This novel is written by A.J. Finn. The story of this novel revolves around Anna Fox, a psychologist who deals with children. Anna is in her late thirties, and is shown to have been separated from her husband and they both have a daughter named Olivia . Anna describes the relationship with her husband to be in a good form where she tells her neighbors that her husband and daughter stay separately but they are in constant touch with her. 

Anna has Agoraphobia, a type of anxiety disorder in which a person fears and avoid places or situations that might cause one to panic and make you feel trapped, helpless or embarrassed. Due to this phobia she is confined to the walls of her house and feels safe there.Through her house window she views into the houses of her neighbors, in this way she keeps a track of all the things happenings around her even though she cannot go outside.

A new family shifts in the building opposite to Anna’s house. A family of three consisting of the father Alaister Russell,the mother Jane Russell and their teenage son Ethan Russell. The lady of the house Jane seems to be a pretty good lady who comes over to Anna and speaks to her very well and even indulges in a game of chess with her. Ethan, Jane’s son too visits Anna and she is completely sympathetic towards the young boy because he describes his father to be authoritative and commanding towards him and his mother. Anna certainly starts disliking Alaister or not proving to be a good father to Ethan.

The thrill part in the novel starts when Anna through her window witnesses Jane getting stabbed, her first reaction is to call the cops but seeing the scary situation she tries to get out of her house in order to save her neighbor, but because of her phobia she ends up having in panic attack right in the middle of the street and blacks out. Paramedics and the cops are called and they interrogate Anna as to what happened. Anna accuses Alaister of killing his wife. But when Alaister is questioned, he denies the accusation saying that there was no woman in the house . The horror that masks Anna’s face when she realizes that the Jane she met and the Jane she saw getting stabbed is not the Jane that Alaister proclaims to be his wife. However in this entire scenario they blame Anna to have hallucinations due to the medication she is upto and also due to the over intake of alcohol. They think Anna to be paranoid and delusional. Everyone says that Anna is probably imagining things.As time passes Anna tries to build a case to find out about the mysterious woman that she saw that night getting stabbed. The more she tries to get involved in it, the more messier her life gets.

There are many incidences that take place, which make Anna realize that whatever that was happening in her house was not a fiction of her imagination. Once again the police arrives at Anna’s place and reveal to everyone that indeed all this might have been Anna imagining things. They reveal that Anna’s daughter and husband died in an car accident and Anna is the only one who survived. It is here revealed that the accident is the reason to Anna’s phobia of getting out. Seeing the circumstance, we see that Anna is in denial, denial about the death of her loved ones and that is when the trouble started, the problem of not going out, Post Traumatic Stress.

The way Anna builds up her personal character for the readers as well as her neighbors is very appreciating. She makes everyone believe that indeed she is separated from her husband and that her husband and daughter stay away from her. Seeing the way Anna made up the story of her husband and daughter, every reader is doubtful about the story Anna tells of Jane getting stabbed.

Overall the novel is written very smoothly, the language used by the author is impressively easy to understand. As a reader I feel that the author has been consistent with keeping up the expectation of the reader in every chapter that he delivers. The book keeps you hooked till the very end. 

The mystery of the woman getting stabbed is still unsolved. Is Anna really delusional about what she saw that night or someone is trying to set Anna up so that they can get away with a murder? Who was the Jane that she met?Who do you think was murdered that night and what do you think happened. Do read the book “The Woman in the Window”