Where to even start on this one… The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn was released, and immediately, my feed was clogged with glowing and riveting reviews: THRILLER OF THE YEAR! ASTOUNDING, THRILLING! BOLD NEW TALENT! BREAKOUT DEBUT OF 2018! TWISTING!
You get the idea. So it sat on my To-Read list for a while before I got around to it, knowing somewhere in the back of my mind that it might disappoint…. isn’t intuition a beautiful thing? OK, let’s dive in!
The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn
WHAT IT’S ABOUT?
Dr. Anna Fox, former child physiologist, is a shut-in. She hasn’t left her New York City townhouse in nearly a year, after a traumatic incident left her with crippling agoraphobia. To pass the time, Anna drowns herself with wine, pills, plays chess, watches a ton of old black and white movies, and spy’s on her neighbors — tracking their every move. Anna’s daughter and ex-husband no longer live with her, but they do talk frequently. One day, while Anna is spying, she sees something terrible occur inside the new neighbors home. She gets the police involved, yet with her heavy alcohol and pill consumption, no one believes her… she’s determined to get to the bottom of it though!
WHY I DON’T RECOMMEND IT
I don’t know about you, but I’m getting really tired of reading novels where the main character isn’t a reliable narrator because he / she is an alcoholic / pill popper / not in a clear state of mind / in a constant state of hysteria. The author crammed down our throats that Anna is an untrustworthy character. How many times can we read about pouring wine, spilling wine, what a stumbling mess Anna is, another glass of wine? We get it! She is drunk for literally every waking minute of her pathetic life.
I couldn’t connect with any of the characters and absolutely loathed Anna. I have absolutely no tolerance for those who need help, seek help, but don’t follow the path for healing, instead they dive headfirst into further self-destruction. It’s also hard to deal with so much whining and confusion, reading this book was slightly anxiety inducing. Also, I wanted to shake and slap Anna so many times throughout this book.
Anna is obsessed with old, black and white movies, which is great — who doesn’t? But the author crams the references, dialogue, and the story-lines of the movies Anna watches into his own novel. Which was kind of fun at first, but then became extremelly tiresome. And again, it was like reading the same scene over and over and over again: Anna wakes up with a bottle of wine, spy’s on her neighbors, more wine, maybe a spill, no shower, more spying, chess, wine, a black and white movie, more wine. The plot felt like it went nowhere for the first half of the book. Gah!
WHY MAYBE YOU WILL ENJOY IT
I would describe this book as a ‘popcorn thriller.’ Which means you inhale it at a fast pace — because as boring as I found it, it was a suspenseful page turner (and yes, those two can occur in the same book!) — but afterwards it leaves you feeling empty — because there is literally no substance or thought required.
Also, I wouldn’t say this book is chalk full of twists and turns, there are only two big ones, and a small one at the very end. But to the authors credit, the first two were pretty decent twists, even if you could sense it coming. On the flip side, it was slightly irritating to read up until each twist, you sensed something was really off, as you piece together these glues and try to figure it out. The third twist was a bit far fetched, but whatever.
Bottom line: this book wore my patience super thin… I don’t know how or why I finished. However, The Woman in the Window holds a steady 4.01 rating on GR with over 95,000 ratings, so perhaps I’m the unpopular opinion with this one. But I’m sticking with what I said. I didn’t enjoy this novel, but maybe you will!