Cover Image: The Woman in the Window

The Woman in the Window

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Member Reviews

Absolutely loved this book. So atmospheric and intense it actually made me uncomfortable at times. Great storyline and a healthy amount of twists and turns.

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What a book! I loved this and was desperate to find out what happened but so sad to finish it. The details of the agoraphobia, the alcoholism and Anna’s family were so well described that I felt absorbed by the plot. Several times I thought I’d worked it out only to be wrong-footed. This is longer than the average book of this genre, but with writing this good that’s not a bad thing.

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My first A.J. Finn thriller, and it did not disappoint. I was literally on the edge of my seat, and biting my nails wondering what Anna was going to do / How she would deal with things. Cannot recommend enough!

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This was such gripping read. It took a few chapters to get into it but once I was in, I was hooked. Anna can't go outside. She is petrified of leaving her house so she watches the world go by whilst she is frozen. One day she witnesses something which she can't leave alone. This book kept me guessing all the way to the end, I wanted to know more about Anna and her life and why she was the way she was. There were twists and turns right to the end and I couldn't wait to find out more.

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Really loved this book, it was different and enthralling and had me totally held until the end. I could not stop reading it. Given that it seems to be about one woman, an obsession and a window it is a very good thriller. I shall look forward to reading more by her.

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This is a fantastic psychological thriller. If you liked Girl on a Train or Gone Girl (the books, not the films!!) then this is definitely for you. A slow, gradual build up of tension that drip feeds the secrets as the story goes along but also keeps you guessing right until the end.

Brilliant and such a creative angle for a story. Best book so far this year.

Thanks for letting me review it!

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Anna Fox has not left her New York home for ten months. Estranged from her family one of her few contacts with the outside world are those she sees through her window. She watches her neighbours in secret. She plays chess online and interacts with other agoraphobics on an online forum- as a psychologist she tries to help. She watches old black & white movies, medicates erratically and drinks- a lot.

When a new family move in opposite she is intrigued. A family of three- just like her's used to be. She becomes obsessed with watching them- until she sees something she shouldn't. After that her precarious mental state is called into question until she no longer knows what is real.

This book is dark, atmospheric and brooding- just like the 'film noir' genre Anna loves. Having such an unreliable narrator keeps the reader on their toes.

Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

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A. J. Finn takes the basic plot of Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window" and adds a few more twists and turns. Cleverly, the voyeur in this instance is an aficionado of old black and white movies, Hitchcock in particular. The irony of her situation doesn't escape her and she worries that old movies are suggestively influencing her drug and alcohol filled subconscious.
There are 2 or 3 major plot twists, and despite a familiarity with the genre, I failed to see them coming, despite all the clues being dangled tantalisingly in front of me.
Nicely written, with the all the characters being totally plausible, both in feeding the heroine's paranoia while going about perfectly ordinary, innocent activities.
Well done A. J. a page turner, and no mistake.

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An interesting psychological thriller full of suspense that although I enjoyed, it took me quite a while in before I connected with the main character, Anna, for some reason; I've been wracking my brains trying to think why but I just can't come up with an explanation and because of this, I don't think I enjoyed it as much as I could have which is a shame because it's a great story and not like anything I have read before.

The story is told completely from Anna's perspective but because of her fragile mental health and the wine and medication concoction, you question whether what she is saying is actually what is happening ... as she herself ends up doing.

I found it quite a sad book overall and I felt a lot of empathy for Anna and her situation but it was also a story of triumph over adversity with a gradual build up to the explosive ending which I found very satisfying.

Overall, a pretty good debut that is not full of the usual blood and violence ... it's definitely a slow burner that builds and builds to a satisfying conclusion.

I think this book would transfer really well to the big screen and I am pleased to note that it is in development as a major motion picture from Fox - it's just a shame that Alfred Hitchcock isn't alive to direct it!

Thanks to the publisher, HarperCollins UK HarperFiction and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest review.

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In an era of ten a penny domestic psychological thrillers, this stands out as one of the very best. I wAs utterly gripped and loved the classic suspense that lurked on every page.

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Written in a film noir kinda way. Exciting and filled with mystery right till the end. Loved it when all the pieces fell into place.

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One sometimes approaches the seemingly obvious "me too" titles with a scepticism that is quite unfair. So it was with this book. A page turner with a completely new view of this genre. Engaging from page one and one of those rare books that one really does not want to put down. The limitations of the "set" remind one of Hitchcock's Rear Window but the author successfully overcomes the narrow corridor into which he places his main character with panache and gripping style.

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Anna Fox is a child psychologist, a borderline alcoholic and an agoraphobic. She hasn’t left her New York home in over a year and her husband and daughter are no longer living with her, although she speaks to them daily. When she isn’t drinking and mixing up her multiple medications she’s watching black and white movies…or her neighbours.

With obvious parallels to Hitchcock’s “Rear Window”, Anna uses her camera to focus closely on her neighbours & make up versions of their lives as they go about their day to day business. After her new neighbours, the Russells, move in, and she has reluctantly met the family, she sees something truly terrifying through her lens. As she tries to figure out what is happening – not an easy task through the haze of booze and drugs she’s worked her way through, this messed up woman begins to unravel a mystery worthy of one of her beloved black and white films – and perhaps even more dangerous for both herself and the Russell family.

Throughout the book, I felt quite claustrophobic – but as Anna can’t leave the house – I couldn’t leave the story. There are a number of different avenues that this book takes you down, first making you think one way, then switching to another. There was one rather obvious plot point that I was surprised to find was not the big reveal I thought it was going to be, in fact there isn’t really one big reveal, more a creeping disclosure from which you paint the true picture of what really happened that night.

There’s been a lot of hype around this book, and the obligatory comparison to the likes of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train. I felt this more so with the latter – with Anna being an unreliable narrator, it makes for a taut and thought provoking read – after all, if she isn’t sure what she’s been doing and what’s been happening around her – how can you be? Is she confusing her TV with her window?

I went through this book quite quickly, because it drew me in and I was intrigued to find out whether or not my suspicions were correct; unusually for me, they were not. Some of the plot twists you see coming, but I think you’re meant to – more a classic case of misdirection than an unintended reveal. I think this book will divide opinion, however, I really enjoyed it.

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I'd seen a lot of advanced praise for The Woman in the Window so I was really excited when I was asked to be part of this tour. I eagerly waited for my copy to drop through the letter box.

I knew it would be good but I didn't expect it to be this addictive. Be prepared. Once you pick up this book you'll be lucky if you put it down before you turn the last page.

Yes, as other reviewers have said, it's what we've seen before (ANOTHER book with girl in the title haha). We have the unreliable narrator and the plot twists that will leave you questioning everything. Is what Anna is seeing real or is what we're reading a product of her alcoholism or her obsession with thrillers?

Even though we've seen these themes many times in the past few years I still really enjoyed this book. The chapters are short, dangerously short. The "ill just read one more chapter" and then all of a sudden it's 3am or the cooker is on fire kind of short. I found it so easy to lose myself in the story.

So did I guess any of the plot twists? Yes, but there were a few surprises too so I wasn't disappointed. Sometimes half the fun is finding out whether you're right or not.

Would I recommend it? Well that depends. Did you enjoy Gone Girl (I loved it) and Girl on the Train ( a 'meh' from me)? If it's a yes, I can say you'll enjoy The Woman in the Window.

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Total entertainment! This is a real page-turner with the tension racking up as the book proceeds. Anna is a mixed up, unreliable narrator but gradually we find out what happened to send her off track in such a dramatic way. She is agoraphobic and drinking to oblivion but she knows what she saw and, just like the classic films that she watches constantly, she glimpses a murder through a window in the house opposite. But no-one will acknowledge the stabbing or that the person concerned existed. I love the mixing in of film and reality and the twists, especially the one at the end. This is a real thriller, well written with interesting characters and twists and turns to keep you guessing.

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I really had to struggle for the first quarter not to put this in my DNF pile. It did pick up pace eventually and for me it was okay, but I seem to be in the minority so maybe it was just me.

Thanks to HaperFiction for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review

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I don’t usually read thrillers, and was wary of believing the hype around this book, but this one had me hooked from beginning to end! I thought the premise was interesting and unusual, and I couldn’t see the twists or turns coming. I loved Anna as a narrator, and the pace and tension were excellent throughout.

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I was given a physical proof of this at the HarperCollins Summer 2017 Big Book Bonanza where the author was present and unpleasantly smug. I was therefore prepared to hate this but it is entirely ok. As a crime novel it fails because so much is predictable, and it’s attempts to be clever with film noir references too obvious. But, it is compelling, and that is no small feat. Average.

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This is brilliant. The hype is correct. Gutted I’ve finished it.
It’s got everything: mystery, likeable characters; suspense. Totally recommended this to EVERYONE!

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This book keeps you guessing until the end, which is what you really want in a mystery, right? It's also a real page turner; I found myself staying up until 2 am to find out what happened. I cursed myself the next day, but it was totally worth it.

Although there's certainly been a glut of thrillers featuring unreliable narrators in the last few years, the clever thing about this book is the mystery as to why Anna Fox is that way. Why is her family not living with her? Why is she an agoraphobic? Why is she an alcoholic? Why is she on so many meds? As the story unfolds, you slowly put together the pieces of the puzzle, making it all the more satisfying when you figure it out.

"The Woman in the Window" also gets bonus points for references to many fine movies in the book, both the ones that Anna Fox watches on her DVD player, but also references within the plot itself (with "Read Window" being the most obvious one of all).

It's a great book. I read it before it became a best seller and now has all the attendant hype, not to mention movie deal, that goes with it. But it deserves all the praise it gets, including that from Stephen King.

Thanks to Harper Collins & Net Galley for a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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