Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

43 reviews

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I accidentally watched the movie first so the ending was somewhat spoiled for me, however, the book was still worth the read. It is action packed, devastating, and thrilling. Dr. Fox is a character you are desperate to love despite her flaws. The story in unique and disturbing. I had trouble putting this one down. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

rubybooks's review against another edition

 I've heard a lot about The Woman in the Window recently because of the adaptation (which I haven't seen) so the audiobook caught my interest when I was browsing. I've been listening to a lot of thrillers lately, so I picked this up to satisfy a craving and have a quick read. There were definitely some twists I wasn't expecting, and even though it took a while to get going, I was really hooked at the end.

The Woman in the Window is told from the point of view of Anna, who is agoraphobic and spends all her time inside. She has a habit of watching her neighbours from the window, and she quickly becomes invested in her new neighbours, the Russells. However, she sees something in her neighbour's house that she is not supposed to. After everyone questions what she saw, Anna soon has no idea about what is real, and what is imaginary. There are a lot of twists and turns along the way as Anna tries to figure out what happened.

Anna is definitely an unreliable narrator - she suffers from severe agoraphobia and is on a LOT of medication (the reason will be revealed) - and I find that it works really well for this book because you genuinely are in Anna's head. You don't know if her narration can be trusted, which makes it more exciting when the facts begin to come together. It also makes it easy for the other characters to discredit her word, which is important for the plot. There's a big emphasis on psychology - Anna is a psychologist, and also has mental illnesses of her own. As for the plot, I was really convinced it was going one way and then it didn't so I was definitely surprised!

I do think the plot was slow-paced at the beginning and it took a while to get going. A lot of it was repetitive, and I get that Anna's character and routine had to be developed, but I think it could have been done more quickly. Some parts of the plot were a bit obvious, but not everything. The whole "unreliable woman" who witnesses something bad seems to be pretty common in books, and I was reminded of The Woman in Cabin 10 and The Girl on the Train. The actual plot of this book I think is not as compelling, which is why even though I liked parts, I didn't fall in love with it. I have sort of conflicted feelings about the ending and I'm not really sure what I think to be honest.

So overall, I didn't completely love it, but there were a few twists I didn't see coming, and that is my favourite thing about thrillers because I love to be surprised. I enjoyed listening to the book, and I read it pretty quickly too, so it was just what I was expecting when I borrowed it. It was addictive, but I doubt I'll feel the need to think about it now I'm finished. The book contains content describing mental illness, taking medication, agoraphobia, alcoholism, drug use, anxiety, depression and death. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, and Mental illness

taylorrudolph's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Car accident, Murder, and Alcohol

cduck's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Car accident

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Violence

juliaminer's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

4.0

great book. some plot holes and could have been written a bit better.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol

joyfayrweather's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

I liked the twists in this book, just not my favorite. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Animal cruelty, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Blood, Car accident, and Gaslighting

gloriazthompson's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Stalking, Car accident, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

andreia's review against another edition

tense medium-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? Yes

2.0

meh. i guess i might recommend this to someone who hasn't read many thrillers/mysteries before and is easily surprised. otherwise, this is so unnecessarily long that you can pretty much predict every plot twist because you have more than enough time to pick up and reflect on all the not-so-subtle clues. i didn't exactly see that very last plot twist coming but it felt like such a cliche cop out that it just made me roll my eyes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Violence, and Murder

ripxreads's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, Infidelity, and Mental illness

Moderate: Child abuse and Murder

Minor: Car accident

mermaidslace's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.0

I love the twists here and would recommend this to anyone who likes thrillers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, and Car accident

Minor: Child abuse