Excellent read, amazing characters, well plotted, atmospheric, and a read that keeps the readers riveted to their seats. Couldn't put it down to be honest.

Unique, Quirky, Clever…
Unique, quirky and clever storytelling once again from the pen of this very talented author. The peace and serenity of the Boston Public Library is about to be shattered, and amongst those inside sits a murderer. Perfectly paced and superbly told this is a compelling and immersive read from start to finish.

This is a very creative story within a story of four strangers in the Boston Public Library when they hear a woman scream. One of the people at the table is the murderer of that woman. One of the women at the table is writing that story and getting feedback from a fan and that is the other story which is even more chilling. Confused? I was too at first but it starts coming together and making for an enjoyable reading experience. The Woman in the Library is a quick read with no graphic or gruesome descriptions but the characters and interesting and the setting is well described.

This is a very entertaining, interesting, and fun mystery/thriller. I think that the cover, description, and premise of the book are instantly attention grabbing and the story itself was no slouch when it came to keeping my interest, but after finishing the book I have to say that the overall execution of some of the ideas the book is working with stumbled enough times to give me pause.

The hurdle for me was the story-in-a-story sections that pop up around every chapter, and to the novel's credit while I was repelled by them at first they did start to grab my attention midway through. Unfortunately, I feel that by the end the drama going on around the story semi-overshadowed the story itself, and not in a way that really worked for me. I'm not sure if it needed to go harder in that direction, with a lot more story choices being clearly or subtly chosen by the in-text author's ultimate goal at that stage in the book (and this did happen towards the late middle of the book, maybe it needed to happen earlier?) or if it needed to back away or even be taken out for me to just enjoy the mystery of the woman in the library by itself.

I will say that I really enjoyed the central concept and friendship between the characters, and that while this book didn't knock it out of the park for me at the end that I definitely enjoyed my time with it and would recommend it to anyone looking for an entertaining and somewhat different mystery/thriller.

An interesting embedded narrative. Australian author Hannah corresponds by email with American author Leo. She develops a story about four people in the Boston library who are at the same table when they hear a scream. Hannah sends chapters by email to Leo, who comments and makes suggestions. But what about the four people (in Hannah's story) who hear the cry, the ones sitting at the library table, and later learn about the death of a young woman? Is one of them a murderer? A clever technique for a mystery--a frame story, a story within a story. read in October

NetGalley/Poisoned Pen Press; Mystery/Thriller. May 10, 2022.

Wow! This was such a fun read. There’s so much I want to talk about but can’t without giving away spoilers. I can hardly wait for my friends amd coworkers to read it so we can talk about it.

The mystery had me constantly second guessing myself for a good portion of the book, and the thriller built up to a level of true creepiness in a gradual and unexpected way. I will definitely be recommending this book for my library book club.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
#NetGalley

Very clever, very original, and very entertaining! I truly enjoyed Gentill's story, most especially in that she presented the murder mystery to us as a literal story within the novel itself. Reading "drafts" of her murder mystery through the eyes of Leo, a self-claimed fan and fellow author, whose feedback becomes increasingly more and more bizarre, served to only raise the suspense level overall. Thank you to NetGalley, and to Poisoned Pen Press, for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for review.

Okay, so I'll sum it up pretty quick.
The book contains a book in itself, you see Hannah, an Australian author, who writes a mystery novel featuring 4 main characters, Freddie, Cain, Whit and Marigold, and she sends the chapters she writes to Leo, her American "friend" who kind of helps her in the details regarding setting her novel in the US.
The problem, it felt like i was reading a first draft, which is kind of understandable considering the author was in the process of writing the book, but for me that wasn't enough for the mediocrity of it.
The story itself wasn't that thrilling, it was a combination of many cliches stitched into one story.
Long story short, i wasn't a fan.
* I received an ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review via netgalley and the publisher*

This is one murder mystery that I could not put down! I thought I had the killer pegged and boy was I totally wrong! This is such an incredible book. The friendship that the 4 main characters share is amazing!

This was an enjoyable read. There were moments in the first half when it felt slow and/or I didn't feel really connected to the main character, but it was fun to see the letters from the author's fan/beta reader become increasingly unhinged and to imagine her side of the whole story. I'll be recommending to anyone who likes mysteries and/or is interested in the idea of a story within a story, where both the 'author' and the characters have to deal with potentially life-threatening situations.

Wow! This was such a refreshing change from the recent murder mysteries I have been reading! The unique format blends epistolary narrative with classic prose, all layered by being a book that is about a book being written about a woman writing a book. It is as “meta” and delightful as it sounds! All layers of the mystery are solvable, but not in an obvious way and despite the reader being given all the needed information, Gentill manages to add multiple twists that even seasoned genre readers will not see coming. I have not enjoyed a mystery this much in a long time!

I have loved this book so much, I have gushed about it on instagram, on my YouTube channel, told my friends to pre-order it, have tweeted about it, I wrote a blog post, told my newsletter subscribers to get it.... Yeah, it was an absolute winner, this one.

I could not get more than 15% into this book. The book is set up with each chapter containing a self-referential letter between the “author” of the prior story and another author. This just leads to a lot of repetition, and some very obvious plot devices. Though the book discusses the facets of a well-written book (e.g. developed, realistic characters, a tight plot, etc), the actual text is ridiculously contrived. I have no reason to like Frankie, the novel’s protagonist and no reason to read more about the titular woman in the library. DNF, unfortunately.

Very well written…I love that it was a story within a story within a story and the fact that not even once did I get lost in what was going on…amazing story..will definitely hand-sell at my store.

Having spent many hours in the Boston Public Library Reading Room, this book hooked me from the start! The author has a great way of writing which made me actually "hear" the scream in my head as I read the words on the page! This author has crafted a well-designed mystery and I look forward to reading more of their work. This story will not disappoint!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a great mystery. It starts with 4 seemingly random people meeting in a library, they start talking because of a scream heard in the library. Eventually you come to find out a woman has been murdered, and thus starts the mystery of the book....The story was excellent, the plot while not super fast paced kept me needing to know what happened next. I went back and forth with who the killer was, the author definitely did not make it easy to guess! The characters were realistic and interesting. There was also a subplot weaved into the book, which I loved. If you like mysteries, I would definitely recommend this book!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for a honest review.

I loved this book. The concept of a writer in Australia writing about a murder in a library in Boston and tying it all together with emails. The characters, an eccentric group, were well-defined and the plot was very twisty. I literally couldn't put this down.

Great suspense! I had a little trouble getting into this book at the outset, but by the middle I was hooked and then could not put it down. The addition of one sided correspondence throughout the book is an interesting layer to the plot and introduces some intriguing questions including the race question, which had not occurred to me. I really enjoyed this and was duly surprised when the killer is unveiled. Will watch for more from this author and recommend to all.

The Woman in the Library draws you in from the beginning. The characters are fresh and become friends. You want to help them put the pieces of the puzzle together, and then begin to wonder who is not always telling the whole truth. The plot twists and twists again--keeping you up late and reading at lunch. You feel like you know Boston's Back Bay through their jaunts. The emails add another level of intrigue of this mystery that also have you questioning what you know. A great read! Don't miss it!

I did enjoy this novel overall, but it was a little hit and miss for me. I liked the story within a story but it just didn't completely captive me.