I think the author does a great job of capturing both the fuzzy-headed confusion brought on by Anna's alcoholism and the suffocating claustrophobia of staying inside for almost a year. Oh wait, the next is only two pages? Okay, this is the last chapter').

The chapters are short and hard-hitting, making the fast-moving plot zip by even faster ('This is the LAST chapter. Everything begins to unravel when Anna attempts to report what she saw, and soon everything is being questioned: Did Anna hallucinate? Is it a combination of alcohol and pills? Can she even trust herself? Housebound and drunk, Anna spends her days spying on her neighbours, until one day she witnesses something shocking in the window of the Russell's home. We're not told the circumstances of the separation, but we do know that Anna has a drinking problem and severe agoraphobia that prevents her from leaving the house.

It's about a woman called Anna who lives alone ever since separating from her husband and daughter. The Woman in the Window treats a rather obvious plot element as a spoiler for most of the book, so I'll play coy too. My need to know what would happen kept me turning pages late into the night until I was physically incapable of keeping my eyes open a moment longer. The premise is a little bit of The Girl on the Train and a little bit of The Woman in Cabin 10 (what is it with these girl/woman/wife titles?!), with an unreliable narrator, faulty memories, alcoholism, and the author playing around with our perception of what is true and what is imagined. And it was exactly what I needed to get lost in right now. It's not mindblowing or groundbreaking, but it is pageturning goodness. Okay, I really don't want to misrepresent this book: The Woman in the Window is a pulpy, fast-paced popcorn thriller.

Novel woman in the window