What a concept! The formatting was so different and that was my favorite part of this novel. Having a novel chapter and then a feedback letter from another author friend was something I did not expect going in. It added a nice twist and separation. It also gave me an insight into what authors could say about works and what should or should not be included in a chapter.
I really enjoyed reading the whole clan of Winifred, Marigold, Whit, and Cain. They were a hoot! Interesting theories, personalities, and backstories came from them. Each of them convinced me at least once that the killer was who they thought it was. Such a buildup to the end when the reader finally finds out who did it. The ending is also so open and leaves me with a question or two about a character. I wonder if that was intentional for the author to leave that for the reader or if we may get something later on. I'm not sure but I enjoyed the read!

4/5 stars for a great buildup murder mystery that will leave you turning the pages to the end.

**Thank you to NetGalley for a free review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily! :)

Very clever set up with a writer going back and forth with her beta reader, sharing her latest novel about an Australian mystery writer who is living in the US after receiving a grant to write her own novel. So three parallel plots to follow, keeping it lively. Because Sulari Gentill does this so skillfully, The Woman in the Library is both an intriguing and fun read.

There is much about trust and the assumptions we make about people and how other people can influence our thinking. On top of this, Gentill manages to lightly sneak in the surreal experience of the first few months of COVID 19 and the weirdness of that point in time without being at all heavy handed. She kept me guessing to the end. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.

It's a story within a story. We follow the book that Hannah is writing about four strangers in the reading room at the Boston Public Library when they hear a scream that binds them and thrusts them in a mistery. At the end of every chapter there's an email from one of Hannah's beta readers to her talking about the chapter we just read.

Is it predictable? Yes, very. As a mistery it's not very misterious; it's pretty clear early on who is the culprit and what's going to happen. But it's also fun. The characters, even though one dimensional, are entertaining to follow and the plot moves at a swift pace, moving the story along. It's well executed for what it is and it's highly compelling. But the book does fall into some coincidences and conveniences for the story to work (even though the main character does complain about these kind of devices when writing a mistery). The emails at the end of each chapter also add an extra layer of fun to the whole story. However, what is happening during these email is also pretty expected from the get go and I wish the author were more subtle when building this particular character.

There is a sense of cartoonish evil with a character along the book, not only in the actions but also in the opinions. It's like the author wants you to really know and understand that this is a bad person and you should despise this character since the beginning.

It's an entertaining book and highly readable and I do recommend it for a quick and fun read. But it's not one that is gonna be really memorable.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and publisher for the ARC.

Well, this helped me find a new theme that I really like- the character that is inferred or spoken about but we never hear from them.

This is a layered read- so simple at first but as the plot progresses, we understand that there is more at play than meets the eye. We meet an author who is receiving notes and communications from a fellow writer on a new book that she is writing. We see the progression of her writing, chapter by chapter, and her inclusion or exclusion of the notes from the other author. The book is a mystery and another mystery starts to unfold with the other author.

I had such fun reading this. I was kept off-balance enough to really enjoy myself and second guess so much of what I thought was happening. Thoroughly enjoyable mystery!

WOW!! It was intense and very very intriguin. I tried to follow the clues and solved the mystery, but everytime I thought for sure I knew who the killer was, Sulari had to twist it and do it more intense.
Love the plot (it felt like 2x1, really well done S.), love the characters, I felt like I was floating in Freddie`s thoughts. And Leo, what about Leo? Yaaaas!
Really good!!! I love the book I will read it again!
Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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WOW! Fue intenso e intrigante. Trate de seguir las pistas y resolver el misterio, pero cada vez que pensaba que ya lo tenía, llegaba Sulari y le tenía que dar la vuelta y hacerlo más intenso.
Me encanto la historia (siented que tienes un 2x1, bien hecho S.), Me encantaron los personajes, sentía como si estuviera dentro de los pensamientos de Freddie. Y Leo, qué me dices de Leo? Vayaaa!
Muy bueno! Me ha encantado y lo volvería a leer otra vez!
Gracias a Netgalley y a la editorial por facilitarme el libro a cambio de una honesta opinión.

I did not finish this and I was very disappointed. I wanted to love it! The story line was intriguing, but once I started this, it didn't grab me, keep ,me or want me to keep reading. The weird letters to a character at the end of each chapter were too weird, and distracting, I kept flipping back and forth to see if I just missed characters. I just wanted to really like this one, based on the hype and just couldn't do it.

okay wait what just happened ,did i just finish this book ...i did not see that happening.Thank you to the author and her wonderful team for this story ,,am still shaken up but a definite recommend to friends and family looking forward to reading more of her books

Interesting mystery! Why did the woman scream in the library? Why did the 4 folks at the table become friends? And what a twist of an ending. I like the story within a story. I am not clear why the fictional author shared her chapters with Leo. He starts out liking the story and becomes more disenchanted with each chapter. I guess he had to be part of the story though so it all works out. I like the friendships that develop within the group of 4 library friends. It kept the story moving and kept me guessing on who would be responsible for the deaths and violence. I liked the book!

The Woman in the Library is a cleverly written book with new relationships, anxiety producing moments and twists. I was fully engaged in the book but not really surprised at the conclusion.

Thank you to the publishers and netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

4 stars

This novel centers around a classic whodunit. 4 people, one scream, one body, one library but the math doesn't add up. At the surface this book seems like your typical murder mystery, but there is an added element. Letters written to the author writing the novel before our very eyes. But as the letter progress, something seems off about the author of those letters.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought that the format with letters was different and refreshing. They added some intrigue and contemporary commentary that a classic mystery would be missing.

I am super critical of thrillers. I find them all to be cookie-cutter and lacking in quality writing. I was pleasantly surprised by The Woman in the Library. Well written, well paced and refreshing.

The format of this book had me a little of balance at first. The main character is a writer, writing a book about real people she's met. Her main character is not herself, but all the other characters are real people she's met and she's basically writing the story as she interacts with her new friends. Each chapter is interspersed with letters from an American correspondent who is reading the main character's novel and giving her feedback on each chapter. Another kicker is that the main character has also written the American correspondent into her story. It's a lot to wrap your mind around. But a really neat concept. The story gets fairly twisty. It started a bit slow but once I hit about the 40% mark I couldn't put it down. I'd definitely read more from this author. As far as any content warnings there are references to childhood abuse, a sex scene (not described, more implied), and some minimal language throughout. No graphic details though.

Four strangers sitting around a table in a library reading room are inexorably bound when they hear a woman’s terrified scream. Asked to stay put while security investigates, they break a cardinal rule of library etiquette; they start to chat.

Once told by security all is well, they decide to go for coffee and thus new friendships are swiftly formed. However, they soon discover that all is not well; a woman was found dead in the library. Turns out that each of them has a particular reason to be there that day and that one of them might be the killer.

Our narrator, Winifred, is an author who was at the library seeking inspiration for her next book. While awaiting an epiphany, she began to sketch out backstories for each of these strangers. As she fleshed them out, she realizes this is the perfect plot for a book and casts her new friends as characters.

Alongside this unfolding story within a story, our narrator is receiving letters from a fellow writer she is sharing her work with. One whose advice starts off understated, turns to aggressive and demanding and eventually becomes sinister. Another device cleverly employed by the author to keep the reader on their toes.

The predicament, if you are inclined to call it that, is that we never know what is real or imagined. Even upon completion of the book I am not sure what and who were real and what may have been a figment of the narrator’s vivid imagination.

Don’t get me wrong, that’s a puzzle I’m happy to leave unsolved.

And yes, I understand that none of it was “real”.

Thank you Net Galley for an ARC of The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill. This mystery/ thriller begins in a reading room in the Boston Public Library where 4 strangers meet and a murder takes place. I really liked this one!

This was an intriguing, quick read. It wasn’t perfect, but I loved the original concept of this plot, and even though you know right from the beginning that the murderer is only one of three people, I still kept bouncing from person to person as to who I suspected was the killer, as I read, never quite sure who it was going to be. ⁠
Where this one fell a little short for me was the strange letters to Leo who was reading her manuscript at the end of each chapter. They felt awkward and out of place, and I was hoping that there would be some great ‘a-ha’ moment where they came together, but no. After reading the authors note at the end, she mentioned these were two separate ideas she’d had, and I wished she’d kept that as a separate book because it didn’t land for me.⁠
The good news (and my advice) is that as you’re reading you can treat those letters as totally separate from the story, and just enjoy the mystery of who killed the woman in the library, because the main story, was a great read.

What a different type of thriller! At first, I didn’t know if I would like the sub-plot within the story which consisted of letters from “Leo” but I actually loved it.
Of course, a murder in a library that brings four strangers together caught my interest immediately. Turns out, the plot involves so much more than this.
I was guessing right up until the end- a good sign of an excellent writer.

As a group of four acquaintances sit in a library, they hear a scream- the scream of a woman dying.
As the story unfolds, each of the four acquaintances tries to write a story, featuring the other three. However, the story takes a major detour away from ‘the woman in the library’.

A quirky fun mystery for writers who like to read about the world of writing.

Gentill has woven a mystery with smaller ones as supporting threads to the overall fabric of the story. I thoroughly enjoyed the twists and surprises. The characters are enjoyable and their burgeoning friendships are enviable. This a mystery not to miss.

This was such a clever novel! Having a mystery within a mystery is such a unique idea and I was hooked from the start. The story line kept me guessing and though I did find the ending a bit rushed, it was satisfying. Will definitely recommend.

THE WOMAN IN THE LIBRARY by Sulari Gentill is an amazing mystery story and one of my favorite reads so far this year. Four strangers seated in the Boston Public Library hear a scream, begin conversing, and strike up an unlikely friendship. Perhaps it's not that much of a surprise with two being writers: Freddie (Winifred) Kincaid and Cain McLeod. The other two are students: Marigold Anastas, ever impetuous and emotional and studying psychology, and Whit Metters who is trying to fail law so as to extract himself from the family influence. I could also refer to them as Freddie does in the fictional account they inspire: Handsome Man, Freud Girl and Heroic Chin. It is that novel (a story within a story) and the chapter-by-chapter drafts from Australian author Hannah Tigone which are shared with Hannah's correspondent, Leo Johnson, which adds to the intrigue and provide an increasingly dark narrative. That all sounds confusing and, yes, it is in a wonderful, twisty, mind-bending way. My only regret is that the suspense ended too soon and in a rather quick manner. Mystery fans, especially those who enjoyed Magpie Murders (by Anthony Horowitz), The Eighth Detective (by Alex Pavesi) or titles by Ruth Ware, will adore THE WOMAN IN THE LIBRARY. Gentill's latest was the top LibraryReads pick for June 2022 and received starred reviews from Library Journal and Publishers Weekly. Kirkus called this new book "a sharply drawn fictional hall of mirrors." Highly recommended.

Four strangers are sitting at the same table in the Boston Public Library when a woman's scream is heard echoing thru the room. While waiting for the all clear to leave, conversations lead to the start of friendships. During the next several days strange things start to happen to each of the new friends, not the least is they are each questioned by the police when a woman's body is discovered in the library after the search after the scream turned up nothing. Is one of the four a murderer? Intermingled in the story is an ongoing email conversation with the author of this story and a fan who is not what he seems.