Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

41 reviews

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

hanpan01's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.75

i really didn’t wanna like this but gosh darn it was good. not giving it 5 stars out of principle.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Suicide, Abandonment, Alcohol, Addiction, Alcoholism, Car accident, Death, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence

meremesch's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Car accident, Drug use, Child death, Death, Murder, Suicide, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, and Mental illness

Moderate: Infidelity and Injury/Injury detail

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

h0lyfool's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

the beginning of the book was interesting but slower than i would have liked. 

it started getting more interesting as the story progressed and kept me wanting to know more.
the ending was surprising and looking back, there were definitely clues scattered throughout the book which is very smart.
dr. anna fox is an intriguing character and while it is sometimes hard to understand her, you ultimately find yourself sympathizing with and rooting for her. 
the unreliable first person narrator is a very clever device to keep the reader guessing what‘s real and what‘s not. 
in the end, an enjoyable book that could have been better in some ways. still recommend it.

And if I don‘t want to die, I‘ve got to start living.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, and Mental illness

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Murder

Minor: Child death, Stalking, Animal cruelty, Car accident, Infidelity, Death, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

taelights's review against another edition

4.0

This book was way better than I had imagined going into it. The plot was very interesting and there were so many twists that I did not see coming. Anna did get on my nerves a bit but I also felt very bad for her throughout the book. But some of her actions really made me so annoyed at her. It was overall a very fun read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Violence

tomato_bisque's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious sad 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

3.0

I enjoyed the first half of the book more than the end.

It lost me in the last few chapters when it became a Primal Fear (1996) twist.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Blood, Child death, Death, Drug use, Medical content, Murder, and Sexism

Minor: Animal cruelty and Stalking

kbea88's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.25

I get like this dragged on for so many pages and although I started to predict the ending, it still surprised me a little. Not great, not terrible. I couldn’t not picture Evan Peters as Ethan toward the end, which ruined it for me a bit. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Child death

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

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: Mental illness, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Death