Anna Fox is a child psychologist with a husband named Ed and a daughter named Olivia. She is also an agoraphobic due to a traumatic event in her recent past. Ed and Olivia do not live with her, but she talks to them on the phone every day. They are waiting for her to get well.
Since Anna cannot bring herself to leave her house, she has an online world in playing chess as well as giving psychological advice in a private chatroom online. But her main past time is watching her neighbors through a high-powered camera lens. She knows all sorts of things about her neighbors, but she does not really talk to them. That all changes when the new neighbors move in right across the street.
The Russells are made up of the husband, wife, and teenage son. One day, the mother and son are sitting outside talking when Anna is spotted by them as she peers out of her window. Soon after, her doorbell rings and she is a little surprised to find Jane Russell on her doorstep. Happily, the two women bond quickly, and spend nearly three hours talking and getting acquainted. When Jane leaves, Anna feels that she has found a friend.
She tells Ed all about her new friend when she makes her nightly phone call to him and Olivia. The new friendship, sadly, does not last long. One night, soon after their night together, Anna witnesses something horrible in the Russell's house. She knows what she saw but no one will believe her. It seems that it is up to Anna to make sure that Jane gets justice. How is she going to do that, though, when she cannot even leave her home?
All I can say about THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW is WOW! This is not a book that is going to leave you any bread crumbs to follow. Anna is a fully created character and I felt her pain, desperation, and sadness as if they were my own. Things move rather slowly as to set the stage for the brain twisting events that are yet to come, but there is always something waiting just around the next corner.
THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW has a little bit of all of us in the character of Anna. Her life could be anyone's at any time. Things happened to Anna that cause her to live the life of a high functioning alcoholic, downing multiple bottles of wine daily, along with several anti-psychotic medications. This deep depression is not something that anyone can fight easily especially when it is brought about by such a horrific event as what happened to her.
If you want a book that will keep you on the edge of your seat while you try to figure out what exactly is happening, THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW by A.J. Finn will definitely fill the bill. Nothing is what you think it is and that is all you need to know until you reach that final page.
For readers of Gillian Flynn and Tana French comes one of
the decadeβs 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
Hitchcockian thriller about an agoraphobic woman who
believes she witnessed a crime in a neighboring house.
It isnβt paranoia if itβs really happening . . .
Anna Fox lives aloneβa 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 shouldnβt, 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
oneβand nothingβis 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.
No excerpt available.
© 2003-2026