The Woman in The Window
My rating
5 / 5
Self-Purchased copy
Author
A. J. Finn
Publisher
Harper Collins
Genre
Psychological Thriller
Number of Pages
448
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Dark. Twisted. Shocking.
Summary
Anna Fox, a psychiatrist herself, hasn’t stepped out of her house for ten months. It is her habit to watch her neighbors from her window facing the park. Russell’s, her new neighbors have just moved in. Anna sees her own once happy but now separated family in the Russells. Until one day she hears a scream and watches something happen that nobody was supposed to see. But being a loner and a wine addict that she is, no one is ready to believe her. Circumstances reach a point where Anna begins to doubt herself.
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My Review
I’ve read other psychological thrillers like The Silent Patient recently and other thrillers like The Guest List and cozy murder mysteries like Death on the Nile. But The Woman in the Window takes the cake for me. I love dark mysteries. They offer an insight into the human mind like no other. They go beyond the unimaginable. They take us to the depths of how a human being can think. This is what A.J. Finn offers through this story.
Anna was so perfect. Her dilemma, her exhaustion, her turmoil, her denial, her helplessness comes across with so much power that the reader gets carried away in her story, without a doubt. Sometimes you cannot help but feel pity for her. That is the power of Finn’s writing.
The other murder mysteries I read recently never had humor as a theme in them. But here Anna keeps mocking herself and describing her neighbors using sly humor that you are bound to giggle a bit. Like when she describes her stealthy watching habit – Watching is like nature photography: You don’t interfere with the wildlife.
I always look for parallel stories running in most fiction books. And I wasn’t disappointed in this one either. Anna’s family story's gradual opening was equally packed with punch. But the reveal there was not surprising. Also, there are so many lines from old monochrome movies that Anna keeps watching. The lines she recites from them are so precisely timed to describe the situation aptly. I loved this.
Another thing I liked about The Woman in the Window was the numerous twists. The Silent Patient had two twists, death on the Nile had one final twist about revealing the murder, but this book just keeps getting more and more twisted that more than once, I was tempted to skip to the end and find out what happened. But my patience prevailed, and I was duly rewarded with an unexpected reveal.
Final Verdict
I rate this a perfect score for the perfect thrill it gave me. I look forward to reading such all-rounded thrillers. But I always wonder why, just why, are the disturbed protagonists in these novels always women? Any answers??
Who Should Read This
The book has adult themes of adultery, addiction, drug abuse, depression, mental illness, and violence, so underage readers; please avoid this book. Mystery and Thrillers fans are in for a treat.
Happy reading!
A.J. Finn, pseudonym for Daniel Mallory, has written for numerous publications, including the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and the Times Literary Supplement (UK). A native of New York, Finn lived in England for ten years as a book editor before returning to New York City.John lives with his family in Indianapolis, Indiana.
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