The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

I think I may need a little break from these unreliable narrator books.

The Woman In The Window by A.J. Finn
Thriller Audiobook Unabridged 13+ Hours
Released January 2018
Amazon ♦ Goodreads

For readers of Gillian Flynn and Tana French comes one of the decade’s most anticipated debuts, to be published in thirty-five languages around the world and already in development as a major film from Fox: a twisty, powerful Hithcockian thriller about an agoraphobic woman who believes she witnessed a crime in a neighboring house.

It isn’t paranoia if it’s really happening . . .

Anna Fox lives alone?a recluse in her New York City home, unable to venture outside. She spends her day drinking wine (maybe too much), watching old movies, recalling happier times . . . and spying on her neighbors.

Then the Russells move into the house across the way: a father, mother, their teenaged son. The perfect family. But when Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn’t, her world begins to crumble?and its shocking secrets are laid bare.

What is real? What is imagined? Who is in danger? Who is in control? In this diabolically gripping thriller, no one—and nothing—is what it seems.

Twisty and powerful, ingenious, and moving, The Woman in the Window is a smart, sophisticated novel of psychological suspense that recalls the best of Hitchcock. 

My Thoughts:

“What is it about that house? It’s where love goes to die.”

Anna loves peeking in on her neighbors and making these fun little observations. She suffers from agoraphobia and hasn’t left the house in ten months and has nothing much else to do really. She watches old thrillers, drinks far too much Merlot, and downs enough pills to keep her mail-in pharmacy in business all while staring at the wealthy neighbors who are apparently all too cheap to buy curtains.

“I am the woman who viewed too much.”

After I patiently listened to three or four hours of audio with nothing much of anything happening, Anna’s peeping finally pays off and she sees something interesting! Her new neighbor and brand new friend gets knifed but she doesn’t see who does the stabbing. Too scared to venture outside, she calls 911 but as she’s sloshed off her butt and slurring her words they don’t believe her.

From here accusations are made, red herrings weave in and out of her blurry vision and everyone feels bad for Anna for reasons that I guessed from the very beginning. That reveal was a complete dud but the one at the very end was perfectly evil and I loved it.

Anna is a mess. She has reason to be a mess but it is rough reading about someone in complete self-destruct mode for an entire story. I also found it incredibly hard to sympathize with her due to reasons I cannot reveal but mostly due to the fact that I can be a little heartless and unforgiving sometimes. This was definitely one of those times. I also think I’m getting a little fatigued with drunken woman who sees a crime syndrome. I didn’t trust her and I wasn’t supposed to but at least she really was on to something, if you were wondering.

I can only give this book a three because I found most of it not very thrilling. And with a book like this, aren’t I supposed to be thrilled and chilled and all tensed up? This never happened but maybe you’ll get lucky and it’ll happen to you.

The narration was decent. Nothing screamed out at me to take notes so that's a good thing.