What did she see? It's been ten long months since Anna Fox last left her home. Ten months during which she has haunted the rooms of her old New York house like a ghost, lost in her memories, too terrified to step outside. Anna's lifeline to the real world is her window, where she sits day after day, watching her neighbours.
When the Russells move in, Anna is instantly drawn to them. A picture-perfect family of three, they are an echo of the life that was once hers. But one evening, a frenzied scream rips across the silence, and Anna witnesses something no one was supposed to see. Now she must do everything she can to uncover the truth about what really happened. But even if she does, will anyone believe her? And can she even trust herself?
Barb takes care of the web orders here at Boffins, and is your contact for book club enquiries. She spends all her spare time curled up on the couch reading and for the last several years has reviewed books on the Afternoon Program on ABC radio Perth.
Agoraphobic Anna Fox watches her neighbours from her windows, taking the occasional photo. Then one day she sees through the camera lens what she believes is a woman being attacked, and calls the police. It is at this point that things start to spiral out of control.
The Woman in the Window is not so much a crime novel as a psychological thriller, and an homage to Hitchcock and other master spinners of suspense. As Anna tells you her story you begin to wonder how reliable a narrator she is. Indeed she even begins to doubt herself when met with what seems to be incontrovertible evidence of her errors. A slow build up to the rooftop climax allows for many a nod to classic noir stories as well as the gradual unveiling of the reasons behind Anna’s state of mind. Compulsive reading.