The Woman in the Window

Genre: Fiction

This is the story of Dr. Anna Fox, a therapist, mother and wife who hasn't left her home in about a year's time. Anna loves playing online chess and cruising the online help site for agoraphobes, much like herself. She spends much of her days watching classic thriller movies with her cat, and over indulges on wine and pills. She lives in a grand old home (that she restored with her husband) that is near a park and has direct views of the homes in her neighborhood. Anna keeps track of her neighbors's comings and goings and one night sees something across the street and is compelled to act on it. But what do you do when you are terrified to step foot outside your door? This is a story, based on Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, about learning that our strength is deeper and more indestructible than we realize.

I live in my head. Yes, I have a body and that body gave birth to two beautiful boys and, in years past, served me well when I loved exercising and moving. Now, unfortunately, with less time and less interest, my mind is my favorite place to be. I'm there often! I love this book so much because the writing moved me from my head to my body, and I remember how much I like being there too. Finn's descriptions of what happens to Anna are so palpable and dynamic that when I got to the super scary parts, I could feel a pit in my stomach with the anticipation of what will happen next. I could also feel Anna's loss, her ache, her loneliness. This book, I am happy to report, is of the old school mysteries (think Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes) where there's a slow unveiling of the story. We slowly learn what happened to Anna to make her agoraphobic and how she deals with what she has seen in the present. I thought it was slightly predictable, but it was a fun read and I really enjoyed the ride. I highly recommend this one!