The Woman in the Library

by Sulari Gentill

Overall: Winifred “Freddie” Kincaid, an Australian author who’s won a prestigious fellowship, is attempting to write in the Boston Public Library when she hears a woman scream.  In the scream’s aftermath, she bonds with a few of the people sitting around her: Marigold Anastas, a psychology student, Whit Metters, a law student, and Cain McLeod, who’s also a writer.  Part of The Woman in the Library follows this story, which it transpires is being written by a fictional novelist named Hannah Tigone.  Interspersed with Hannah’s chapters we get emails from a friend of Hannah’s in Boston named Leo.  As Hannah (like Gentill herself) is Australian, Leo provides a helping hand with details about Boston as her “man on the ground,” so to speak.  The dual narratives let Gentill acknowledge the pandemic through Leo’s correspondence with Hannah without having it overtake the mystery narrative, whose characters seem to exist in the time before the pandemic.  The mystery of who screamed and what happened to her, despite a few random diversions, runs along pleasingly; my suspicion fell on each of the main characters at one point or another.  Other violent episodes occur that keep Freddie and her friends involved in the investigation.  Although I guessed the culprit before the final reveal, the ending was satisfyingly thrilling.  I will be picking up the first book of Gentill’s historical mystery series soon!

Likes: The mystery is well-developed, with lots of red herrings and plenty of suspicion to go around.  Freddie is a sympathetic narrator and doesn’t take complete leave of her senses, as the heroines of thrillers are wont to do.  Having lived in Boston, I loved the details about the city.  I loved the dual narrative structure, especially the epistolary sections.  What initially seems like innocuous commentary becomes a compelling story of its own!

Dislikes: there were a few detours that left me scratching my head, such as when a friend takes Freddie and two characters we’ve never met before and never see again on a day trip.  I wished Marigold had a bit more of a backstory.  These are very minor criticisms – the book was a hugely enjoyable page-turner!

FYI: descriptions of physical attacks, fights, gun violence.  Murder and attempted murder.  One scene of attempted sexual assault of a child.