The Woman in the Window suffers from the usual domestic thriller malady—an intriguing premise and a strong start that never quite materializes into a satisfying narrative.
Going in, the first pages grabbed me immediately. Usually it takes a bit for me to get going on a new book, what with those initial pages being slow and setup-filled, but no such problems exist here. The beginning was fast-paced and full of riveting tidbits. But then we arrive at the main event, and the book completely slows to a crawl.
From that point onwards, no detail is too small or too unimportant to be included. We read about the main character Anna walking from room to room, eating cereal, looking out her window, checking her email, and playing online chess. She also watches black-and-white films one after another, and we are told in detail of their plot and actors. It was so much filler that I often caught myself skimming ahead just to find some sort of action.
We are also treated to many pages of rambling narration about Anna drinking several bottles of wine every day while mixing in prescription drugs, then spending the rest of the time telling herself to focus and to think. She would wonder if she should drink some more or not drink some more. When she is not focused on drinking, she acts like a complete loony, shouting at people and lying to everyone. After all this, she is confused when people don't believe what she says.
Reading about people who make one bad decision after another, trying their darn hardest to sabotage their own life, is not what I consider a good time. And this trope seems to be an easy way out. Instead of taking the time to come up with a well-rounded character, why not just make the female an alcoholic, say she's an unreliable narrator, and put "woman" in the title of the book.
And to top it all off, the mystery ended up being not that interesting. I enjoy having characters figure out what's going on by being clever and putting together the clues. Instead, this mystery unravels because Anna is eventually told what happened. I felt pretty let down by the end, especially in light of having read so many pages of utter drudgery to get there.
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