Reviews with content warning for Addiction - The Woman in the Window

I rather liked this book when I first read it. As someone that doesn’t read psychological thrillers often, I was surprised by all the plot twists and honestly, didn’t even realize that the narrator was unreliable. Or more accurately, I realized partway through but didn’t realize that was the word you could describe Anna Fox with.

The writing was descriptive, which I prefer, however I agree with other reviews saying this book could have been 100 pages less and still worked/ been even better.

After reading, I looked at reviews and searched up the author, and just - wow. Yeah, I do not support him at all. I know that he probably shouldn’t affect the way that I view the book, but he does. What a terrible guy.

The only character I really liked at all was Ethan, and then the end happened, and umm, nevermind. I was also pretty bothered by the narrator and her constant alcohol consumption and lying to her doctor. She’s not supposed to be having her pills with alcohol, but she keeps doing it and then lies to her doctor about it. And like another review pointed out, everyone being there for her interview with the police was really unprofessional and didn’t make any sense.

All-in-all, it was good for what it was, but nowhere near the best psychological thriller I have read/ will read. If I had known anything about the movies that the protagonist was watching, I would have 100% been able to predict the plot.

Content Warnings

frantically's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

is it really a thriller if the ending doesn't make any sense and wasn't hinted at whatsoever

Content Warnings

keijiwolf's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

zoemain's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

The plot twists were phenomenal… but was it worth how slow the book was? I kid you not, only 4-5 events take place in this book and the first one is on page 126. Up until then, and between each event, the book was so dire. It was simply Anna drinking wine, having the most bland conversations, exercising, watching movies and playing chess for about 75% of the book.

A couple other things I didn’t like: the constant movie quoting, the huge deal that was made out of an earring on David’s (Anna’s tenant) nightstand that ended up being forgotten about and having no meaning, Anna being rude and suspicious of David when it was uncalled for, how slowly Anna took action, how Anna didn’t check her photos for evidence sooner and how Anna’s agoraphobia seemed to turn off every time it was be convenient for the author for her to go outside. Oh, and the dramatic, far-fetched fight at the end of the novel was ridiculous.

I can put all of the previous paragraph’s listed annoyances aside, but I won’t recommend this to a friend solely because of the snail pacing.

Content Warnings