Editorial Note – I was given a copy of E.G. Scott’s The Woman Inside in return for a review.
The Woman Inside by E.G. Scott is full of nonstop tension in this domestic thriller about a marriage plagued by deception.
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn was one of those game-changing books in the psychological suspense genre and ever since then, there’s been several books that focus on a cat-and-mouse game between a married couple. The Woman Inside falls under that arena: the story is mainly told in the alternating perspectives of a husband and wife.
Paul and Rebecca are a perfect and dangerous match for each other and have been married for nearly twenty years. Both share dark pasts, which we slowly learn about throughout the novel, and that pain drew them together. But now, they’re both keeping secrets from each other. Paul began an affair when his professional life took a hit but he didn’t have any clue of how much his mistress would fall for him. And then, Rebecca is a seemingly successful pharmaceutical sales rep but she gets fired due to her growing dependency on the opiates she sells. She also find out that same day that her joint life-savings with Paul has been completely wiped out. She begins to investigate Paul and discovers his plan to build a life without her. As her pill addiction takes hold, she creates her own plan. For more about the synopsis, click here.
Interesting style
The story starts out with a prologue that is a jump in time. There’s plenty of hints of where the story will go just in those quick two pages. We then enter into Rebecca’s perspective, with the simple announcement that says: ‘after.’ So, again, we know something major has happened. Much of Paul’s perspective in the beginning is ‘before.’ I thought the writing was excellent, it drew me in immediately, especially with the beginning from learning more about Rebecca. The authors are writing about someone who is addicted to opioids, which made for a fascinating and also scary read.
Having the story take place in the present and the past was an interesting style choice that I quite liked. It really give plenty of context to these characters without being bogged down by unnecessary backstory.
The story is split into three parts and I felt that Part 1 and Part 2 were very strong. Part 3 takes a big turn into another direction and I was generally shocked at some developments that took place. And that ending! I even had to re-read it to make sure that’s what really happened.
