About the Book
Bill Olsson, recently widowed, is desperate to provide for his daughter, Sally. Struggling to pay rent, he welcomes a lodger into their home: Karla, a law student and aspiring judge, who works as a housekeeper to make ends meet. Her clients are the Rytters, an incredibly wealthy couple who hide behind closed doors. The wife is ill and hasn’t left the house in months. The husband is controlling and obsessive. Is he just a worried husband, concerned for his wife’s health? Or is there something more sinister at play?
As Bill’s situation becomes more dire, Karla is forced to make a difficult choice. And when the Rytters wind up dead, and Karla is pulled in for questioning, she’s made to defend some parts of her past she’d rather not revisit.
Every person in The Woman Inside is hiding something, but could any of them really have been driven to kill?
Book Links
Releases June 13th
My Thoughts
As my grandmother would have said in the 80s, Bill is a ne’er do well. Addicted to gambling, and without a job, he can’t hold on to money. He hopes taking on a border will solve some of his financial worries. But he still needs a job because odd jobs aren’t cutting it, especially when he gambles it all away. Karla is in college and wants to become a judge. She cleans houses to help pay for her books, but the wealthy husband and wife are very odd. The wife is bedridden, and the husband has forbidden Karla from interacting with her. She’s unsure how much longer she wants to clean for them, as the pressure is getting too much.
This story comes from Bill, Karla, and Jennica’s pov. Karla has a rich backstory, with a mother addicted to drugs. She’s always longed for a sense of family, and Bill’s daughter Sally provides that. Bill’s character is also written well, as I couldn’t stand him. He was so sketchy, and though Karla always reiterated what a great dad he was, he wasn’t really, not when he couldn’t provide stability. Staying in an overpriced house instead of moving somewhere cheaper isn’t stability, especially when you can’t afford food and electricity because the rent is so high. Jennica felt like an add-on character. She’s lazy, doesn’t clean, and works as a psychic. The story would have worked without her as a character.
I hate comparing an author’s works to their previous work, but I read that this is a book 2 in the Lundasviten series, so I feel it’s fair. I didn’t love this one as much as the first because Bill’s gambling felt like filler. His day to day was repetitive. But on the whole, I enjoyed this one. It’s smart, and I like how it all came together.
Thank you, Celadon Books, for the advanced copy.
Rae's Reading Lounge 
I tend to compare the authors books with each other too
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