Yet another thriller coming on the heels of Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train, and so many countless others. Even the title of the book – The Woman in the Window seems like a me too. But I am a sucker for a thriller, and when I saw this in the library, I picked it up knowing that at the minimum it would offer me a couple of hours of forgettable entertainment.
And I was right. Although there was a lot of hype for this book, I am not sure it deserves it. It entertained me all right, but now while writing the review, I am hard put to find something meaningful to write about the book.
Still I mean to try.
About the Book
Anna Fox lives alone—a 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, a mother, their teenage son. The perfect family. But when Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn’t, her world begins to crumble—and its shocking secrets are laid bare.
~ Synopsis from goodreads
My Review
I think I would have liked this book a lot better if I hadn’t read The Girl on the Train. In my opinion, this book borrows a bit too many elements from that book. I read this book throughout feeling a faint sense of déjà vu – a feeling like this book just rehashed that plot just making a few changes here and there.
In this book, our heroine Anna Fox is agoraphobic (scared of open places). She spends her day drinking and watching people living in the neighboring house. If you’ve read The Girl on the Train, this plot point will feel all too familiar to you. She’s estranged from her husband and child (again familiar plot point), and drinking herself to oblivion (again not new).
This book also has a faint whiff of that classic Hitchcock movie – Rear Window. This is played up pretty well though. Anna is obsessed with classic thriller movies. These offer interesting parallels with her reality and also provide a creepy atmosphere for the book.
When she sees a crime committed, she notifies the police. But of course being a drunk, and confusing she’s not the most reliable witness. Like any good thriller heroine, she starts to investigate the crime on her own.
Regarding the mystery itself, I found it pretty tame. I didn’t think the plot or the people particularly chilling. Even more sad, I could see all the twists coming way before they actually happened.
Overall, it was a decent psychological thriller – well written and decently plotted. However, it wasn’t quite ground-breaking enough for me. Rather, it felt a little like a paint by numbers kind of book.
Have you read this book? What did you think of it?
