The Woman in the Window Hardcover – 2 January 2018

Addictive

Compré el libro porque vi que había una película protagonizada por Amy Adams basada en este libro, y me llevé una sorpresa. Desde el comienzo te atrapa y llegas a encariñarte mucho con la protagonista y los giros en la trama son espectaculares.

Synopsis:The book is about Anna Fox who is the narrator, she is a child psychologist but she herself is going through Agoraphobia which means she can’t leave the house. She lives alone. She is afraid of the outer world. She observes the world and the neighbourhood from her home’s window. One day she witnesses a murder. Will anyone believe her because she is just an alcoholic consuming too much medicines and an alone agoraphobic.Review:My thoughts? TOTALLY LOVED IT. It’s a fast paced read. This is the best book I have read till now. I love how the characters are developed and how the story turns out to be. Totally loved the plot. Its an amazing book guys. Very well thought and written. If you like psychological thrillers , this is your buddy!!!❤️

Anna Fox lives alone with her cat named Punch in a large house in New York City. She has not been outside for the last ten months. You see, she suffers with Agoraphobia, since a traumatic incident occurred. She spends her time watching black and white Alfred Hitchcock movies, counselling clients online with the same problem and looking out the window and spying on her neighbours with her telescopic camera lens.She is advised to get a tenant to live in the basement to help her if she needs something done. His name is David. Anna has a Ph.D. in psychology. She sees a psychiatrist, Dr. Julian Fielding, regularly and he has added psychotropics, eg. Xanax, Ativan, Prozac, Zoloft, to name a few, to her medications and warns her not to take them with alcohol. She also sees a therapist, who makes home visits once a week. Anna is a boozer. Her preference is Merlot, which she drinks heavily and mixes with her medications. She was warned not to do that and pays no attention.Anna knows everything going on with her neighbours. One day, new neighbours move in across the road. They are the Russells. There is Alistair, his wife Jane and his son named Ethan. Ethan comes over to Anna and gives her a candle as a neighbourly gesture from his family. He and Anna soon become friends.One night, Anna is looking out the window and sees something she shouldn't. She calls the police and then, decides she'll go out to help. She has not been outside for ten months, but she opens the door and does her paced breathing 1-2-3-4 and goes outside with difficulty. She has been drinking and passes out. She is helped up by a Police Officer and brought to her home. She tries to tell the Officer what she thinks she saw, but she is so full of booze mixed with medications that who could believe her? Is she imagining things?What masterful writing! A. J. Finn has written a gasp-for-breath psychological thriller, which is filled with mezmerizing characters, stunning twists and is totally original.This has got to be my favourite book of the year. It is that good. The Woman in the Window is a must read and not to be missed.I highly recommend it and give it 5+ stars.

Great thriller with an unexpected twist at the end. A real page turner. Read in two days! I recommend the book to anyone who loves a good thriller

Well this was an impressive read. An engaging premise, a strong protagonist with which the reader empathises with from the start and a story that is intense, full of suspense, confusion, terror and fear. The book has a midway twist that rivals "I Let You Go", scenes that could be straight out of a Hitchcock film and echoes of "The Girl on the Train". It takes unreliable narrator to a completely new level and the main character's emotional journey is one of such psychological depth it's impossible not become immersed in her plight.The protagonist, Anna Fox, hasn't left her home in ten months. Suffering from acute agoraphobia, she has become trapped inside her New York house, wandering amongst the dark rooms like some kind of ghost or unfocused blur in a camera frame. She watches the world from her window - or more importantly, she watches her neighbours. She has a camera and she takes pictures to help her remember what she's seeing. When a new family, the Russells, move in opposite Anna becomes fascinated by them. She watches the mother, the father and the son. A perfect family. It's a painful reminder of how broken her own family has become and the husband and daughter from whom she is separated while she 'fixes' herself.But while she watches the Russells, Anna begins to see that things aren't as perfect as they seem. One night there is a scream. And then she witnesses something terrifying.What follows is a gripping tale of fear, intimidation, suspense and tension.The writing in The Woman in the Window is very captivating. The atmosphere is oppressive and the sense of confinement and Anna's powerlessness to leave the house are vividly conveyed. This cleverly mirrors the prison Anna has built for herself emotionally and as the story continues, this more psychological entrapment is explored more fully and with accomplished prose. A J Finn has such a sound understanding of pace, maintaining tension throughout the novel. He balances flashbacks, scenes from the present day, dialogue and moments of intense drama perfectly. The writing is fluent, flawless and effortless. The key scene depicting what Anna sees from her window is delivered with such acute attention to detail and with such an impeccable sense of pace, its effect is breathtaking.Anna Fox is a very engaging and well constructed character. Her voice is strong and the reader becomes very attached to her from the outset. We see that she's flawed and complicated but this makes her more fascinating and more appealing. We see that she is broken but her fear of leaving the house is so palpable and so vividly captured it is impossible not to become caught up in her plight. We also see her interaction with her husband and daughter on the phone, revealing her vulnerable side which helps create understanding and empathy. The reader wants Anna to find her own family again and to overcome her debilitating illness. The reader wants to see her overcome her fears, confront her issues and most importantly, solve the mystery she saw through the window. The reader wants people to believe Anna and to help her see justice served to the anonymous perpetrator.Anna drinks too much. She takes too many prescription pills. But we still stay with her and even though we might begin to question her reliability, ultimately we still want to believe her. It's an interesting position to put the reader in and one that is very well executed.The most powerful moment in this novel is when suddenly, with one short revelation, everything changes. Nothing is what it seems anymore. When a writer creates this huge 'twist' successfully, there is no beating the excitement that generates for the reader. With this new information, the novel shifts from being a thriller - or a murder mystery - into something much more psychological. We know Anna drinks too much. We know she messes around with her medication. But had we considered just how unreliable or deluded she was as a narrator? I loved how the novel then plunged into something more intense, internal and dark.As Anna has to reassess everything she thought to be the truth, the reader also proceeds with more caution. There is a definite change in gear and the author seeps the story in confusion and complication. The writing captures the atmosphere of muddled thoughts, drunken daydreams, the blur between reality and the imagined, what Anna knows she has seen and done and what she's told herself she has seen and done. But never is the reader lost, nor are the main issues and threads of the storyline. The blend of thriller, domestic noir and psychological madness are blended with perfection and the result is gripping.I've probably said too much already and I am verging on revealing something that will spoil the book for others, but I have to say that this book is unforgettable and a real roller coaster of a read. It's sophisticated and yet very readable. It's so absorbing that it's as impossible to put the book down as it is for Anna to leave the house. The author takes a simple 'what if' moment and then tackles a range of challenging and emotive issues such as mental health, families, love and grief; all the while maintaining a high level of thrills and chills at every possible moment.There are influences of the gothic and the ghostly in this novel. There are influences from the classics and the contemporary. If you like Holly Seddon, Sarah Waters and Clare MacIntosh you will love this book. I am not surprised film rights have been sold as it is so visual and so vivid, so ominous, so chilling and so captivating. I will be first in the queue to watch it at the cinema and first in the queue for this author's next book!Fantastic premise, captivating characters and a plot line that will twirl you up in knots and wring you out. I loved it.