With each short chapter, Finn leaves you wanting more. Film buffs, too, will love the references to Hitchcock and other classic films. It seems like every thriller these days features an unreliable narrator-and Anna Fox is one, too-but unlike many recent thrillers, The Woman in the Window’s plot twists are genuinely surprising, and not just shocking for shock’s sake. When Anna finally ventures outside and her mental state spirals out of control, we’re right in that terrifying spiral with her. Finn is already an old pro at characterization. And no one, not the police or her neighbors, believes her.ĭebut author A.J. But here’s the twist: Anna, who has been drinking and popping those aforementioned pills all night, can’t prove that what she saw really happened. Then, one night, she sees a terrifying crime occur in one of their bedrooms. When a new family moves in across the street from her front window, Anna begins watching them through her Nikon. Early on we learn that Anna suffers from agoraphobia (fear of crowed spaces), brought on by a traumatic incident, rendering her unable to leave her home without having a panic attack.

The Woman in the Window is a great psychological thriller that lives up to the months of hype it’s been getting.Īnna Fox, once a successful child psychologist, lives alone in her Harlem townhouse spying on her neighbors, mixing psychotropics with red wine, watching old films-Hitchcock’s Rear Window, which this book is loosely based on-and chatting on message boards. And ignore the comparisons-you knew they were coming-to Girl on the Train and Gone Girl.

Pretend you haven’t already read that the screen rights sold before it even hit bookstores, or that the author received a seven-figure advance.

Woman on the window book