What a thrilling ride!

This was an anxiety driven psychological thriller which had me holding my breath at times. The main character, Anna Fox suffered from a major trauma 10 months previously and as a result has become agoraphobic and unable to leave her house. She is separated from her husband and child and is not coping well, drinking too much and not keeping tabs on what drugs she has taken. Her physiotherapist and psychiatrist come to see her at home and she can longer go out to work as a child psychiatrist. Instead she plays online chess, learns French online and participates in giving advice on an online website for agoraphobics. She also loves to watch old black and white movies particularly those directed by Hitchcock as alluded to by the cover and title of the book. She also likes to watch her neighbours and her own life takes on a Hitchcockian flavour when she sees a violent crime committed through her window.

With Anna as an unreliable narrator through drinking way too much and unable to leave her house it’s difficult for her to get the police to believe that a crime occurred and she begins to question herself. Strange things continue to happen to Anna and she begins to wonder who she can trust. I felt the suspense lost a little bit of momentum in the middle of the novel but the fear and tension ramped up towards the end and the final twist in the ending was unexpected (at least by this reader). I can definitely see this as a dark and suspenseful Hitchcock black and white movie.

This is an incredibly scary thriller that had my heart racing!
A woman, Anna Fox, a psychologist with a PhD, suffers from acrophobia and hasn’t left her house for over 10 months. Her tale is sad and her condition isn’t helped by her excessive drinking of Merlot in combination with a range of medications. She is the narrator of this terrifying story that has many twists and turns that the reader becomes as dizzy and overwhelmed as her. Is she really deluded??? Yes and No and Maybe are all correct. Her ordinary neighbourhood takes on the feel of the black and white horror films directed by Hitchcock that she is constantly watching - is what is happening a movie or real life?
I was spell bound by this novel. Slowly, bit by bit, the story unfolds and we are drip fed tit bits of information that helps us to understand what is going on; and just when you think you’ve got it..... you haven’t!!!
A great read and highly recommended.

Anna Fox suffers from Agoraphobia, a condition which essentially means she can't leave the confines of her home without suffering a sever panic attack or dose of anxiety. The traumatic event which crippled Anna is a mystery that slowly unravels in spectacular fashion as the novel progresses. To pass time, she watches (spies on) her neighbors, often making up stories to accompany their comings and goings, between this, online chess, and watching black and white film noir, she spends her time online counselling her fellow sufferers on message boards/forums. It's a unique existence she's managed to eek out from the ashes of her former life and one that's largely kept her sane. Until she witnesses a murder across the street.

The Woman in the Window is subtle suspense with ever lurking danger omnipresent; it's a case of reading and waiting for the sand to run out. Anna's life on the surface is normal within context, however the picture soon looks fractured; the pieces don't fit the puzzle. When the murder and her own personal trauma collide, the result is plotting perfected.

Anna for her part is an interesting character who has flaws but is still endearing. Author A.J. Finn makes her pop off the page and read 'real'. Her home, integral to the story, reads as a character in its own right and provides the reader a well defined imagery of Anna's world and those that frequent it - invited and un alike.

My rating: 4/5 stars. This is a great book for those who enjoy character centric novels and has the added bonus of paying homage to classic film noir.

For the last 10 months Anna Fox has become a recluse in her own home.
She has her food, medications and most importantly... wine delivered. She previously worked as a child psychologist but now she spends her days advising on an agoraphobia forum called ‘Agora’, playing online chess and watching old black and white movies.
Right from the beginning there are hints afloat. We know that Anna likes to watch her neighbours, she drinks a bit too much and mixes her medications. She also has a husband called Ed and daughter called Olivia.

I must admit for the first half of the book I really wasn’t sure of the direction the story was going to take me. Once Anna has witnessed the ‘incident’ with her neighbour Jane, the story just rocketed along. I silently cheered her on as she tried to grasp the idea of what she saw and work out what happened to Jane....or was she going mad.
With a time frame over 3 weeks, the short sharp chapters made for easy reading and especially a case of ‘one more chapter’ became evident for me. I really enjoyed this book and it certainly kept me guessing, right to the very end.

There are three things I expect from a good psychological thriller: 1) it needs to mess with my mind; 2) it needs to mess with my mind; and 3) it needs to MESS WITH MY MIND! The Woman in the Window delivered that in spades, constantly making me question what was going on. Anna really is the perfect protagonist for a psychological thriller. Afflicted with a mental illness that makes her confined to her house, she is also taking a cocktail of heavy psychotropic drugs she washes down with copious amounts of alcohol. How could she possibly be a reliable narrator? I love nothing more than a protagonist I can sympathise with but one whose perception of reality I need to question constantly. Has Anna really witnessed a crime, or is she simply hallucinating? Truth or lie, reality or fabrication - the images swirled together in a crazy caleidoscope of unanswered questions that made me feel like I had indulged in a few of Anna's medications myself! At times the story drove me crazy with wanting to know if my hunches were right, and made me read until the early morning hours until I finally got my answers. Just a word of advice: pick up this book with plenty of time to spare, or you will suffer sleep deprivation!

Apart from an exquisitely unreliable narrator, there is the writing – oh, how I loved the writing! It is no accident that Anna is a lover of black and white Hitchcockian movies, because the story followed very much along those lines. Here we have a claustrophobic setting, a disturbed main protagonist and several suspects who might or might not pose a danger to Anna. The whole setting features a mere block of houses, and stars only a small cast of characters, but this story packs a punch! Have I mentioned that it messed with my mind? A few die-hard psychological thriller fans may guess some elements of the plot (as I did), but don't despair, there are plenty of other surprises in store. Also be aware that the book starts of slowly, cleverly setting the scene, which is essential for the plot to work. Soon you will be caught up like a spider in its web, suspecting each and every character, even Anna herself!

I am happy to end 2017 with a book that was one of the best psychological thrillers I have read in a long time. To say I loved it is an understatement. It was EXACTLY what I look for in a psychological thriller, containing all the right elements and presenting them in a way that was simply irresistible. Sometimes you know after a mere few pages that the book is going to work for you – the writing style, the voice, the characters. I am very happy I stumbled across this gem on Netgalley – what a fitting finale to my 2017 reading journey.

I very much recommend The Woman in the Window to all lovers of the genre – let its black-and-white kaleidoscope of secrets seduce and confuse you.