As the secrets come to light, connections are made, and suspects are named ... Freebie tries to piece together the mystery of the scream and the murdered woman, all while trying to write a book of her own and not fall in love with a potential killer

My thoughts on The Woman in the Library

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill was a wild ride. I have to say when I first realised the format of this book was a story within a story (within a story?), then I was put off. I outwardly groaned and the people in the room with me asked what was wrong. That's exactly how it went down. And that's because I don't generally enjoy inception-like stories, where what you're reading is fiction within fiction.

But!

A few chapters in and I was hooked.

Sulari Gentill does an incredible job of telling the story of Freddie and her 3 strangers-who-become-friends within the story of author Hannah communicating with author Leo.

The first level story is subtle - you only ever get information about what's happening through Leo's letters about Hannah's chapters and the odd other letter to Hannah. You never heard from Hannah, you never get a look into her life, you never 'meet' her. And yet somehow, you're routing her and her journey as an author writing her murder mystery about Freddie and the gang (great band name).

It's clever. It's very, very, clever.

And it keeps the reader on their toes. I read this over two days, and the only reason it wasn't done in one day was that I literally had to go to bed.

The Woman in the Library was a brilliant mystery read, and the first I've read of Gentill's. I'm definitely going to be checking out more of her work.

This is a delightful read that keeps you on the edge of your seat! The nested plot is a unique approach for a mystery like this, and it's hard to stop reading at any given moment. I read the entire second half in one sitting... Worth it!

A story within a story plot. Didn’t really work for me, despite my anticipation wanting it to enjoy it. I put it down too many times to count, and going back felt like a chore. Just didn’t click.

The Woman in the Library: A Novel
by Sulari Gentill
Poisoned Pen Press
June 7, 2022
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Four people sitting at a table in the Boston Public Library. Strangers to each other; they keep to their own illuminated spot on the table. Then, out of the quiet, a scream. A woman’s scream. And, the woman in the library is dead.

But the strangers don’t know that; they are speculating amongst themselves as to what is happening. There’s Cain, a handsome writer; Marigold, a tattooed psychology graduate student; Whit, a privileged young man trying to drop out of Harvard Law; and Freddie, an Australian author in Boston on a writing fellowship. They quickly become friends and embark on the mystery of the woman’s scream.

Gentile’s characters are easily likeable and are casually developed and revealed as the tensions of the story build. She likes to drop bombshells in the last sentence of a chapter. I rather enjoy that technique. It kept me reading longer than my back wanted me to. But the pain was worth it! The story is brilliant. Oh yes, the email exchanges are wonderful.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you to #NetGalley and #PoisonedPenPress for the eARC. In exchange, this is my unbiased review.

I ate this book up. Seriously, it takes a lot for me to finish a book in under 24 hours nowadays, especially while I'm juggling classes. The Woman in the Library is genius- honestly, I don't know what other way to put it. I will admit, I found a story inside a story, inside of another story (sort of), quite confusing at times. As the novel progressed, I found my flow, and was quite impressed by the twisting plotline.
The Woman in the Library follows the construction of a story where intricate friendship exists between four people who meet at the scene of a crime. Each of them are unique, beautifully portrayed, and slightly maddening. It's a race to preserve love, and to put a serial killer in the ground before they shatter the most important thing of all- life. It's all slightly confusing because as a reader its easy to interpret the main character's novel as reality, and confuse the two plots. Though, the main character Hannah, encapsulates the very little aspect of her real life given to us, expertly.
This mystery is brilliantly created and drove me almost mad. I just wish I could say so much more in this review, but the allure behind this story is what you do not know. Read it, read it, read it!

I started this book yesterday and read it in one day. It gripped me from the very beginning. The style of writing was really unique in that you would read a chapter of the book and then it would follow with emails from a fan of the author so that I sooned realized that the chapters I was reading were actual parts of a fictional book that an author was writing and sending to a fan/friend named Leo for his feedback. This was such a unique spin on a traditional book layout to me! The mystery book that our fictional author is sending in chapters to her friend is about 4 people who seem unrelated to one another who all experience hearing a startling woman's scream while they are all in the library sitting near each other. A lady's body is found later and so the real mystery begins as to who is telling the truth, who has things to hide, who knows more than they are telling and how are they all connected. Added to this mystery, you start to see how the emails from the authors fan are getting more and more disturbing and strange... It's all in all a very good book that I loved reading not only because I became invested in the characters but because I wanted to find out about the author / fan situation and how it would turn out. I will say that one part of the ending confused me... the very last page of the book, the last few lines of the book, really have me wondering what I've missed but other than that, I would highly recommend this book!

Looking for a mind-bending murder mystery? This one is for you. Four individuals--two men and two women--are at the same table in the reading room of the Boston Public Library when a scream rings out. The four start talking, and before you know it, they are all involved in what turns out to be a murder investigation, and one or more of them just might have a connection to the crime.

As the reader soon discovers, what we are reading is actually a book within a book, being written by an author named Hannah. It would easy to forget this clever conceit if it were not for a series of emails to Hannah from a writer friend, Leo. Apparently, Hannah (an Australian writing in Australia) has been sending Leo her chapter drafts as she completes them, so Leo (an American living in Boston) can advise Hannah on how to make the language sound more American and the local color more authentic. Any more detail would be spoilers.

In a well-written and suspenseful book, the plot is the star, as it should be. The characters do not have a lot of depth, nor is there much character development, but this is the rare mystery that doesn't need it.

My thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for affording me the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of the book.

This is one of the best books I’ve read so far this year! It’s primarily about 4 people - Freddie, Whit, Cain and Marigold, who meet in the Boston Public Library. When a woman screams and is later found murdered, the 4 of them are brought together by experience, as well as the desire to figure out what happened.

Inserted into the story is regular correspondence with a stalker fan, who is writing to the author that is writing the story of the 4 people in BPL (confused yet? :)). This is an excellent addition to the book, as his letters get more and more unnerving. It adds an interesting layer to the plot in that it makes the reader think hard about bias, motives, etc. He has strong opinions about who the killer is and how the story should be written, which basically works to set a counter-opinion (since the stalker fan (his name is Leo) is so unlikeable).

The character development in this book was expertly done. I don’t want to share any spoilers, but how the characters interact and how the plot unfolds makes the reader feel curiosity, frustration, determination… all without giving anything away.

Overall, a truly wonderful book. I absolutely loved it and hope to see more from this author soon. Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was such a unique murder mystery story. It was fast paced and kept guessing until the end. I really enjoyed the ending! Looking forward to reading more from this author.

Wow! It's not often that a story sucks me in and refuses to let go. But I loved how unique this whodunit is.

"Draft" chapters were interspersed with feedback from a beta reader, making for an unusual story structure. And the mystery itself was complex and intriguing. Just as I thought I'd figured things out, a new detail would appear that left me questioning things again.

All in all, this was a great mystery novel that stands out from anything else I've ever read.

Thank you to Sulari Gentill, Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for an advance review copy.