The murder mystery starts intruguing enough, but by the half-mark or at least a quarter to the end, the plot twist wasn't that hard to figure it out. I like how the unreliable narrator is used effectively in this book, but also enough of clues to point you to the killer/murderer. ( )

Book Review: The Woman Inside
Stars: 2.5 X 5
Author: M.T. Edvardsson
Publisher: Celadon Books @celadonbooks
Thank you @netgalley for this ARC

The Rytters are a wealthy couple with dark secrets how are murdered in their mansion. They hired a new maid, Karla who is a struggling law student who hopes to be a judge one day. Karla gets involve with Bill, a single father with a daughter named Sally. Bill has made some bad decisions but he knows his best ever was his daughter. Karla rents a room from Bill. She eventually takes pity on Bill and eventually starts helping with his daughter.

Karla becomes a person of interest in the murders just as Bill does because of his proximity to Karla. Jennifer is another character that finds herself in this investigation as Jennifer is a friend of Bill's deceased wife and is also connected to the Rytters. As the story unfolds the read gets three different perspectives.

There are so many subplots to this book that it gets confusing at times. Will the murderer be found and will it be one of the three, some other person or even a murder/suicide? I found the book to be a weak mystery and just an ok read.

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This murder mystery is told through multiple points of view, primarily through three alternating narrators, as well as police reports and news articles. The first narrator is Bill, who has been recently widowed and who is caring for his 8 year old daughter Sally. He has lost his job and is having difficulty making ends meet on the odd-jobs he is able to get. He decides to take in a boarder. Enter Karla, the second narrator.

Karla is a student. She works as a housecleaner to pay her expenses. Her clients are a wealthy couple, Dr. Steven Rytter and his wife Regina. Steven, with whom Karla has most of her dealings, is harsh and controlling. He tells Karla that Regina is very ill, and mostly stays in bed, and has not left the house in months. After a while, however, Karla begins to wonder whether Steven might be drugging Regina to keep her housebound.

The third narrator, Jennica, has connections to both Bill and the Rytters. She was friends with Bill and his deceased wife until they had a falling out. She also has been having an affair with Steven, although she has no idea that he is married.

As the novel opens, both the Rytters are found inside their home, murdered. The police soon bring Karla and Bill in for questioning. All the characters in the book are harboring secrets, and as the story evolves and we learn more about their pasts, we begin to wonder. They have secrets, but are they killers? The story unwinds slowly but surely, logically to a surprising conclusion.

3 stars ( )

Thank you to Celadon Books and BookishFirst for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Woman Inside by M. T. Edvardsson is the newest domestic thriller in translation from an accomplished author. The story revolves around a cast of characters, including Bill and Karla. Bill starts renting part of his home to Karla, a lodger who works as a housekeeper to the Rytters, a wealthy couple who may be hiding secrets. But when someone turns up dead, everyone will be questioned by the police, resulting in some surprising revelations.

Here is a chilling excerpt from the opening chapter:

"We take the stairway in the hall to the second floor. I sweep the beam
of my flashlight through the second floor and find three closed doors.
Officer Hemström investigates the bathroom while I approach the
first bedroom. The door is a few centimeters ajar, and I nudge it open
with my foot as I aim the flashlight into the room.
The blinds are down, and all lights are off. Against the wall is a bed
with a headboard. On the bed is another dead body."

Overall, The Woman Inside is a thriller that will make you rethink you deal with your neighbors. One highlight of this book is the premise. It makes me think about how your closest neighbors and the maids/people who work for them could be hiding secrets. That is what makes domestic thrillers so terrifying - the idea that something so normal could be dangerous.

I did take off 1 star because they were too many characters' POV's. It was hard to keep track of who was who. I took off another star because near the end, there was a character POV switch mid-scene. It made me feel like they were about to reveal something, but there was no payoff. Maybe I just missed it? If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of thrillers in general, you can check out this book, which is available now. ( )

This is an impressive thriller! I liked the way it was told from three different primary points of view (Bill, Karla, and Jennica). It was interesting to see how the same events could be viewed differently from different perspectives. All three were interesting, and it was hard to figure out who the good guys/bad guys were until very near the end.

Newspaper articles and parts of police interviews were also added in occasionally, to give the reader a more "factual" view of what was happening. Trying to figure it out was a big part of the enjoyment for me!

Also, the story is set in Sweden. I liked reading about this part of the world and learning more about some of the customs and beliefs of people there. The author did a great job of making an unfamiliar (to me) part of the world feel very accessible.

The plot was so intricate! There were a lot of events, twists, and turns, and I appreciated how everything came together and made sense at the end. (I was imagining the author's storyboard, with various people/points all connected with miles of different colored string! ( )