AJ Flinn’s debut novel is as layered and entertaining as the author himself. If you haven’t heard of his confounding behavior, I highly suggest reading this article from The New Yorker.Â
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AJ Flinn
Mystery, Thriller, Psychological Suspense
Harlem, NY
Ann Marie Lee
Book Review
The Woman in the Window
3.5/5
An agoraphobic psychologist binge watches her neighbors like a Netflix series while drinking bottles of merlot and popping pills. One night, she sees a murder. Can she convince anyone to believe her?Â
I was immediately drawn in by Flinn’s artful writing. The prose was free flowing, peppered with great analogies and descriptive wording.  I loved the verbs that Flinn chose- a light trembling, a tie slithering, papers bolting, a ring winking.
Anna was layered and obviously not well. I didn’t love or agree with her character but I felt her depth and realness.Â
I did feel that the story dragged in the middle. Flinn could have gotten the same point across in a quicker way. Like, I get it- Anna is struggling with alcohol and pills. She didn’t make logical decisions and was very slow to come to obvious conclusions. While that may have been Flinn’s intent, it left me frustrated and rolling my eyes more than once. Â
Also, I feel like this story has been told many times over. I don’t think there was anything astounding about it but if Gillian Flynn thinks so, I digress.Â
Audiobook Review Lee gave a great narration and added to my book experience. She was a good fit for Anna.Â
Film Review I found this Netflix movie entertaining in the way you put on music to distract yourself from the on going construction at the neighbor’s house- pleasant but not exciting. It had the potential to condense some of the muddled book parts but they missed vital parts of the storyline. It was overly dramatic at some points, straining to portray the film in a classic film/Hitchcock light and failing miserably. I think I would have been really lost without having the book knowledge and diving straight into the movie. Â
You can buy The Woman in the Window here from Amazon or you can also choose to support local bookstores by purchasing  the audio version at Libro.fm here.Â