Separated from her husband and daughter, agoraphobic, psychiatrist, neighbor watcher, photo taker.

Anna Fox was all of those, but mostly agoraphobic. Anna hadn’t left her home for ten months and even rented her basement to a young man who could do errands for her so she wouldn't have to leave the house.

To pass the time, Anna would sleep, drink wine, take her meds that were not to be taken with alcohol, spy on the neighbors, wonder what they did, and pray that no one ever saw her looking at them through her camera lens. You do have to feel sorry for her because agoraphobia is a crippling disease.

Anna saw things she shouldn’t see and heard things she shouldn’t hear, but she said it isn’t any of my business so she left it. One night, though, she saw something she shouldn’t have seen and reported it to the police anyway.

THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW dragged on talking about Anna’s days and her chats with people on the computer about their shared disease.

The dragging immediately ceased and the tension immediately mounted when Anna saw her neighbor get stabbed, when she called 911, when no one believed her, when she started to investigate, and when she became more paranoid when out-of-the-ordinary things started happening to her.

THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW kept my interest, but it wasn’t edge-of-your-seat or gripping until the last half of the book. The ending had enough gripping action to make up for the slow start.

I think the oddity of Anna and her situation kept things going in the first half of the book along with the wondering about the reason for the separation from her family.

All in all, if you can get past the beginning, you are in for a marvelous psychological thriller and lots of surprises. 4/5

This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher and Edelweiss in return for an honest review.

This book is a mash-up of many old and new books and movies in the genre of psychological thrillers and noir. Seemingly in the minority, this mash-up did not work for me.

Sorry Mr. Finn because I think your love for Hitchcock and similar works would make for a enjoyable, friendly conversation but several things went wrong for me:

1) No surprises, no reveal. Saw it all coming. It was just a waiting game until the time Anna, our "heroine" gets sober enough or drunk enough, take your pick, to spew it out or stupidly mis-read all clues.

2) The imagery was like putting a puzzle together from disjointed parts of 10 other puzzles. You've seen a similar seen in Vertigo, now watch it here with this small change. You've read this in Rebecca, now read it here expect for this small change. Etc. I wouldn't know where to start with an homage to all the referenced works, but sprinkling the story with quotes and similar action scenes is a cut and paste job.

3) Characters. Either too flat, too predictable, or too annoying.

4) Something that also bothered me was the affair. From what you learn about Anna and her feelings towards her husband and family, plus her feelings and judgement towards the affairs of other couples, how does her extra marital affair make sense especially with such little guilt or explanation. This was underdeveloped.

5) If your reading this and you've read other of my reviews, you may know what's coming, but if you haven't now you will now this is my mantra - Gone Girl should be Gone!!! UGH. Another comparison? Done. Done I am.

The one thing that was done right, although exaggerated in terms of the pills and booze because she would have been dead in chapter 2, was that trapped feeling of depression.

Bottom line, if you never have watched/read Gas Light, 39 Steps, Rear Window, or any other suspense in black and white, you will likely enjoy this book. It wasn't what I expected.

I liked the intrigue. I liked the suspense. I liked the bit of a different storyline. I also liked the way Finn formed Anna's unreliability as the different events unfolded, even though I was able to identify her ongoing delusion prior to it being revealed (which btw, NO therapist can ever disclose such personal information to anyone, even a police officer - ummmm... FERPA!). It was interesting and warped, especially with Anna being a psychologist and ironically suffering from trauma and symptoms she used to (and still attempted to) treat. These aspects definitely drew me in deeper to this thriller and tale. I didn't see the end coming in quite so much detail and it did seem a bit contrived in order to create necessary shock value for the reader, and all the build up throughout the book was a bit too quickly wrapped up in the last few remaining chapters. A few negatives, but overall a good thriller with lots of suspense.

This book was a great read with lots of twists and turns. Shocking! Absolutely loved it!

The first 140 pages of THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW seem like too much buildup. But please read them because this is one of those books that's worth the time it takes up front. I give it four out of five stars because THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW, after that 140 pages, is difficult to put down and, when I had to put it down, made me anxious to pick it back up.

The woman in THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW, Anna Fox, lives alone in a great big house that she never leaves. She drinks too much. (You might even say the descriptions of her drinking are overdone.) And she spends her days online or watching DVDs of old movies or keeping an eye on her neighbors from her window.

I was immediately reminded of REAR WINDOW, one of the old movies in Fox’s collection. Even though THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW is updated with more recent technology, Fox still uses a camera with a telephoto lens, just like Jimmy Stewart. I knew then that Fox, like Stewart in REAR WINDOW, is looking for trouble.

Along with that prediction, I easily predicted a couple of other mysteries in THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW. But the book is still a thriller because it contains other mysteries that I didn’t predict. For this reason, I am careful not to discuss particulars. Enjoy this book: discover the mysteries as they occur in the book rather than anticipate them because I told you to.

One comment, though: A.J. Finn, the author of THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW, uses the best device to show me how bad the bad guy is—hurt the cat.

Could not put it down! A few surprises and a few obvious plot twists, but good book. Very Rear Window meets Girl on the Train. The author’s meta usage of film noir and Hitchcock is a nice touch. What makes it good is the writing style. I really felt like I was in the mind of the narrator so that was well done.

I enjoyed this book. It moved at a fast pace with lots of twists and turns. I loved the way the author wrote. She kept the dialogue moving at a fast pace.

Great read! Read the entire book in one sitting because I could not put it down!

The Woman in the Window, A.J. Finn, author; Ann Marie Lee, narrator
This psychological thriller was written with a fine hand, using an exceptional choice of vocabulary to describe scenes and evoke images in superbly descriptive ways. The images will come alive in the mind of the reader because of the juxtaposition of words. No sentence is wasted and no description overdone. The narrator’s expression and emphasis evokes each scene and sets the stage perfectly for it to play out. She never becomes the story, but rather enhances the telling of it. I highly recommend it as an audiobook.
These are some of the things we know about the novel. We know that there is an agoraphobic woman, Dr. Anna Fox, who is a child psychologist. She has a husband named Ed and a young daughter called Olivia. We know that she has suffered from some kind of terrible trauma because she is unable to leave the confines of her home. We know that she lives alone, separated from her family. We know that she has a tenant who helps her around the house in exchange for a lowered rent. We know he is called David. We know that he is doing some work for the new neighbors across the park. We also know that she has spent the last 11 months, while unable to leave the house, either staring out the window, watching the lives of other people play out as her own stagnates behind closed doors or watching old classic movies on TV or engaging with others on the internet, others on a site called Agora, for people like her. We know that her user name is “the doctor is in” and she is committed to helping others with her affliction. We know that there are only a couple of people who engage with her to try and help her get through this terrible emotionally fraught time of her life. One is Dr. Fielding, her therapist. One is Bina, her physical therapist. We know that aside from them, she is most often alone watching the lives beyond her windows. We know that she has noticed that a new family, the Russells, Jane, Alistair and Ethan, have moved into a very high-end home across the park from her. They do not cover their windows, and she watches the goings on in their home avidly. We know she has a very vivid imagination. We also know that she believes she has witnessed a murder. We know that no one believes her. We also know that since she most often drinks and takes pills, lives in a bathrobe and is not too serious about her own hygiene that she is suffering greatly, emotionally, and may possibly be hallucinating. We know when she calls the police to report incidents she has witnessed from her window that the police view her as a nuisance. We also know that although the neighbors do not come calling much, she does not seem to want any visitors. We know that she believes a woman has come to visit her and has played chess with her. We know she believes it was Jane Russell, and that it was she who sent her the candle as a gift.
We don’t know why she Dr. Fox is in such pain that she cannot leave her house. We do not know much about the tenant, David, who lives in her basement for minimal rent in exchange for help in the house. We know the new neighbors have a young, well-mannered, home-schooled son who came to see Anna and brought her a scented candle, a present from his mother, but we do not know much about him other than the fact that he seems shy and sensitive to Dr. Fox. We don’t know much about the Jane Russell that Alistair and the police bring to see her. So, we don’t know if she has imagined the murder because of her addiction to murder movies and her carelessness with drink and drugs. We don’t know if her intuition is always on the mark or if it is colored by her emotional distress. We don’t know why she has conversations with her husband and her daughter from afar. We know that the internet is her salvation as it is her way to communicate with the outside world, but we can’t be sure how much influence it or the TV has on her psyche.
We are left to constantly wonder about Anna as her mind wanders, conjuring up all sorts of mysteries that cannot be solved. We are left to wonder whether or not they are real or figments of her confused imagination. We are left to wonder about who the title means is the woman in the window. Is it Anna or Jane or another woman entirely? Each woman has a unique part to play regarding the windows. We also have to wonder about what happened to separate Anna from her family? We are forced to wonder where they are? Why can’t they be with her? Then we think, is there really a Jane Russell, or if it simply the name of a the star of one of her old time moives. Is she a figment of her imagination when in a drug induced state? Was anyone really murdered? Is David, her tenant a possible threat to her? Why did Alistair Russell lose his job? Is Ethan troubled about his sexuality? Does Ethan have problems at home?
This author keeps the reader on the edge of the seat, knowing just when to switch the scene, just when to leave the reader guessing about what is coming next. In the end, Finn cleverly ties up all the loose ends, knitting them together seamlessly. There are no miraculous results, but the story works out perfectly without disappointing as so many endings often do. The road the author takes to answering all the questions and solving the mystery will keep the reader on the edge of their seat, eager to turn the pages. The reader’s attention is held constantly with the push and pull of the narrative as questions are raised that elude answers.
This is a good one. There are several aspects of the story that the reader may guess at, but the entire story will never reveal itself until the author reveals it.

I liked this book, but was a bit disappointed in it since it got such great reviews. Several of us found it kind of predictable and were able to figure out "whodunit" long before the climax of the book. Great idea, just not really well executed. Not bad for a first book, though, and will read another by this author.

Page turner and kept me guessing! I love a strong protagonist.

I loved this book from start to finish (although slightly stressful). A great read! This book certainly kept me on my toes! I thought it was very well written and I loved in the inner monologue with the main character. Would definitely recommend.

If you are looking for a book to keep you up past your bedtime because you want to read one more chapter, this is the book for you! It has many twists and turns!

This was not a suspenseful book. You could tell what was going on from early on and it was not suspenseful. Disappointing book.

Page turner
Didn’t expect it figure out the villain
I was having heart palpitations the last part of the book

I absolutely loved this book. You can practically feel what it is like for the main character. The end was a bit dramatic but great twists throughout.
Highly recommend

Great suspense

This book was excellent. I cared about the
characters and couldn’t put it down. It was well written, interesting and suspenseful.

Fairly gripping it a very familiar story and set up. Written for a film.

Great read, liked the twists

Well written; with numerous red herrings and twists.

Loved this one.

Suspenseful

This is a test for Kris

you can read the summary for yourself.....
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and couldn't put it down Someone called it a popcorn thriller. LOL! good description though. Its not a "deep" book, yet it holds your interest and though some things are predictable, some are not. I like the way the author weaves in the movie theme and relates it to Anna' problems. Definitely a great read for me.

One of the best psychological suspense novels I have read in awhile!

I read this so quickly! Suspense + an unreliable narrator is usually a great read to me.

An interesting tale of a woman confined to her house and how she struggles to convince others (that believe she’s unstable) of a crime she witnessed while looking out her window.

Hard to put down ..so I didn’t!

Main character has many faults and the reader discovers these faults throughout the story. I think we forgave her and wonder what happens to her in the future.

A great read

This book let me down. I was expecting so much more but it just wasn’t for me.

Started off a bit slow, but that was the roller coaster going up and boy did it pick up speed! In all great book with an unforgettable twist!

Pretty good book. I liked the ~real twist~ and loved how Hitchcock played into it.

The first half was a great build up, the second half I couldn’t put it down. This is a quick read that keeps you trying to figure out where the story is going. Read it!