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Loading... The Woman in the Window (2018)by A.J. Finn (Pseudonym), Daniel Mallory (Author)
![]() Books Read in 2019 (16) » 13 more Female Protagonist (316) Unreliable Narrators (78) Books Read in 2017 (2,104) First Novels (169) 2010s (129) Protagonists - Women (26) No current Talk conversations about this book. ![]() ![]() I could not put this book down. While there weren't many "twists," it was was still an easy story to stay invested in because Finn wrote a main character that was easy to connect with despite the awful things that happened to her and all she was going through throughout the story. This book is definitely in my top 3 for psychological thrillers. Not a fan of men writing women, but it wasn't horribly done. Kinda feels like a fever dream because AJ Finn tries so hard to not reveal certain details, and in doing so, also removes a lot of the details that make a story understandable. The whole thing feels very convoluted. I know the idea of "people don't know what genre they're a part of" to explain why characters in horrors and thrillers don't take certain precautions. But there are two things, 1. The protagonist is a woman. And as a woman, she will be aware of her safety. Because Anna Fox is written as a man, she doesn't take the same precautions most woman in America would. 2. When she is sure someone was murdered next door, why does she not change anything for her own safety? Why not when she knows someone broke into her house? Why does a single woman living alone not have an alarm? And how is you-should-know-who getting into her house? Hailed as “The biggest thriller of 2018” and “The next Girl on the Train” I feel a bit late to the party with this book which was published way back in January, so I’m only 6 months late!! I managed to stay away from reading any reviews so I didn’t see any spoilers and with the statements made about the book from authors such as Stephen King, Gillian Flynn and Ruth Ware plus the proclamation of being the biggest thriller this year, that is a serious amount to live up to for anyone, Especially a debut novel! So even though it has taken me six months to get around to reading it (even though I purchased it on release day!) I was really looking forward to reading it and now in hindsight I think maybe I had too higher hopes and expectations for this book and that is why it fell slightly flat for me 😦 I almost gave up on it more than once, I found the beginning very slow and it just didn’t managed to grab and keep my attention so it took me a few days to reach the half way mark. I really don’t like giving up on a book so I’m glad my stubbornness kept me going as the second half of the book is so much better and it ends much better than it starts! The ‘massive twist’ is pretty obvious from early on which was a big disappointment, but there is a good ‘twist’ at the end that made the book for me. Obviously I can’t say much else on that without spoilers and I wouldn’t want to do that to anyone and spoil the surprise! So all in all, was it as good as the hype? Sadly No. Was it worth a read? Definitely Yes. Would I recommend this book to others? Hell Yeah! It might not be “THE” biggest thriller of the year but it will be 1 of the higher rankings come the end of the year. I am glad I read it and I look forward to watching the film adaptation when it is out. And I have a feeling that in this instance the film may well end up being better than the book! But make sure you read this book BEFORE watching the film!!!
The Woman in the Window (Morrow), a highly successful début novel by the pseudonymous A. J. Finn (thirty-eight-year-old Daniel Mallory, a former editor at Morrow), is a superior example of a subset of recent thrillers featuring “unreliable” female protagonists who, despite their considerable handicaps—which may involve alcoholism, drug addiction, paranoia, and even psychosis—manage to persevere and solve mysteries where others have failed. Its title evokes such best-sellers as The Girl on the Train and The Woman in Cabin 10, not to mention Gone Girl (in which the titular girl is the contriver of the mystery), while its frame of reference involves classic American noir films: Gaslight, Vertigo, Strangers on a Train, Wait Until Dark, Sudden Fear, Rope, and, most explicitly, Rear Window. Indeed, although the protagonist of The Woman in the Window, a thirty-nine-year-old child psychologist named Anna Fox, is wryly self-aware, her mode of narration resembles a film script. ... A.J. Finn turns out to be the nom de plume for Daniel Mallory, an executive editor at Morrow, the book's publisher, with a special interest in mysteries and film noir. The Woman in the Window is his tribute to both genres and, let me say outright, he does them credit.... What this is is an intelligent, carefully constructed novel of psychological suspense that focuses on a single character whose moods, secrets and fears drive the plot. It's here, in that slow buildup, that Finn/Mallory shows his real talent. He's much more in tune with the intense characters of Minette Walters or Frances Fyfield.... Aside from a visit from a neighbourhood child whose family she's been watching, nothing much happens for more than 100 pages. I confess, I put the book down and might not have gone back but for this review. Other readers may do the same. Please slog on, there is a reason here.
"It isn't paranoia if it's really happening ... Anna Fox lives alone -- a recluse in her New York City home, drinking too much wine, watching old movies ... and spying on her neighbors. Then the Russells move next door: a father, a mother, their teenaged son. The perfect family. But when Anna sees something she shouldn't, 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 gripping Hitchcockian thriller, no one and nothing are what they seem."-- No library descriptions found.
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![]() GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:![]()
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