Taking a Peek at the Woman in the Window

My first glimpse of the Woman in the Window was in a wonderful review over at Steph’s Novel Fiction. Her beautiful description and the hints of Hitchcock in the story instantly made me intrigued…  and I’m glad it did! When I did finally check this out I wasn’t disappointed. While I was drawn to it because of the allusion to Rear Window, the movie references were not limited to a single movie. To Hitchcock and beyond! *Ahem* Bad joke (no there aren’t actually Toy Story references 😉 ) Throughout the book, there were clever and insightful connections made to films.

What I loved about that was how it connected to the main character’s view of the world- regarding herself as if she were in a classic movie. Of course she was slightly unreliable, but it wasn’t that she was deliberately dishonest, so much as she was lying to herself. Her sadness pervaded the novel. And the truth behind it was tragic and desperate. Admittedly, this twist was a little obvious- however it didn’t detract from the plot as a whole.

Overall, the mysteries were slow building and well developed. Beneath the distinctly gorgeous writing style, there were whispers of secrets hidden in every corner. Rather cleverly, the first few days held only short entries, giving a stronger sense of incoherence- yet as time went on, the fragments grew longer, and the tension grew. For a moment, I thought I had all the answers and was almost disappointed with the ending. And then BAM- the curtains came up and everything was revealed. Let’s just say I was far from disappointed with what I saw.

Addictive from beginning to end, the only downside there was to this book was that I made the rookie mistake of reading it before bed.

Rating: 4½/5 bananas

So have you read this book? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments!

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