The Woman in the Window

by A. J. Finn

Overview

The #1 Instant New York Times Bestseller – Soon to be a Major Motion Picture

"Astounding. Thrilling. Amazing." —Gillian Flynn

"Unputdownable." —Stephen King

"A dark, twisty confection." —Ruth Ware

"Absolutely gripping." —Louise Penny

For readers of Gillian Flynn and Tana French comes one of the decade’s most anticipated debuts, published in forty-one languages around the world and 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 isn’t paranoia if it’s really happening . . .

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, mother, their teenaged 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.

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062678423
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	03/05/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	464
Sales rank:	97
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

A. J. Finn has written for numerous publications, including the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and the Times Literary Supplement (UK). A native of New York, Finn lived in England for almost a decade before returning to New York City. His debut novel, The Woman in the Window, has been published in 41 languages worldwide.

Editorial Reviews

Good luck putting down The Woman in the Window.

Good Housekeeping

Astounding. Thrilling. Lovely and amazing....Finn has created a noir for the new millennium, packed with mesmerizing characters, stunning twists, beautiful writing and a narrator with whom I’d love to split a bottle of pinot. Maybe two bottles—I’ve got a lot of questions for her.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Gillian Flynn

The Woman in the Window is one of those rare books that really is unputdownable. The writing is smooth and often remarkable. The way Finn plays off this totally original story against a background of film noir is both delightful and chilling.

Stephen King

Twisted to the power of max. Hitchcockian suspense with a 21st century twist.”

Bestselling author Val McDermid

Compelling, wrenching, and gasp-for-breath exciting―I was blown away.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Joe Hill

A dark, twisty confection with an irresistible film noir premise. Hitchcock would have snapped up the rights in a heartbeat.

New York Times bestselling author Ruth Ware

The Woman in the Window is the most riveting thriller I’ve read since Gone Girl. A. J. Finn is a bold new talent with the touch of a master.

New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen

The rocket fuel propelling The Woman in the Window, the first stratosphere-ready mystery of 2018, is expertise. . . . Dear other books with unreliable narrators: This one will see you and raise you.

New York Times Book Review

Gripping, compelling, and utterly intriguing.

Liz Nugent

The Woman in the Window reads like a classic Hitchcock movie in novel form, in fact I was half expecting a cameo. Dripping with suspense. Creaking with menace. Beautifully written. There’s a lot of buzz around this book and every single bit of it is totally justified.

Simon Toyne

This is a wonderfully dark, elegant thriller, evocative of Hitchcock and classic noir. Tense, twisty and so beautifully written. . . . An absolute one-sitting read.

C. J. Tudor

Full of suspense and surprises and told with heart, The Woman in the Window will send readers racing through its pages. A stunning first outing from A. J. Finn, a tremendous new talent.

Jane Harper

As the plot seizes us, the prose caresses us. . . [Finn] has not only captured, sympathetically, the interior life of a depressed person, but also written a riveting thriller that will keep you guessing to the very last sentence.

Washington Post

The plot is very nearly airtight. . . . Finn never loses touch with the fear and insecurity of a woman who has suffered a great loss and feels alone in the world. . . . it’s not a book that you can easily put down.

Chicago Tribune

 “There’s something irresistible about this made-for-the-movies tingler. Finn knows how to pleasurably wind us up.

USA Today

This is thriller writing of a new order.

Daily Mail (UK)

[A] thrilling debut novel.

Wall Street Journal

[I]nhalable . . . highly enjoyable.

Newsweek

The Woman in the Window is a tour de force. A twisting, twisted odyssey inside one woman’s mind, her illusions, delusions, reality. It left my own mind reeling and my heart pounding. An absolutely gripping thriller.

Louise Penny

Smart, suspenseful and cinematic.

AARP Magazine

A nifty premise. . . pulled off classily.

The Guardian

Part of the pleasure of this kind of book is in observing an effective formula well-executed. And The Woman in the Window executes the formula it’s set out for itself with as much panache as any mad scientist. This is a book you can eat like candy.

Vox

“Woman in the Window is a modern-day Hitchcock film, and it’s just as good… It’s the perfect blend of past and present — just the book for thriller and horror fans, or anyone looking for a book they can’t put down.

Deseret News

Finn’s appreciable humor, remarkable diction and talent for storytelling make The Woman in the Windo  a fly-through read for many as the race to uncover the truth takes a shocking turn.

Daily Mississippian

Utterly addictive… You will read it in one night. It fizzes with excitement.

South Coast Today

The author of this psychological thriller pulls the rug out from under us more than once. If it’s pure escapism you seek in a mystery, The Woman in the Window is just the ticket.

The Missourian

This novel was hard to tear myself away from, the poetic writing almost hypnotic.  This is a book that stays with the reader long after the final page has been finished.

Crimespree Magazine

What debut novelist A. J. Finn does with The Woman in the Window is remarkable. He’s created a breathless, stunning twist-and-turn plot that cleverly relies on familiar scenarios, most of the Hitchcock kind, and builds the Hitchcock references into his own story.

WSHU Public Radio

[A]n edgy, intoxicating debut thriller… Already optioned to the movies, this book is a runaway bestseller – once you start it, you’re not likely to get a good night’s sleep!

Lansing State Journal

This book defies description. After grabbing the reader’s attention with the first sentence, Finn does not let go until the very last syllable.

Courier-Times

The surprise twists will keep you on edge and you won’t regret any loss of sleep.

Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star

Smart, suspenseful and cinematic

Houston Chronicle

Masterfully plotted and vividly told, THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW draws readers into the maze-like mind of a very solitary woman, and unravels the external circumstances that have made her who she is. Entrancing, immersive, and unsettling.

Crime By the Book

An astounding debut from a truly talented writer.

Booklist (starred review)

Gripping and mesmerizing.

RT Book Reviews

The twists in this book are praiseworthy and the writing is a delight.

Wicked Local North Shore Notes

Superior.

New Yorker

Superior.

The New Yorker

The Woman in the Window is a tour de force. A twisting, twisted odyssey inside one woman’s mind, her illusions, delusions, reality. It left my own mind reeling and my heart pounding. An absolutely gripping thriller.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny

The rocket fuel propelling The Woman in the Window, the first stratosphere-ready mystery of 2018, is expertise. Its author is…a longtime editor of mystery fiction. He is well versed in the tricks of the trade…[and] clearly knows a lot about the more diabolical elements in Hitchcock movies…At heart, this is a locked-room mystery in the great Christie tradition…Once the book gets going, it excels at planting misconceptions everywhere. You cannot trust anything you read…A book that's as devious as this novel will delight anyone who's been disappointed too often.

The New York Times - Janet Maslin

A damsel in distress can be a poor narrator. How to convey the magnitude of her troubles without letting her descend into irritating self-pity? Finn tackles this contradiction brilliantly, especially given his agoraphobic heroine's situation. Anna Fox is confiding and breezy, but not brittle. The conversations presented here as amusing really do amuse. Yet the fear is always there…The Woman in the Window seems like a freshly warped version of an old mystery play, with its repeated entrances and exits on a single stage.

The New York Times Book Review - Jacqueline Carey

11/06/2017
Child psychologist Anna Fox, the unreliable narrator of Finn’s gripping first novel, lives out one of the classic films that she loves so well—Hitchcock’s Rear Window. In this modern update, the agoraphobic Anna hasn’t left her Manhattan townhouse in more than 11 months. When she’s not observing the neighbors and photographing them with her digital camera, she’s watching movies, playing chess, and counseling other agoraphobics via an online forum. Then her obsession with the new family across the park begins to take over. When Anna witnesses a stabbing in their house, no one believes what she saw is real—and it’s entirely possible that Anna shouldn’t believe it herself. The secrets of Anna’s past and the uncertain present are revealed slowly in genuinely surprising twists. And, while the language is at times too clever for its own good, readers will eagerly turn the pages to see how it all turns out. This highly anticipated debut has already received endorsements from such notables as Gillian Flynn and Louise Penny. Agent: Jennifer Joel, ICM Partners. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

Twisted to the power of max. Hitchcockian suspense with a 21st century twist.”

Val McDermid

The Woman in the Window is a tour de force. A twisting, twisted odyssey inside one woman’s mind, her illusions, delusions, reality. It left my own mind reeling and my heart pounding. An absolutely gripping thriller.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny 

Twisted to the power of max. Hitchcockian suspense with a 21st century twist.”

bestselling author Val McDermid

08/01/2017
A much-bruited Frankfort title, buzzing even before BookExpo opened, sold to 35 countries, and in development as a Fox film, Finn's white-knuckler defines the term hot debut. Its heroine, the reclusive Anna Fox, hides away in her New York apartment tippling wine, watching old movies, and looking out the window, most recently at the husband, wife, and teenage son who just moved in across the way. Then she sees—or thinks she sees—something shocking, and what follows has wracked nerves enough to merit Gone Girl/Girl on the Train comparisons. With a 200,000-copy first printing.

Library Journal

2017-10-10
A lonely woman in New York spends her days guzzling merlot, popping pills, and spying on the neighbors—until something she sees sucks her into a vortex of terror."The Miller home across the street—abandon hope, all ye who enter here—is one of five townhouses that I can survey from the south-facing windows of my own." A new family is moving in on her Harlem street, and Dr. Anna Fox already knows their names, employment histories, how much they paid for their house, and anything else you can find out using a search engine. Following a mysterious accident, Anna is suffering from agoraphobia so severe that she hasn't left her house in months. She speaks to her husband and daughter on the phone—they've moved out because "the doctors say too much contact isn't healthy"—and conducts her relationships with her neighbors wholly through the zoom lens of her Nikon D5500. As she explains to fellow sufferers in her online support group, food and medication (not to mention cases of wine) can be delivered to your door; your housecleaner can take out the trash. Anna's psychiatrist and physical therapist make house calls; a tenant in her basement pinch-hits as a handyman. To fight boredom, she's got online chess and a huge collection of DVDs; she has most of Hitchcock memorized. Both the game of chess and noir movie plots—Rear Window, in particular—will become spookily apt metaphors for the events that unfold when the teenage son of her new neighbors knocks on her door to deliver a gift from his mother. Not long after, his mother herself shows up…and then Anna witnesses something almost too shocking to be real happening in their living room. Boredom won't be a problem any longer.Crackling with tension, and the sound of pages turning, as twist after twist sweeps away each hypothesis you come up with about what happened in Anna's past and what fresh hell is unfolding now.

Kirkus Reviews

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