Author: A. J. Finn
Genres: psychological thriller, suspense
Published: January 2, 2018 | William Morrow
Length: 432 pages
More info on Goodreads
Available on Amazon
"Anna Fox lives alone—a recluse in her New York City home, unable to venture outside. She spends her day drinking wine (maybe too much), watching old movies, recalling happier times . . . and spying on her neighbors. Then the Russells move into the house across the way: a father, a mother, their teenage son. The perfect family. But when Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn’t, her world begins to crumble—and its shocking secrets are laid bare. What is real? What is imagined? Who is in danger? Who is in control? In this diabolically gripping thriller, no one—and nothing—is what it seems.”
REVIEW
If you are *dying* to get your hands on a copy of this super-hyped suspense novel of 2018, I suggest you run to your nearest bookseller and snag a copy while you can.
As I mentioned in my Book of the Month post, I chose The Woman in the Window as my January book of choice. I do not typically read thrillers, although I really wish to revisit some Agatha Christie now that I have finished Finn’s debut novel.
Finn, who now has been outed as a successful editor of suspense novels & wrote this book in secrecy under a pseudonym, gives us a crushingly unreliable narrator who I loved to hate. I love Anna, because she feels so real to me. She could be MY neighbor! But I hate that she has handled so poorly with the cards life gave her.
She spends her days confused and alone (watching black and white films and playing chess) but yet she retains a sense of independence that I didn’t know someone who never leaves their house could reasonably hold. I’ve not met a person who is agoraphobic and I’m ashamedly unaware of the difficulties it presents. Nevertheless, purposefully neglecting to heed a doctors orders to not mix your prescription medications with alcohol seems like something YOU SHOULD NEVER DO. Alas...
The short chapters with dated headings help move this novel along quite quickly. I enjoyed reading it in bits and pieces but overall I mostly read the book in large chunks. Finn creates intense drama in the situations and develops the characters fully so that the reading experience is never dull.
The twists and turns of the plot are not necessarily predictable, but as other reviewers who are more avid thriller and suspense readers have noted, The Woman in the Window borrows a lot, both stylistically and subjectively, from Hitcock films (which Finn acknowledges) and other current popular suspense authors (Gillian Flynn, etc).
Overall, I was extremely pleased with TWitW. Fast paced, juicy, and a bit creepy, Finn delivered a phenomenal debut novel.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️