Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

55 reviews

bloodredscar832's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Addiction, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Murder, Violence, Cursing, and Death

Minor: Stalking and Animal cruelty

itsheyfay's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Alcoholism, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Alcohol, Death, Gaslighting, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Car accident, Death of parent, Misogyny, Animal cruelty, and Child death

keijiwolf's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, Murder, Alcoholism, Blood, Cursing, Alcohol, Car accident, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, and Violence

Moderate: Suicide, Child death, Infidelity, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, and Animal cruelty

ksomers's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

If you like this genre this book will probably be a 5/5 for you!  I liked that the plot twists had enough clues sprinkled throughout the book that helped keep suspense without giving the ending away AND without the plot twists feeling unbelievable.  

I felt like the female detective and the psychiatrists actions don’t totally make sense to me.  The main character was suspected of having a very serious episode of hallucinations and the psychiatrist did very little to intervene.  He can’t exactly just show up on her door step and he had left multiple messages but she could have been suspected as a danger to herself or her neighbors and it didn’t seem to be taken seriously enough by the police or her psychiatrist.  The police brought the neighbors into the house to talk with Anna but not the psychiatrist?  Also the female officer kind of felt like she was there to exist but didn’t act as though she cared about the situation.  She actually came off annoyed that this woman either witnessed a murder OR was having a psychiatric episode.  The officer would need to believe one or the other but I have a hard time believing that she would think that Anna is making it up for fun?  Which is how her character read which didn’t make sense to me.  

I loved the film scenes being used throughout the book - it built tension and echoed some of Anna’s suspicions and fears. 

I wish we saw more of Alistair deteriorating after Ethan kills his mom.  we only really saw him get violent with Anna once in desperation and then Anna mentions him drinking a beer on the couch.  I would have liked to see more of that through Anna’s eyes watching the house but also that’s hard because we only have her point of view so I’m not sure if there would’ve been a believable way to do more than what AJ Finn did. 

 

Definitely would recommend this book ESPECIALLY if you’re in a reading slump!  I couldn’t put it down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Drug abuse, Grief, Alcohol, Death of parent, Mental illness, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, and Stalking

beesbookss's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Drug use, Infidelity, Child death, Ableism, Blood, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Stalking, Mental illness, Car accident, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

wonderfulxwonderful's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting, Child death, Car accident, Addiction, Drug abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Alcoholism, and Stalking

madi622's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

if you like a slow-paced thriller this book is for you. the plot twist at the end was quite surprising, i didn't see it coming. the main character anna wasn't exactly my favorite but, i grew more fond of her towards the end of the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Drug abuse, Car accident, Blood, Stalking, Gore, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Child death, Death, and Panic attacks/disorders

hleary's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Violence, Death, Mental illness, Stalking, Drug abuse, and Grief

readinghavoc's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Car accident, and Mental illness

Moderate: Death of parent, Car accident, Stalking, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Child death, Death, and Drug use

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

mfrabbiele's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Cursing, Addiction, Drug use, Stalking, Child death, Alcoholism, Car accident, and Alcohol

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders