Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - The Woman in the Window

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

mushroom_princess's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This is my favorite book of all time. I literally couldn’t put it down. I love how the main character is written and the plot twists are sooo unexpected. The suspense killed me sometimes. I wouldn’t change anything about this book and I encourage everyone to read it.

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readinghavoc's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.25

This book was such a letdown. The concept is so interesting but it takes ~250 pages for anything worthwhile to happen. I feel like the author relied heavily on cheap thrills and shock value (I'm still annoyed that the whole opening is spent setting the scene for a story we never get the rest of. It was fine? I passively enjoyed it? But I think it really wasted its potential. Unreliable narrators can be so fun, but this story felt like the goalposts were constantly moving (not a perfect metaphor, but it captures the feeling). The family being dead was a great shock, and I thought it would be the turning point that redeemed the story, but the constant twists after that just felt really cheap, and the writing on Ethan at the end was so unbelievable that it just took me out of the book entirely. This was 3.5 stars before that. I don't understand what I was meant to walk away from this story with. There was no genuine satisfaction. I wouldn't recommend reading it, it's really nothing special and there are much better books to spend your time on.

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hailhail's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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