Reviews with content warning for Blood - The Woman in the Library

The whole narrative within a narrative is usually okay with me...until it's not. I'm not excatly sure what it adds to the narrative of the other story, but this wasn't it.

One of the characters really made me roll my eyes. Seriously, you've been a stalker sweetheart. It's not loyalty or concern. It's stalking. And then to turn around and accuse the narrator of sleeping with the person you're stalking? Ugh. Sorry, Marigold, you're a bit too much for me.

And Leo (Freddie's friend or whatever), no. Nope. You're much too good to be true.

The info we found out about Whit came a little too late. He was also much too charming and I didn't like him at all. But then again, I don't think I like many people at all so that could be me.

The reader is made to believe that Cain is the murderer from almost the get-go. Shady past; time spent in jail; living on the streets, etc. But Marigold and Whit seem too eager to pin it on him very quickly.

I guess it brings me to Freddie, our main character and narrator of the story, an Australian living in Boston on a scholarship to write her book for a year. She seemed determined to want to fall in love with Cain. I could see tantalizing glimpses of her life - a dead sister whose death Freddie witnessed - but they were glimpses.

I take that back, each character could have done with fleshed-out backstories. But there you have it. I should have stopped when I struggled but I finished.

This book, obviously, wasn't for me. A reverse locked room mystery set in Boston with questionable or naive characters.

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purplepenning's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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hubes's review against another edition

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mysterious fast-paced

3.5

The author-"beta reader" meta narrative was really interesting at first, but kinda fizzled out once it upped the stakes and then went nowhere with it for a while

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aseel_reads's review

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5

this had the potential, if they made it author living her life/writing her novel, the novel itself, and then leo advising her about the novel in real life but instead we just get the novel itself (which was odd, hated the characters, the ending was weird, don't understand it) and leo advising on it and apparently the blurb just tells us what is going to happen??? no good

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kyrstin_p1989's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A murder mystery within a murder mystery, this is a solid thriller. The real killer was hiding in plain sight and was so painfully obvious that I didn’t even consider them as a candidate. The characters are mostly likeable and diverse. The plot is believable. The end was good but arrived to with little pomp or circumstance. There are some glaring spelling/grammar mistakes throughout that are a bit annoying but all in all a solid book.

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angela005's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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madisonfrank's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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