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The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn is one of those books with so much buzz that you have to read it. The story is described as a twisty, powerful Hitchcockian thriller about an agoraphobic woman who believes she witnessed a crime in a neighboring house. Sign me up for this one.
Right away, this sounds like the Hitchcock movie, Rear Window, starring Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelley. I went through a phase in high school where I watched plenty of old movies so it’s been a long time since I’ve watched it so don’t remember much other than the premise. That one is about a newspaper photographer with a broken leg passing time recuperating by observing his neighbors through his window and believes he sees a murder.
Let’s check the synopsis for The Woman in the Window:
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.
What is real? What is imagined? Who is in danger? Who is in control? In this diabolically gripping thriller, no one—and nothing—is what it seems.
So, this sounds a bit Rear Window and also some The Girl on the Train.
The Woman in the Window has been optioned for a movie and will star Amy Adams as Anna and Juliana Moore will play the mother of the boy who moves across the street, according to the The Hollywood Reporter.
Interestingly, A.J. Finn is a pseudonym. The real author’s name is Daniel Mallory and he’s a book editor. There was a bidding war for his book and most assumed the author was a female, The New York Times reports. Here’s what he said about why he chose A.J. Finn:
Mr. Mallory had always planned to submit the manuscript under a pseudonym, which is a mash-up of his cousin’s name, Alice Jane, plus the name of another family member’s French bulldog.
“I felt it would be disconcerting for my authors to wander into a bookshop and see their editor’s name written large across a hardback,” he said.
Check back soon for a review!
