Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - The Woman in the Window

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

19 reviews

itsheyfay's review

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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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ksomers's review

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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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beesbookss's review against another edition

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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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readinghavoc's review

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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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peskimo's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad tense

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

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amiexoh's review

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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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