THE woman
in the
window
A.J. Finn
v SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM FOX 2000 STUDIOS
Intricate,
atmospheric, and utterly spellbinding, The Woman in the Window is
one of the most eagerly anticipated literary debuts of the decade — a Rear
Window expertly and thrillingly re-imagined for our time, with comparisons
being drawn to major publishing events like Gone Girl and The Girl on
the Train.
The most
widely acquired novel of all time prior to publication, The Woman in the
Window has been sold in 38 territories around the world, and Fox
2000, the makers of Life of Pi and Hidden Figures, pre-empted the
film rights, with Oscar winner Scott Rudin producing and Pulitzer Prize-winning
playwright Tracy Letts writing the script.
What’s
behind all the excitement? A gripping psychological thriller about an
agoraphobic woman who believes she has witnessed a horrible crime in a neighbouring
house, combined with one of the most appealing and intelligent heroines in
recent fiction, laced with stunning turnarounds, and brimming with allusions to
classic suspense films. And who’s the writer behind it? A top young
book editor who studied mystery and suspense fiction at Oxford University, who
now publishes the work of Agatha Christie, and whose own writing is crafted in
homage to the classics from Hitchcock and Highsmith.
A Different Kind of Thriller
At its heart, The Woman in the Window is a compulsively
readable thriller that will captivate a vast audience. Served up in 100
bite-sized chapters, its propulsive narrative is spring-loaded with startling
twists and red herrings. Designed to adjust the reader to the rhythms of
a life spent in a stringently controlled environment, it then explosively
disrupts that life before drawing to its shocking, unsettling, and profoundly
satisfying conclusion.
Yet Finn’s first book also offers the reader a richer and more complex
experience than most suspense fiction, as one might expect from a writer
immersed in mystery books since childhood — who also happens to have focused on
suspense fiction as both a scholar and a publishing professional. Finn’s
story is informed as well by personal experience battling incorrectly diagnosed
bipolar disorder for more than fifteen years.
The Woman in the Window introduces readers to 38-year-old Anna Fox,
once a respected child psychologist, now a shut-in who hasn’t set foot outside
her New York City townhouse for almost a year. She lives alone, separated
from her husband and their young daughter. As a housebound recluse, she
spends her days self-medicating, watching old movies, and spying on her
neighbours, whom she can often glimpse through their windows. Anna takes
a particular interest in a new family that has just moved into another
townhouse opposite her own across a small park.
For all that, Anna Fox is remarkably strong, independent, and
self-reliant. ‘So often,’ Finn comments, ‘in suspense fiction, female
characters — even those with starring roles — spend a lot of time fretting
about men, or relying upon men, or generally orbiting men. This, I think,
is one of the reasons why Lisbeth Salander of The Girl with the Dragon
Tattoo and Amy Dunne of Gone Girl made such an impact: Like many
women, they’re more than a match for the men around them. The heroine of
my novel is a mess, and a mess largely of her own making; but I’ll say this for
her: She pursues an inquiry, unravels a mystery, and tests her limits, all
without the help of a man, or indeed anyone. She might not be as
crusading as Salander or as controlling as Amy Dunne, yet she’s no damsel in
distress.’
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A. J. Finn has written for numerous publications,
including the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and the Times
Literary Supplement (UK). A native of New York, Finn lived in England
for ten years before returning to New York City.The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn
Published: 15 January 2018
Imprint: HarperCollins
Format: Paperback; RRP: $35; ISBN: 9780008234164
No comments:
Post a Comment