Tag Archives: Thriller

Review: The Woman in the Window

The Woman in the Window

The Women in the Window
By A.J. Finn
William Morrow Paperbacks, 9780062678423,  March 2019, 464pp.

The Short of It:

If you enjoy unreliable narrators then you will be entertained.

The Rest of It:

The Woman in the Window is another book that everyone seems to have read. When it first came out, I took an immediate interest in it but then, for whatever reason it got pushed down to the bottom of my list. THEN, there was the controversy over its author. But when my local used bookstore had a copy sitting on the shelf, I grabbed it.

Dr. Anna Fox is a psychiatrist but suffers from agoraphobia. The reason for her agoraphobia is not revealed until much later in the story, but she spends her days watching old, black and white movies, spying on her neighbors from the safety of her home, and drinking buckets of Merlot. Just like every Hitchcock movie you’ve ever seen, she witnesses a crime. But when she reports it, no one believes her because she comes off as a drunk, mentally unstable woman. Which by all counts is not wrong.

There is more to the story, of course. I figured out the twist pretty early on but it didn’t affect my enjoyment of the book overall. I will say this, why so much booze? There is a booze reference on every page. Anna’s condition was enough to make her the unreliable narrator of our dreams but the constant mention of Merlot drove me absolutely nuts and reminded me a lot of the protagonist from The Girl on the Train.

The movie trailer looks really good:

It was a fun read. Deception everywhere. An unreliable narrator who drinks FAR too much but I liked her. I can see why so many picked this one up.

Source: Purchased
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Review: The Turn of the Key

The Turn of the Key

The Turn of the Key 
By Ruth Ware
Gallery/Scout Press, 9781501188770,  August 2019, 352pp.

The Short of It:

I needed a book that I could not put down and this was it.

The Rest of It:

Nanny stories are quite popular. Add a supernatural element, difficult kids, weird parents and a big, spooky house and you have a winner. Now add technology. I mean, cameras, apps, smart refrigerators and TVs and you up the creep factor by 100%.

Rowan finds the nanny position of a lifetime. A high-paying, live-in gig that will take her to the beautiful Scottish moors. The house is unique. An old Victorian in the front, but the back half of the house is all gleaming and new, outfitted with the latest technology. At first, Rowan is impressed by this. Sandra and Bill, architects by trade, restored what they could but re-imagined the rest but all of its gadgetry proves to be a bit much for Rowan when she is immediately tasked with watching the children for ten days while the parents are at a business conference.

Did I mention that the last four nannies all left within a two-year period? Or that the house has a history of death and violence? Or that some in the town believe it to be haunted?

This was such a fun book to read. I was completely immersed and could not turn those pages fast enough. It’s sufficiently creepy and keeps you guessing with all its plot twists. The ending felt a tad rushed but overall, I really enjoyed this one and found it to be really entertaining and fun. I read it in one day. A work day, which should tell you something.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.