4/5 stars
I’ve been reading a lot of books that are incredibly heavy in content as of late, and it was time for a thriller to mix things up – my version of lightening the mood. A.J. Finn’s The Woman in the Window was the perfect book to get me into a different head space. I feel like I understand the place that Finn was coming from in writing an agoraphobic character, and after learning about his life experience it’s easy to see that there is a lot of himself in the book, which I love.
Anna, once a successful child psychologist, is agoraphobic – she cannot leave her apartment. A tragic event is alluded to, but we don’t learn the heartbreaking truth until much later on. Living alone, Anna relies on grocery delivery to take care of her necessities. Anna also relies on her red wine delivery, clearly a little too much. Anna spends time exploring the world through the lens of her camera – her window is her access to an outside she cannot bear to face. When a new family moves in across the street, Anna watches them through her window and soon witnesses a horrific act of violence, forcing her out of her apartment. Anna desperately pleas for the police to investigate the crime, but between her agoraphobia and the wine bottles strewn about her apartment, they police are quick to dismiss her story.
This was a fun and absorbing thriller, but something didn’t fully click for me. I think it just felt sort of familiar – like this has all been done before, many times over. This book certainly follows the Gone Girl trend – lots of twists and turns with an unreliable female narrator. I wish Finn didn’t make Anna a borderline alcoholic – though she suffered tragedy, her agoraphobia would have sufficed as her coping mechanism. Was the alcoholism added in to have the reader question her mental state? I just didn’t see the point. Either way, I had a lot of fun with this book and know it will make a great movie. Finn is a unique guy and I can tell he put a lot of heart into this one, I will certainly pick up his next book. This was about a 3.5 star read for me, but I rounded up 🙂
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