A tremendous thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for my early reader copy of The Woman in the Library.

It must be an unwritten author’s rule that a book with a title similar to “The Woman in the INSERT LOCATION HERE” must be a thriller of some sort. It always draws me in, and this book was no different. I noticed one of our harshest critics at book club gave The Woman in the Library five stars, so I had tremendously high hopes for it.

The Story

In every person’s story, there is something to hide…

The ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library is quiet, until the tranquility is shattered by a woman’s terrified scream. Security guards take charge immediately, instructing everyone inside to stay put until the threat is identified and contained. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers, who’d happened to sit at the same table, pass the time in conversation and friendships are struck. Each has his or her own reasons for being in the reading room that morning—it just happens that one is a murderer.

Award-winning author Sulari Gentill delivers a sharply thrilling read with The Woman in the Library, an unexpectedly twisty literary adventure that examines the complicated nature of friendship and shows us that words can be the most treacherous weapons of all.

My Thoughts

Honestly, The Woman in the Library was “meh” for me. I think there was one too many layers happening, so let me see if I can clarify everything (as the blurb above really did not do the “layout” justice).

Gentill’s book is told in chapters of a woman (named Freddie) writing a book. At the end of each chapter is a letter from a mysterious “Leo” providing commentary on the authors chapters.

I feel like that assessment doesn’t do justice to the unnecessary-ness of all of the layers in the overall success of the story. It just made everything feel slower, especially with the twist of/in the letters (Semi-spoiler there, but I saw it coming pretty early in the book).

One other thing that I didn’t quite care for in the book was the writing style of the chapters. Remember, it’s Sulari writing as another author (that is named at one point, but I can’t remember now) telling a first-person story. It felt…childish? That’s definitely not the word. Maybe “junior” is better. The chapters felt like someone’s first novel where they’re still trying to find their voice as an author. However, this isn’t Gentill’s first novel. I think she was less successful with writing the book as another author writing a book. She did not find that sub-author’s voice. Or perhaps that sub-author’s voice was just junior (though the sub-author is an award winner, so I don’t think that’s supposed to be the case).

Now, with all of this being said, it was still an enjoyable novel! I continued to read it, and it kept me engaged. To a certain extent, the multiple different storylines in the book kept me moving through the pages. The story itself (minus the letters and that subplot) was interesting, and I think there could have been so much more done there.

If you have the chance to get this book from your local library, I’d totally recommend picking it up! (That’s a nice way of saying, “I’m glad I didn’t buy this book,” right?)

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