The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn
When I first got The Woman in the Window from BOTM, I was really excited about it and planned on reading it. Then, a friend made the comment to me that it was a knock off The Girl on the Train and just plain horrible. I do not usually take what critics have to say to heart, but when a friend makes a comment like that, it is hard to overlook it. So it just sat there not being read (let's be real, a lot of my books do that sadly). But as I have been working my way through my BOTM books, I re-read the synopsis and thought that it sounded amazing, and so what if it is similar to GotT, that was an awesome book. I am so glad that I got that out of my head, because my initial thought was correct, this book rocks and that person who said that is wrong.
Dr. Anna Fox lives alone in her huge NYC brownstone and spends her time drinking, medicating, watching black and whites, and spying on neighbors. She suffers from agoraphobia, so what else does she have to fill her time, especially since her family is elsewhere? One night, Anna witnesses a murder at one of her neighbors houses. She calls the cops, but when they arrive, there is nothing to see. How could she have mistaken something like that? She knows that she needs to solve this, but how can she do that without leaving the house and with her past hanging over her?
This is one of the times that I really hate that the book is still relatively new and I will not be able to discuss all the twists and turns as I wish.
Anna is very open about her agoraphobia. In a previous life, she was a child psychiatrist, but now she helps other people suffering with agoraphobia on an online help site, The Agora. Despite everything that has happened, although no one knows what happened, she still needs to help people and I really loved that as a character trait. So often you see characters that shut down their old lives and only return to them at the end of the novel when everything is resolved and that feels so overdone that it is nice seeing this happen. Also, yay for talking about your mental health! She not only tells the people on the forum about it, but the few people she does interact with.
Which brings us to the neighbors. On Halloween night, Anna meets Jane Russell, a new neighbor on the block. Jane helps Anna when some punks are egging Anna's house and Anna attempts to do something about it and has a panic attack. Jane is mother to Ethan, a sweet sixteen-year-old boy who Anna thinks might be gay and is scared to come out because of his overbearing father, Alistair. Upon their second meeting, Jane tells Anna that Alistair is very threatening and has a temper. So when Anna sees Jane in the house next door with something silver in her chest and blood pooling around her, it only makes sense that he killed her. But when the police are able to show Anna the real Jane Russell, Anna (and the reader) do not know what to believe. I really was uncertain about the relationship with the Fake Jane and Real Jane. I was thinking more the mistress scorned path, but what she actually is is better.
Now lets talk about the cops because man do I hate them. So you have Officer Little who is anything but little. He is very kind and really cares about what Jane saw and trying to find a way to rationalize the misinformation she has. And then you have his partner, Officer Norelli. I understand that Anna is not the most reliable witness, but Norelli never believes a word that comes out of Anna's mouth and it was really hard for me to get behind this anger Norelli feels towards Anna. I felt that Finn was trying to combine the troupes of good cop/bad cop and female hating female and failed miserably. He needed to wait for Anna to become unreliable if he wanted that to work. But the thing that bothers me the most with both police officers are that there is no way they would do the things they do! When Anna makes the initial call about seeing her neighbor stabbed, presumably by Alistair, the next day the police bring Alistair to her house. Even though they cleared him, it makes no sense that they would do that. In another instance when they are proving that Jane Russell is alive, they bring Jane over. Again, that is not what would happen. And the final nail in the coffin for not believing any of this is Norelli blurts out Anna's secret in front of Alistair and Ethan. That breaches so many confidentiality things and if that happened in real life, Norelli would definitely at least get in trouble for that, if not something more severe.
The plot with Anna's family is beautifully done. When you learn Anna's secret, there is a line from earlier in the novel that makes much more sense and is very heartbreaking. I would include it, but it would give it away.
I really enjoyed this book and trying to figure out where it was going. It is reminiscent of Paula Hawkins and Ruth Ware, but it stands on its own; it is not a knock off as my friend claimed. I know there is some drama behind the author, A.J. Finn. I did not learn about his transgressions until I was researching if he was writing another book, so it did not change my attitude about the book, and it makes me hesitant to read anything further he may publish. I will include a link to The New Yorker article here in case you are interested. But don't let it change your opinion on the book. It is wonderfully written and I think that his lies may have helped him write such an intriguing novel.
Rating: 8/10
Author: A.J. Finn
Genres: Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
Dates Read: October 31-November 1, 2019
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| (Source: Kelsey Darling) |
Content Warning: This book contains themes of abuse, gaslighting, and death.
This is one of the times that I really hate that the book is still relatively new and I will not be able to discuss all the twists and turns as I wish.
Anna is very open about her agoraphobia. In a previous life, she was a child psychiatrist, but now she helps other people suffering with agoraphobia on an online help site, The Agora. Despite everything that has happened, although no one knows what happened, she still needs to help people and I really loved that as a character trait. So often you see characters that shut down their old lives and only return to them at the end of the novel when everything is resolved and that feels so overdone that it is nice seeing this happen. Also, yay for talking about your mental health! She not only tells the people on the forum about it, but the few people she does interact with.
"The Agora welcome screen greets me. I scan the message boards, comb the threads. 3 months stuck in my house. I hear you, Kala88; almost ten months and counting here. Agora dependent on mood? Sounds more like social phobia, EarlyRiser. Or a troubled thyroid. Still can't get a job. Oh, Megan-I know, and I'm sorry. Thanks to Ed, I don't need one, but I miss my patients. I worry about my patients.
A newcomer has emailed me. I direct her to a survival manual I whipped up back in the spring: 'So You Have a Panic Disorder'-I think it sounds agreeably jaunty." (p. 27)
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| (Source: Giphy) |
Now lets talk about the cops because man do I hate them. So you have Officer Little who is anything but little. He is very kind and really cares about what Jane saw and trying to find a way to rationalize the misinformation she has. And then you have his partner, Officer Norelli. I understand that Anna is not the most reliable witness, but Norelli never believes a word that comes out of Anna's mouth and it was really hard for me to get behind this anger Norelli feels towards Anna. I felt that Finn was trying to combine the troupes of good cop/bad cop and female hating female and failed miserably. He needed to wait for Anna to become unreliable if he wanted that to work. But the thing that bothers me the most with both police officers are that there is no way they would do the things they do! When Anna makes the initial call about seeing her neighbor stabbed, presumably by Alistair, the next day the police bring Alistair to her house. Even though they cleared him, it makes no sense that they would do that. In another instance when they are proving that Jane Russell is alive, they bring Jane over. Again, that is not what would happen. And the final nail in the coffin for not believing any of this is Norelli blurts out Anna's secret in front of Alistair and Ethan. That breaches so many confidentiality things and if that happened in real life, Norelli would definitely at least get in trouble for that, if not something more severe.
 |
| (Source: Giphy) |
I really enjoyed this book and trying to figure out where it was going. It is reminiscent of Paula Hawkins and Ruth Ware, but it stands on its own; it is not a knock off as my friend claimed. I know there is some drama behind the author, A.J. Finn. I did not learn about his transgressions until I was researching if he was writing another book, so it did not change my attitude about the book, and it makes me hesitant to read anything further he may publish. I will include a link to The New Yorker article here in case you are interested. But don't let it change your opinion on the book. It is wonderfully written and I think that his lies may have helped him write such an intriguing novel.
 |
| (Source: Giphy) |
Author: A.J. Finn
Genres: Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
Dates Read: October 31-November 1, 2019
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