Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

9 reviews

shaleen64's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This book is really well paced, the short chapters keep you engaged and the writing style is easy to follow. Whilst I would argue one of the main twists was fairly easy to guess (if you read thrillers regularly) I did not see the ending coming and for that reason did not feel disappointed. It’s a thriller worth the read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Gaslighting, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Murder, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Medical trauma

Minor: Infertility and Stalking

callistabanks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book was actually really good. There were a couple of twists, I saw a few of them coming, but the end one got me good. I did not expect that ending at all. It was a wild ride and I loved having it come from the perspective of Anna, she seemed a tad unreliable because of the pills and the alcohol but it made it super interesting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Car accident, Alcohol, Violence, Alcoholism, and Addiction

Moderate: Child death, Medical trauma, Drug use, Stalking, Grief, Drug abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, and Infidelity

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Suicide

arcy's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad fast-paced

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

3.75

This book is expected and the plot is familiar, but the idea of the story is unique. The plot twist is cool and the character development too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Murder, and Physical abuse

vulpex's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

Some may find this book to be stereotypical of the genre, but I don't think it was that bad of a story. The narrator is unreliable, which I like, and the main character goes through a lot of relly challenging things that she must come to terms with before she must face the consequences of her own actions. I like this book, but disliked the fact that there was no real closure. The book is like 400 pages, all taking place in a span of two weeks? or so, yet after the finale, it jumps 6 weeks and no much is really said about the events leading up to the ending. There was abit of foreshadowing, throwing lovable characters under the bus, praising not so great ones, etc but I still enjoyed the read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Medical trauma, Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

lhodgson26's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This book gave me serious girl on the Train vibes with the women seeing a brutal murder from the window and no one believing it happened. I did guess from early on that Olivia and Ed had died and that Anna was in denial with their deaths so continued to speak to them. But mystery of what happened leading to the agrophobia along with the mystery of the women in the window had be transfixed. As even Anna was doubting herself and the amount of alcohol and drugs consumed did not help. The plot twist at the end was great with Ethan being a psychopath and stalking her after killing his birth mum and pretending to be the grandma with Agrophobia. A really good thriller and ill definetly watch the film. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, and Stalking

konstantina's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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

3.75

An excellent example of a well written psychological thriller.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Car accident, Chronic illness, Death, Grief, Medical trauma, and Mental illness

Moderate: Alcohol, Child death, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Medical content, and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Stalking, and Torture

amiexoh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This book was so gripping I couldn't put it down. I loved the mystery of the story, and especially loved how the things the protagonist was dealing with were very well researched and dealt with in a sensitive and informative manner. The book also has a great dry humour about it, which made it even better to read, and really allows the reader to feel like they are truly understanding and witnessing Anna's POV and character. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Car accident, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Blood, Child death, Death of parent, Infidelity, and Gaslighting

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Forced institutionalization

pastry's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.0

Oh, this is the kind of unreliable narrator I LIVE for. I did guess some of the twists, but not the big one at the end, and it was all so well done and so well done executed, I am amazed, wow.

Edit from 9.08.2021: I actually read up a little bit on the author, and he doesn't seem to be the greatest dude, which has left me with a bitter taste in my mouth whenever I think about this book now. And, as often happens with me, in further hindsight, I'm not as amazed by it anymore - it's a good book for sure, but I don't know if we can really class the narrator as unreliable, at least I can't. By the simple premise of the book you can pretty much guess from the start that what Anna witnesses did actually happen and she didn't imagine it - I never really doubted her, it was just a question of how exactly it all went down. So yeah, changing my rating again, as I often do. Oh well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Grief

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Car accident, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Stalking, and Violence

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, and Medical content

a_robin_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Information:

• Library book & Storytel audiobook
• Choose your own adventure challenge from the Goodreads group: Middle grade madness 

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Review:

What an awesome thriller! Loved the slow build and the twists at the end. Loved Anna as a character as well and really learned something from her.

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Review previously placed on my blog:

I read The woman in the window by AJ Finn. I read this book for the Choose your own adventure challenge from the Goodreads group: Middle grade madness. 

I also loved this book! Going very well, mood reading is doing me good :). I enjoyed this book a lot, because most of the time women get portrayed really annoying I think, but in this one that wasn't the case. In this one, Anna the MC, was very vulnerable and it makes sense how she reacts. It feels way more real then other thrillers I've read with a female MC (for example: the girl in the train). The story itself was a slow build, but I really liked that in this one, because you really got to know Anna well. I loooved the twist! It was so good! Therefore I gave this 5 stars, it was awesome. Audiobook was also very good, highly recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Confinement, Death, Grief, Cursing, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Animal cruelty, Medical trauma, and Sexual content