The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn @AJFinnBooks @HarperCollinsUK #TheWomanintheWindow #BookReview #BookBlog #AJFinn

Harper Collins 2018

Book Description

It’s been ten months since Anna Fox last left her home.  Ten months during which she has haunted the rooms of her old New York house, lost in her memories, too terrified to step outside.

Anna’s lifeline to the real world is her window, where she sits watching her neighbours.  When the Russells move in, Anna is instantly drawn to them.  A picture-perfect family, they are an echo of the life that was once hers.

But one evening, a scream rips across the silence, and Anna witnesses something horrifying.  Now she must uncover the truth about what really happened.  But if she does, will anyone believe her?  And can she even trust herself?

My Thoughts

First, thank you so much to Janel Keeper of Pages for passing this book on to me.  A much hyped and coveted 2018 publication with a very interesting Author back story – google it if you missed it!

Despite a very strong plot I found the book to be long and a little slow.  Very detailed, but for me that was all the detail was, lots of words which failed to create either suspense or tension and I finished the book thinking it could easily have been 100 pages shorter.

That aside, The Woman in the Window really is a great story.  Dark and twisty, Anna is incapacitated by Agoraphobia, this mental disorder combined with excessive alcohol consumption makes her unreliable and easily dismissed by others, ‘the local crazy woman’, it’s a long held stereotype – every community has one and it serves to reduce Anna, negating all her previous achievements and successes.

Told in the first person voice of Anna, the reader is as much a victim of Anna’s doubts and unreliability.  We know this as the story unfolds and I must say it is very cleverly done.  We share in her confusion as she seeks to piece together exactly what she has seen.

A small cast of strong characters as observed by Anna through the window, support the telling of this story.  There were parts I ‘sussed out’, others I didn’t.  The ending was superb and I hadn’t predicted it but it played out well and felt very authentic.  For film buffs there are a lot of classic black and white movie references to be enjoyed and I note the movie is in the making, which I don’t doubt will be a huge success.

Yes I would recommend this twisty thriller for its original plot, but if you are so inclined there’s definitely lots that could be skimmed over.