Book Review: The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

Title: The Woman in the Window
Author: A.J. Finn
Series: None
Published: January 2018
Publisher: William Morrow
Pages: 429
From: Wal-Mart
Rating: 8/10

A book about a woman who locks herself in her home for an extended period of time, spies on her neighbors, and sees something she is unsure of? This sounded like my kind of book! I love narrators who may or may not be reliable, and something that may have been misconstrued, which leads to an adventure of epic proportions for the normal people of a normal neighborhood.

Thus, The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn was perfect. It really hit all those check marks: hermit in a normal neighborhood, a normal neighborhood, a normal looking family across the way from the hermit, spying, lots of wine. I think this essentially covers it. The Woman in the Window takes place in the home of Anna Fox, a former therapist of sorts who, for one reason or another, refuses to leave her home. She locks herself away and spies on the neighbors. Then, one day, she sees a new family moves in across the way and meets the wife of the couple, and a bond is struck. But then, she meets the wife and it is not the same woman. And Anna does not know what to do.

I really enjoyed this novel. It was fun, interesting, and had some quirky twists and turns that I both saw coming and completely was dumbfounded when I hit them. I feel like it is becoming a cliche having a main character who is drunk all the time (see Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train and Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects), but I felt it didn’t take away from the story at all.

The ending really did surprise me, and I was glad of that. Though, I did feel it took awhile to get there, and that there were not enough events leading up to the climactic moment. It was almost as if there was a lot of flowery language, lots of talk about old movies (which was relevant but still), and a couple of clues as to what was going on. But, there was not enough action for my taste. It was fun and thrilling, but there just was not enough of that fun thrilling stuff.

Overall though, I really enjoyed it. It entertained from page 1, which makes it successful in my book.

To buy A.J. Finn’s debut novel The Woman in the Window, visit any online or brick and mortar bookstore.