The Woman Inside: A Novel

"The Woman Inside" is a delightfully twisty thriller. It is told from the perspectives of three main characters (Bill, Karla, and Jennica), and their narratives are interspersed with excerpts from police interviews with various characters and news articles related to the crime in question.

I really enjoyed this format. I liked gradually learning more about what really happened from each character, then comparing their viewpoints with what I was learning from the "official" sources. The author skillfully wove all of these threads together to arrive at a satisfying conclusion. I'll add that it WASN'T what I expected, and I was thrilled with the surprise!

All of the relevant characters are well-written, with enough unique details to make show more them seem like true individuals. I enjoyed learning more of each person's backstory along with their perspectives about the current events.

As an added bonus, the novel is set in Sweden. I liked reading about another country while also trying to figure out the mystery/thriller storyline.

Definitely 5 out of 5 slices of yummy provolone! show less

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Celadon Books curates and publishes an amazing collection of stories that will stay with you long after you have turned the last page. The Woman Inside is one of those stories.

Author M.T. Edvardsson has a way of jumping from character to character and situation to situation that keeps you just enough off balance so that you don’t know who is truthful and who is lying, who is being open and who is hiding something, who is guilty and who is innocent. Turns out they are all lying and they are all hiding something and they can’t all be innocent, but that doesn’t get you any closer to knowing who the murderer is. You’ll just have to keep reading for that.

And also as always, Edvardsson show more presents people who have dual natures: a combination of good and bad, strong and weak, welcoming and bitter. And they are all connected in some weird way we struggle to understand. Just like real people. In The Woman Inside there’s Bill, who has recently lost his wife Miranda and is raising his daughter Sally alone. Devastated, struggling financially, but is he really only a victim of circumstance, nothing is his fault? Lodger Karla is a student and a housekeeper – and also a thief and a liar. Jennica was a friend of Miranda’s until the betrayal and she’s not over it. There’s a lot under the surface with this one. Including her relationship with Steve. Of the Steve & Regina couple, the wealthy doctor and his mysteriously ill wealthy wife. I guess we can figure out why he told Jennica that Regina was dead, but what did Jennica do when she discovered the truth? Karla just happens to be their housekeeper, and Bill’s lodger. What else? Everything and everyone is confoundingly connected, a spider web of crossovers and discoveries. Which still leaves us guessing page after page after page who murdered Steve and Regina? They all had motive. They all seem good, then bad, then back to good, then . . . .

Thanks to Celadon Books for providing an advance copy of The Woman Inside to me as a Celadon Reader via NetGalley for my reading pleasure and honest opinion. This book was an amazing read by an amazing author and I can’t wait to see what Celadon might send my way next. I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own. show less

Bill Olsson, mourning the loss of Miranda, his fiancée, and mother of Sally.
Financial struggles as a single parent are kept at bay by a lodger.

Karla Larsson, law student.
Financial struggles are kept at bay by working as a housekeeper.

Jennica Jungstedt, former girlfriend of Miranda.
Financial struggles are kept at bay by talking to callers for Psychic Advisor.

The story begins with the report written by one of the first patrol officers at the home of Steven and Regina Rytter. Interspersed between segments from the POVs of Bill, Karla, and Jennica are excerpts of Q&As with various individuals as the investigation moves forward.

I loved how the captivating story was written. The short chapters were alluring, built suspense, and unfolded show more drama, as everyone had secrets. Secrets that created numerous possibilities during the police investigation.

After reading "A Nearly Normal Family," the author's debut thriller, I knew I wanted to read more of his writing. I highly recommend this gripping novel with incomparable pacing and unexpected twists. show less

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 show more 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! show less

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 show more 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 show less

This is the second book I've read by M.T. Edvardsson and I really enjoyed it. It was told from the point of view of three different characters - Jennica, Bill and Karla - leading up to the murders of Steven and Regina Rytter. In between the chapters in each of the characters voices, there were also excerpts from police interrogations and articles about the murder of Steven and Regina Rytter. All three stories held my attention, and it was interesting to see how they all tied together. Steven was a truly despicable character - I wasn't sorry that he was murdered. I liked the relationship between Bill and his daughter, Sally but I would have liked more information about his relationship with his deceased wife, Miranda. There were some show more surprising and unexpected twists that I didn't see coming at the end. I will definitely be reading any future books by M.T. Edvardsson. Thanks to the publisher, NetGalley and BookishFirst for the ARC. show less

I enjoyed "A Nearly Normal Family," so I was looking forward to Edvardsson's new thriller. Overall I liked "The Woman Inside" too, but I definitely wasn't as engaged with the story. I think this is mostly because I didn't care much about the characters. Karla was definitely sympathetic and her part in the story was my favorite, but the others I was very meh on. The writing also seemed a lot more meh than A Nearly Normal Family, even though they have the same translator.

The story was also much more drawn out than it needed to be. I kept reading because I was interested in how the mystery would unfold, and I thought the conclusion was interesting and surprising, but not very satisfying. There was nothing much it excelled at, and I feel show more like I could've read a better mystery/thriller in the time I spent on it. Definitely too long; maybe would work better for slow-burn mystery lovers. show less