So we’re still in January and another book is being hyped as ‘the thriller of the year’! I was sceptical as always, but it does deserve credit as a really good psychological thriller!
I loved the flawed main character, Anna. She drinks heavily, she’s agoraphobic and loves nothing more than to be nosy and watch of the comings and goings of her neighbours through the telescopic lens of her camera.
I wanted to know more about Anna and her life and couldn’t wait to find out what was happening with her neighbours.
Great twists and turns- most of which I did not see coming.
Highly recommend.
Thanks to NetGalley for an advance Kindle copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Dr Anna Fox can no longer leave her house, post traumatic stress disorder has got her trapped so she becomes interested in her neighbours. Mixing meds and drink she begins to see and hear things but is what she's seeing true? What is her own story and can she figure out what's real.

This was a good read. If you're a fan of girl on the train you'll probably like this. The plot was good and contained some interesting twists. I did figure out some of the twists but a couple took me by surprise.

Anna is an interesting character. She is dealing with a lot and seems to be determined to make things harder for herself. However you do feel for her more and more as the story develops.

A great thriller.

Anna’s life is tragic, and circumstances force her to become a voyeur, vicariously living through her window. The world of black and white noir thrillers her only escape. She drinks to forget and to soften the edges of her painful, lonely existence. Ten months she has lived alone, terrified to leave what should be her dream home. She exists on a cocktail of medication, which she either forgets to take or overdoses on, so when Anna sees something shocking, though the neighbour’s window she is not a reliable witness.
Everything is seen through Anna’s eyes but is what she sees, part of her delusional state or something sinister? I like Anna and feel a connection with her. Is she a victim of paranoia, or a conspiracy? Or does the truth lie somewhere in between?
Perfect pacing means that even where there are lots of details and drunken confusion, these don’t hinder the story but inform the reader. Although, given the unreliableness of the narrator, not everything you discover is true.
The characters are vivid, as is the setting and the suspense building is cleverly done. The atmosphere moves from mundane to terrifying seamlessly and has more impact because of this.The plot is twisty and the shocks when they come, alter facts you were sure of, making it essential to turn the page and see what happens next.
Anna’s condition is treated sensitively, Sharing poignant memories and longings with the reader, which keep her character and the story believable.
A worthwhile read, some of the twists you may guess, but there are some you won’t. The ending brings the suspense to a crashing crescendo as the mystery is solved and Anna has to decide whether she wants to live or die. Reading these scenes is like watching a film, just like the black and white thrillers Anna loves.
I received a copy of this book from Harper Collins – Harper Fiction via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This book has the unique premise of an agoraphobic main character, and I found it really interesting how all of the thriller elements were filtered through her viewpoint. The story is very tightly plotted and unusually hard to predict, right up until the end. 'The Woman in the Window' is perfect for fans of 'Gone Girl' and 'Girl on the Train', and it ended up being my favourite of the three books!

Finn's writing style grips you from the first page but a few pages in I became a bit lost by her use of setting. I just couldn't get a sense of where Anna's house was in connection to her neighbour across a park into whose house she could see perfectly well. But I persevered and think that the book pays off in the end because of the expert way Finn creates tension. Like a lot of these psychological thrillers you probably know whodunnit before the end and you probably think, "hell, that was so expected it isn't true." The truth is there's nothing new, no new twists but read this book because it is one of the better ones.

A fast-paced, psychological thriller. A fab must-read debut novel. I am looking forward to seeing what else this author comes up with next.

This book was better than I thought it would be as I’ve seen some mixed reviews.
Anna is trapped in her home as she suffers from agoraphobia and to keep herself busy she keeps an eye on her neighbours through her window.
New neighbours move in and seem friendly at first but then Anna hears a scream come from their house. She can’t go over as she’s afraid to go out so she makes a phone call and is told everything is ok.
She then sees something more sinister and calls the Police but as she is drunk and on medication they don’t believe her account of what she saw.
Things start to unravel for Anna and go from bad to worse....
This is a gripping story and has a great ending.
Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

I received a copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Anna Fox is a child psychologist who has recently separated from her husband. She is agoraphobic and an alcoholic. Her days are filled with pills, alcohol and online forums. Anna is also a film buff with a love of old black and white films. She watches her neighbours through the window and whilst doing this she witnesses a violent incident. Nobody believes her...

The premise of this book reminded me very much of Rear Window but it is not a retelling of that story. Anna was a really interesting character with lots or troubles and secrets. Her agroraphobia is dealt with very sympathetically and I think that this may be the only book that I have read that has dealt with this subject matter. Her love of old films was something that I loved reading about because I love those type of films too. This was a so much more than a psychological thriller, I did guess the twist but I didn't guess the ending. I would not say this was a fast paced book but I would highly recommend it.

I’m not surprised that this book is being talked about so much. It is a masterpiece. I loved the way the story unfolded, like an onion with many layers. The characters were brilliantly drawn and the sense of menace was heart thumping. A well deserved 5 stars

I thought this was going to be predictable but there were some great twists to keep you guessing right through to the end! Thoroughly good read!

This review is written with thanks to Harper Collins UK and Netgalley for my copy of The Woman In The Window.
Anna Fox is agoraphobic: the last time she left her house was ten months ago. Although she cannot leave her house, she keeps an eye on the goings on on her street through her bedroom window, and she is fascinated by the newest family to move in, the Russells. But one day, she witnesses a crime in the Russells' house. When she tries to get help, no-one believes her. What really happened that night?
It is clear from the beginning that Anna's physical world is very limited, and Finn portrays this really well, making me feel claustrophobic as I read. This makes The Woman In The Window utterly compelling and I had to keep reading to find out what happened. However, I did not find Anna to be a very likeable character. She is an alcoholic, she's very unreliable, and at times, I found it difficult to believe that someone in Anna's position would act in the way she did, and this prevented me from fully immersing myself in the novel.
Although Finn has created a dark and atmospheric novel in The Woman In The Window, I felt that the lengthy descriptions were included at the expense of the development of the plot. It takes some time for the major plot points to come to light. When they do, it's fast paced, tense and incredibly gripping, but unfortunately, this didn't happen until about three quarters of the way through.
I love a twist, and The Woman In The Window has plenty of them, which kept me reading until the end. However, as I was able to predict most of the twists in advance, they did not have the impact I was expecting.

I can see why there’s so much hype for this book. It’s interesting and excellently-written, with a unique premise that kept me hooked (and guessing) right until the end.
It’s the story of Peeping Tom, taken to a whole new level. Traumatised Anna lives by herself in the house she used to share with her husband and daughter, and spends her time spying through the windows of her house on her neighbours. She’s traumatised, an alcoholic, heavily medicated and confined indoors: she’s agoraphobic. And slowly, the people she starts watching start having an impact on her life- until she witnesses somebody being killed. But is it real- or all in her head?
Putting a new spin on the idea of the unreliable narrator was a masterstroke. Anna’s heavy drinking and several well-signposted twists assure the reader that what you’re reading might not necessarily be the truth, so when the murder comes along you’re more suspicious than ever (as are the police) of what’s really going on. Anna’s a likeable character, and a good narrator- you do feel sympathetic towards her- and somebody to whom there’s more than first meets the eye. As the book goes on, you learn more and more about her past as a child psychologist, which ties in very neatly with the central theme of the book and with her relationship with both her daughter Olivia and Ethan, the boy from across the road whose mother she watches get murdered.
Watching her spiral downwards into confusion and possible madness is therefore pretty gripping to watch. A.J Finn does a fantastic job of ramping up the tension, playing with the reader’s idea of what’s real and what isn’t, and using the house to convey just how trapped and claustrophobic Anna feels. I also absolutely loved A.J Finn’s homage to classic noir films: Hitchcock and all. This books feels like it could be a Hitchcock film, and pairing it with Anna’s love of the classics makes for an even creepier mood as the book progresses and she starts breaking down. Like Anna, you start suspecting everybody, from the narrator herself to a grandmother she talks to in Montana.
All that suspense ramps up: the story kicks up into full-on thriller, with twists and turns galore (some well signposted, such as why her husband and child left, others hitting you out of nowhere) that kept me hooked and guessing well into the night. The ending of the story, whilst perhaps a bit cliché, was great, and adding an extra twist with an agoraphobic narrator put a unique spin on the novel. I don’t think there’s going to be much to match it this year.

“It isn’t paranoia if it’s really happening…”

If you are looking for a gripping book that will capture your attention and keep you turning pages late into the night, The Woman in the Window is for you….

Have you ever read a book before that was so good that after finishing it you just sit back and you wish you had written it yourself? It was almost as if the author had went into my mind, taken all the things I am interested in, and put it together so beautifully that even Patricia Highsmith and Alfred Hitchcock would be jealous. Film rights for The Woman in the Window have already been snapped up and I can envisage the story transferring well to the big screen.

Agoraphobic Dr. Anna Fox has spent the past 10 months inside her New York home. Her home is her safe place and she is too afraid to venture outside her door. Separated from her husband and daughter she is not coping well, drinking too much and not keeping tabs on what medication she has taken that day. Her physiotherapist and psychiatrist come to see her at home and she can longer go out to work as a child psychiatrist. Anna is lonely and spends her days drinking wine and watching her neighbours (when she isn’t watching classic film-noir). One night Anna thinks she hears and sees something terrifying happen across the road at her neighbours, the Russells house, as the lines between real life and keen interest in film become increasingly blurred. However, no-one believes her, including the police, and the Russells deny the allegations. Was it real, or as others suggested, just something she imagined?

This contemporary and Hitchcockian suspense thriller has all the moxie of old black and white film noir while still retaining the modern world of social media and technology, and Finn does a superb job of shaping the language, tone, and rhythm as if it were an old classic. Woven through the story are bits from the old films that serve as threads to thought, action, and atmosphere. Like any good film noir, the setting is confined to the one space – Anna’s lush New York apartment. This only heightened the suffocating feelings of claustrophobia I felt whilst reading, as I continually found myself holding my breath.

Anna is the classic unreliable narrator, mixing her booze and countless pills all whilst trying to recover from a traumatic event that has left her physically and emotionally broken. Anna’s life subtly mirrors many of the “Femme Fatales” from the films she is oh so fond of watching. I connected with Anna straight away, I got into her head and she got into mine till I couldn’t tell where Anna ended and I began. I felt her every fear, her every anxiety and imagined her every thought.

The plot is carefully thought out to the last detail and well crafted with a few shocking twists and turns – some I guessed, some I didn’t. The pace begins slow burning, picking up slightly about halfway through, then only when we get to the last quarter of the book it really cranks up a gear and begins to speed like a steam train. Even the pace draws parallels with classic film. The prose is written in such a flawless, suspenseful way, I could not help but have a tight feeling of unease creep over me, feeling myself jumping at every little noise in the house. If you are feeling slightly nervous do not read this in the house alone. There is a black, menacing undercurrent flows throughout most of the book, becoming stronger until it reaches a terrifying crescendo.

The Woman in the Window is a deliciously dark and creepy thriller that I devoured in one day. I CANNOT wait to see what will be next from A.J. Finn. I received a free review copy from publisher. Thanks to A.J. Finn and Harper Collins UK.

I had heard a lot about this book from various people on social media so I was quite keen to see if all the fuss was justified.

The story follows Dr Anna Fox who for the last year has been unable to leave the house due to her agrophobia, and she now spends most of her time watching her neighbours and drinking. When she witnesses an incident at her neighbours house one night, she struggles to convince the police it happened and eventually she begins to doubt it herself. What caused this successful child psychiatrist to become a recluse and a heavy drinker and does it have anything to do with her separation from her husband Ed and their daughter Olivia?

I actually guessed quite early on what had happened with her family, but this didn't detract from the rest of the story as there was so much more going on to keep me interested and I was eager to find out what would happen next.

I really enjoyed this book, it didn't blow me away as it did others, but it was certainly an intriguing read. Thank you to HarperCollins for the auto approval, I will post my review on Goodreads now and on Amazon on publication day.

This is a stunning book, I found it compelling reading and had to limit myself so as not to read it too quickly! A.J Finn has this way of drawing you in and leaving you wanting to know more.
The Woman in the Window is a suspensful story with dark and chilling moments, and it will have you gripped to the pages. I can't praise this book enough, I'm sure it will be a bestseller and should definitely be made into a film.

Thank you!

I was really excited to be approved to read this book as it was hyped about a lot but it just didn’t do it for me.
First of all it took a while to get into it and I wasn’t connecting with the characters, probably because they wasn’t introduced in enough detail so I didn’t feel I knew enough about them.
Secondly because in my opinion there is a lot of character and especially if there is two families it should say who is speaking. I didn’t like the writing at all, it was actually excruciating to read and there was a lot of ‘he said and I said’ so it was very easy to get confused and didn’t know who was saying what and it got that bad I was skipping parts because it was that boring and felt a bit like change the record as all you seemed to see was drinking drinking drinking & pill popping!
Definitely needs to work on writing style do people don’t become confused as you go into a chapter.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for sending me an Arc in exchange for an honest review.
This book has a refreshingly different writing style which sets it apart from other books I have read in a similar vein. I did struggle to get into this book at first, as I couldn't make out what was happening. I found all the references to old films a bit tiresome, although this was quite possibly because I'm not a film buff. I did skim over a few of these references, and also a few of the internet conversations. At times the story seemed very slow, and I was willing things to unfold at a faster pace. From about three quarters of the way through it did turn into a "can't put down" read, and consequently I stayed up until the early hours reading to the end. The story developed with some stirring and chilling twists and the reader is left with some thought provoking material. Having finished the book, I felt too uneasy to sleep - but that's what makes a good psychological thriller!!

Another book that needs to made into a full feature film! When I first read this book I thought it was another version of Gone Girl or Girl on a Train but it was different in it's own unique way and I loved that! I mainly read YA books but this thriller is definitely one that would convert me! A huge read for 2018.

It's been ten months since Anna Fox last left her home. She has haunted the homes of her New York house like a ghost, lost in memories, too terrified to step outside. Her lifeline to the real world is her window, where she sits every day, watching her neighbours. When the Russell's move in, Anna is instantly drawn to them. A picture perfect family of three. One evening, a frenzied scream breaks the silence, and Anna witnesses something no one was supposed to see.

This is a really good debut novel. Dr. Anna Fox, a phychologist who suffers from agoraphobia. She spends her days popping pills, drinking wine and watching her neighbours. She knows all their names, their daily routines, but when a new family moves in across the street, Anna becomes fixated on them. Then one night, she witnesses a crime being committed, but no one believes her. This book is full of twists and it's very addictive. A fabulous page turner.

I would like to thank NetGalley, HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction and the author A. J. Finn for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Dr Anna Fox had a very successful practice as a psychotherapist working with children, that is until she developed agoraphobia. She has been suffering from it for over a year and her contact with the outside world, or really her neighbours, is by watching them, through her windows, as they go about their daily business.

Her only physical contact with others is Dr Fielding, a psychiatrist, visiting her once a week to talk and check on her medications, her physical therapist, Bina, and her tenant, David. Her main companion, besides her cat Punch, is Merlot as she starts with the first bottle on waking from her (medicated) drugged sleep and a bottle and glass accompany her as embarks on the day. The day might see her studying French lessons online or online chess and there is also the group of agoraphobes called Agora. Her sign-in name is; the doctors in. This way, she feels that she is still using her skills as a psychotherapist to help others suffering from this debilitating condition.

New people move into house 207. After doing a google search, she finds out that they are Alistair and Jane Russell and they have a teenage son Ethan. Anna becomes obsessed with them. She sits in the window armed with her Nikon’s zoom lens to watch the family’s interactions.

Things start to unravel after vandals throw eggs at Anna’s front door, hoping to get her to come out of the house. She sees them run off and shortly afterwards, there is a knock on the front door; it is Jane Russell, who had chased off the vandals. Anna welcomes her in and the two spend the next few hours consuming many bottles of Merlot. It is not long after Jane has left, that Anna, again with her camera, watching her house, seeing Jane being stabbed. It shocks her enough to leave her house to alert the police but, her claim is met with a denial by Jane and Alistair. Could one of the drugs she’s taking, with the known side effects when combined with alcohol, cause hallucinations, really have made her see something that didn’t actually happen?

And…… will we ever discover why her daughter Olivia and husband Ed have moved out?

This is a very complex, thought-provoking storyline. The twists and turns are seriously mindboggling. A J Finn has used Anna’s alcoholic-soaked voice to tell us the story and as much as I loathed her, I knew I could not walk away from this pathetic drunk until I reached the final page.

I can completely understand why Oprah Winfrey is calling it “the book you have to read in 2018.”

Treebeard

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.